Prime Clinical Systems Joins American Academy of Family Physicians Partners for Patients Initiative

Business Wire, Nov 18, 2004

PASADENA, Calif. -- Prime Clinical Systems, Inc. has announced its participation in the American Academy of Family Physicians Partners for Patients Alliance, a group that aims to promote the use of electronic medical records technology to physician practices.

"The value of an electronic medical records system really cannot be overstated. Physician practices of all sizes stand to deliver better care, streamline workflow and cut costs if they implement an EMR," says Barry Ardelan, CEO of Prime. "That's why Prime has become part of this important initiative that will make it easier for family practices to realize these very valuable benefits."

The group is working to make it easier for small to mid-size medical practices to adopt and implement electronic medical records. Members of the group are committed to honoring the following four principles:

Affordability - Recognizing the limited capital available to family physicians in small medical practices, vendors in the coalition will discount their prices and work with AAFP to increase the volume of their sales for software and hardware.

Compatibility - Compatibility will be achieved through efforts to standardize interfaces between office-based systems, such as the EMR, and key information resources for electronic prescribing, laboratory result reporting and hospital information systems.

Interoperability - Interoperability standards will be jointly developed by the AAFP and members of the coalition to permit seamless data exchange among physicians other providers and patients.

Data stewardship - Data stewardship will become an increasingly important challenge as larger amounts of physician-generated health information are collected, stored and managed in systems and databases across the country. These data must be protected, kept secure and used only for ethical purposes that support the highest values of the medical profession.

Prime's Patient Chart Manager is an electronic medical records software program that has been designed with these needs in mind.

Patient Chart Manager is a comprehensive and flexible tool that enables physicians to access and input clinical information. With such access, physicians can make better clinical decisions, each and every time they see patients.

Patient Chart Manager's capabilities include:

--Appointment scheduling

--Charge posting

--Care planning

--Prescription management

--Digital document and image management

The systems easy-to-use screens enable users to:

--Add new patients

--Automatically fill out forms (Worker's Compensation, prescriptions, hospital forms, home health forms, immunization records, etc.)

--View appointment schedules

--Locate patient charts via a variety of search criteria choices

--Point and click on a patient's name to open a complete patient chart

In addition, Patient Chart Manager allows doctors to choose how they want to input information, whether by keyboard using advanced templating and dropdown lists or by using pen (stylus) writing on the screen. Either handwriting recognition or voice recognition enhance these capabilities.

Prime will demonstrate the Patient Chart Manager electronic medical records system in booth #315 at Pri-Med Mid-Atlantic, Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C., Nov. 17-20, 2004.

About Prime Clinical Systems

Prime Clinical Systems Inc. is a medical software company headquartered in Pasadena, California, and regionally in Lincolnshire, Illinois and San Ramon, California. Founded in 1983, the company's proven products, stellar services and innovative advances have made it one of the fastest growing providers of health care software systems in the nation.