Orion Systems International Releases Version 2.0 of Rhapsody Integration Engine; Rhapsody Advances Healthcare Integration with Support for Public Health and W3C

Business Wire, Oct 20, 2004

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Orion Systems International, a provider of clinical workflow and integration technology to the healthcare sector, announced today the release of version 2.0 of the Rhapsody(TM) Integration Engine, the only integration engine designed solely for the needs of the healthcare industry.

This major new release of Rhapsody includes support for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Public Health Information Network (PHIN) infrastructure and W3C XML schemas. Rhapsody 2.0 offers public health organizations a secure and fault tolerant integration infrastructure for messaging, embracing the latest in public health standards.

"Our customers needed an integration engine that would simplify the job of reliably transmitting health data within and between healthcare organizations," said Paul Viskovich, President North America of Orion Systems International. "We've made significant advances in Rhapsody 2.0 by providing PHIN and W3C support, which will further facilitate the transfer of disease surveillance data between laboratories, government agencies such as CDC and public health entities."

Rhapsody 2.0 will allow organizations with a public health mandate to share data faster and more reliably using electronic messaging, reducing the chance of errors and in some cases eliminating the manual transfer of data using fax or postal services.

The Centers for Disease Control are using Rhapsody Integration Engine for processing of public health and biosurveillance data based on the PHIN model from state agencies.

W3C XML and HL7 Version 3 Support

Rhapsody 2.0 includes full W3C XML support. W3C has become the industry standard for defining XML schemas, and these schemas can now be used in Rhapsody without the need for any conversions, saving development time and simplifying the task of building XML interfaces.

Rhapsody 2.0 also supports the mapping of HL7 version 3 messages to or from other EDI or XML message formats. HL7 version 3 is growing as a widespread standard in the healthcare industry, with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approving seven new HL7 v.3 standards in July 2004. Rhapsody 2.0 allows healthcare organizations to future proof their systems by participating in this emerging standard.

Included in Rhapsody 2.0 are a number of other new features to reduce message processing times, improve user productivity, and enhance the overall security of the Rhapsody administration interface. For database-bound systems, Rhapsody 2.0 achieves processing speeds up to ten times faster than previous versions of Rhapsody.

Rhapsody 2.0 also features a more streamlined process to migrate engine configurations between test and production environments. For organizations who frequently add new interfaces or edit existing interfaces, this feature will reduce the time required to deploy new configurations of Rhapsody.

With Rhapsody 2.0, authorized administrators will be able to start and stop communication points automatically based on a predefined schedule, and will be able to schedule archive activities to occur automatically.

About Rhapsody(TM) Integration Engine

Rhapsody(TM) Integration is a powerful integration engine that delivers advanced inter-system messaging capabilities to health sector organizations of all kinds. Rhapsody is designed for rapid, effortless installation and use, and enables quick and efficient exchange of electronic data, and is used by healthcare organizations around the world including the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), NaviMedix, and the State Departments of Health of New York and Arkansas. More information can be found by visiting www.orionhealth.com/rhapsody.> About Orion Systems International

Orion Systems International delivers a complete, end-to-end IT integration platform for information systems of all kinds. Orion's easy-to-use tools and applications integrate and enhance existing systems and deliver secure, universal access to information. Orion's clinical information solutions have been used and trusted around the world for ten years. Orion has more than 1,000 clients worldwide including Johns Hopkins Hospital, New York State Department of Health, Central Washington Hospital, McKesson, NaviMedix, CDC, Abbott Laboratories and many more. More information can be found at www.orionhealth.com.