Business Services Industry

Siemens Soarian Clinician Portal Earns Top Honors In KLAS Physician/Clinician Portal Study; Siemens Clinician Portal Strategies Enable Seamless Access to Information at the Point of Need

Business Wire, Nov 8, 2005

MALVERN, Pa. -- Siemens Medical Solutions, a world leader in medical equipment and information technology (IT) solutions, was recognized with a number one overall ranking for its Soarian(R) Clinician Portal in the recently released Physician/Clinician Portal Study from KLAS, an independent research firm that specializes in monitoring and reporting the performance of healthcare information technology vendors. When survey respondents were asked to provide commentary on leading physician portal vendors, Siemens' Soarian Clinician Portal received the highest percentage of positive commentary in the areas of ROI/Cost and Future Outlook, and tied for the highest percentage of positive commentary in the area of Technology.

A national vision of consumer-centric, information-rich healthcare made possible through IT is one of the most significant healthcare industry efforts of the 21st century. To meet this challenge, providers must have the right information when and where it is needed in order to respond immediately, diagnose accurately, and treat promptly. Clinicians are looking to technology to provide the right data, whether at the patient's bedside or the provider's office or home. Helping to deliver on this vision, healthcare IT providers, including Siemens Medical Solutions, are developing Web-based portals with secure, anywhere, anytime access, to support true collaboration among physicians and other members of the healthcare continuum.

"KLAS applauds Siemens performance with Soarian Clinician Portal, and its efforts to address the challenges of today's healthcare environment," said Kent Gale, president, KLAS. "KLAS is always pleased when vendors perform well. It benefits the industry, and more importantly, it always benefits the providers."

Siemens' Soarian Clinician Portal includes the Soarian Portal (formerly Health Enterprise Dashboard), Soarian Clinical Access and INVISION(R) Net Access. These solutions provide clinicians with reliable access to information through a secure, roles-based, personalized portal. Single sign-on capability enables users to integrate multiple applications and content to meet the varied workflow needs of the full spectrum of healthcare providers including physicians and nurses as well as healthcare executives, patients and others. Presented in a customizable and intuitive format using strong authentication methods, Siemens' Soarian Clinician Portal enables authorized users to seamlessly access information including patient scheduling, images, results, email, financial information and professional education and reference materials.

KLAS' first-ever Physician/Clinician Portal Study looks at the Web portals offered by health information systems, clinical information systems, specialty, and healthcare industry integrator vendors as solutions for giving physicians and clinicians access to inpatient and outpatient information. The study rated vendors with a Web-enabled application that provides a clinical results view of data to physicians and clinicians, and allows remote access from any location. This study addressed topics including the percentage of physicians using the portals, why vendors are selected, time to implement, user satisfaction, and lessons learned.

"Seamless access to information at the point of need is of utmost importance in clinical decision making," said Tom Miller, president, healthcare IT Division, Siemens Medical Solutions.

"We are pleased to receive this recognition, which indicates that our solutions are having a positive impact on our customers' workflow and supporting their strategies for connecting the network of health partners and the patient population."

KLAS is the only independent research firm specializing in monitoring and reporting healthcare information technology (HIT) software vendor and professional services firm performance, and, beginning in 2005, the performance of medical equipment. Through detailed interviews with executives, managers and clinicians at over 4,500 hospitals and 2,500 clinics, KLAS maintains Platinum KLAS and Platinum KLAS for Services, live databases of vendor and firm performance information. The databases are continually refreshed with new performance evaluations and interviews daily. KLAS also publishes in-depth specialty reports on individual market segments. For further information, contact KLAS Enterprises, LLC at 801-226-5120 or on the Web at http://www.healthcomputing.com.

Siemens Medical Solutions of Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) with headquarters in Malvern, Pennsylvania and Erlangen, Germany, is one of the largest suppliers to the healthcare industry in the world. The company is known for bringing together innovative medical technologies, healthcare information systems, management consulting, and support services, to help customers achieve tangible, sustainable, clinical and financial outcomes. Employing approximately 31,000 people worldwide and operating in more than 120 countries, Siemens Medical Solutions reported sales of 7.07 billion EUR, orders of 8.12 billion EUR and group profit of 1.05 billion EUR for fiscal 2004. More information can be obtained by visiting http://www.usa.siemens.com/medical-pressroom.>