Siemens Showcases Electronic Health Record Solutions at TEPR 2006 Conference and Exhibition; Advanced IT Solutions Driving Optimized Workflow Across Healthcare Continuum

Business Wire, May 22, 2006

BALTIMORE -- Siemens Medical Solutions (booth #809) will showcase its portfolio of innovative Electronic Health Record (EHR) solutions designed to meet the growing demand for interoperability between acute, ambulatory and community environments at the 2006 Towards the Electronic Patient Record (TEPR) Conference, May 20-24, in Baltimore. The company will demonstrate healthcare information technology (IT) solutions that can assist providers in realizing an interoperable EHR, while supporting initiatives such as patient safety and satisfaction, medical error reduction, improved quality of care, cost reduction and industry standards.

Siemens' is at the forefront of the national movement toward interoperable EHRs, facilitating the creation and exchange of a cumulative health record, captured and exchanged across settings, that moves with patients. Siemens' EHR strategy is built on leveraging its unique solutions portfolio, which combines workflow management, diagnostic/therapeutic technologies, and healthcare IT systems and services, enabling true optimization of workflow in healthcare.

"As the federal government continues its push to automate and interconnect all points of the healthcare continuum, technology adoption at the individual practice level and the ability to securely share clinical data and diagnostic images residing in all care settings is crucial to the mission," said Tom Miller, president, Healthcare IT Division, Siemens Medical Solutions. "The solutions we're highlighting at TEPR help our customers orchestrate processes across the continuum of care, facilitate collaborative care between clinicians and patients, and provide point-of-care access to the EHR."

Addressing community and ambulatory needs

Siemens' healthcare solutions help streamline the patient experience from patient access to diagnostics through treatment. The company's ambulatory and community connectivity offerings facilitate the secure management, utilization and communication of health data regardless of care setting. Highlights of these solutions include:

--Soarian(R) Disease Management, which facilitates collaborative care between clinicians and patients with chronic illnesses. The system's workflow management capabilities help providers oversee patients' adherence to care plans, provide a holistic picture of patients' conditions, and push relevant information to clinicians for improved decision-making. In fact, the system is helping to reduce readmission rates and enable early intervention for congestive heart failure patients.

--Soarian Community Access, which enables healthcare providers to reach outside the walls of their organizations to securely connect with patients and other members of the healthcare community, such as hospitals, physicians and ancillary providers - helping to build physician affinity, increase efficiency and streamline communications. Patients can create a personal health record, request appointments, referrals or prescription refills, or view clinical information such as lab results, electrocardiograms and radiology reports online.

--NextGen(R) EMR, which addresses the unique healthcare IT needs of the physician practice market. Siemens and NextGen Healthcare are leading the way in connecting acute and ambulatory care environments by providing interoperability between IT solutions, enabling healthcare providers to make more informed decisions. The relationship leverages Siemens' expertise in enterprise IT systems and advanced medical imaging technologies for the acute care and specialty environments and NextGen Healthcare's leadership in ambulatory electronic medical records. Meeting providers' inpatient and outpatient needs, the Siemens/NextGen alliance provides access to longitudinal health records, streamlined processes across care settings, and opportunities for enhanced patient safety, physician satisfaction and increased procedure volume.

In addition to Soarian Disease Management, Soarian Community Access and the NextGen EMR, Siemens will showcase other key EHR solution components at TEPR, including its Soarian, INVISION(R) and MedSeries4(R) clinical applications, Soarian Health Information Management, and Enterprise Document Management.

In keeping with the knowledge-sharing aim of TEPR, Siemens is also placing special focus on user experiences. Siemens' customers speaking in the Siemens booth and at the conference include:

--Kris Fuller, RN, clinical informatics specialist, The Heart Center of Indiana, "Changing the Way Hearts are Treated," May 22, 8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m., Room 336.

--Linda Reino, CIO, Universal Health Services, Inc., "Disaster Management and Recovery: Experiences at Universal Health Services," May 22, 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., Room 337.

--Basil Holloway, RN, nursing informatics specialist, and Pete Range, clinical applications manager, East Texas Medical Center Regional Healthcare System, "Implementation Case Study: Clinical Documentation," May 23, 8:00 a.m. - 8:45 a.m., Room 331.

--Angela N. Haas, M.D., VP, physician resources and chief medical information officer, Susquehanna Health System, "How to Win Friends and Influence Physicians," May 23, 4:15 p.m. - 4:45 p.m., Room 336.