Missouri-Based Cox Health Systems Signs Agreement With Sentillion For Vergence(R)

Market Wire, 20050229

Sentillion, Inc. announced today that Springfield, Mo.-based Cox Health Systems, a three-hospital organization with 55 physician clinics, will implement Sentillion's revolutionary Vergence(R) Context Management Solution. Vergence will allow Cox Health Systems to link together its multi-vendor, multi-platform application portfolio and provide 2,800 clinical end users with streamlined use of computer-based patient information.

Through a breakthrough integration approach known as context management, Vergence synchronizes multiple, independently authored health care applications at the clinical desktop around a user-controlled context-such as the identity of a user, a patient or a test order. For example, when users securely log on to one application, they are instantaneously logged on to multiple applications without having to re-enter their user name and password information. Additionally, when a user selects a patient of interest, all of the applications simultaneously tune their data displays to that patient's information. The user's experience is transformed into one of using a comprehensive, coordinated system when, in fact, he or she may be using several applications, each via its native user interface.

Cox Health Systems will use Vergence to link applications from several vendors including Cerner Corporation, GE Medical Systems Information Technologies and Medscape. These companies join a growing number of vendors who are making a commitment to bring their products into compliance with the Health Level Seven (HL7) CCOW standard for context management. CCOW-compliant applications are able to share context with one another via the vendor-neutral, CCOW-compliant Vergence solution.

"Our caregivers are excited to reap the considerable 'usability' benefits of Vergence. We're grateful that our vendors moved so quickly to align their products with the CCOW standard," stated John Duff, M.D., chief information officer and vice president of support services for Cox Health Systems. "As our clinical users demand easier and faster access to a myriad of disparate applications, CCOW-compliant technologies that work with Vergence are a requirement."

"We're extremely pleased to welcome Cox Health Systems as a Vergence customer. This organization truly understands that computers should enhance, not hinder, a caregiver's ability to do his or her job. By investing in Vergence, Cox Health Systems will dramatically simplify its caregivers' use of healthcare applications, allowing the organization to focus on what it does best-delivering the highest quality patient care," stated Eric Corkhill, vice president of sales at Sentillion.

To complement the Vergence Context Management Solution, Cox Health Systems also will roll out two add-on utilities, the Vergence Security Auditor and the Vergence User Authenticator. Vergence Security Auditor is a module that enables the centralized logging of users' actions at the clinical desktop to support HIPAA security requirements. Vergence User Authenticator is a desktop program that allows providers to leverage existing Windows accounts as the basis for authenticating users to log on to all CCOW-compliant applications in a single step.

Cox Health Systems provides care to an 18-county primary service area in southwest Missouri and northern Arkansas across three hospitals-Cox Medical Center South with Cox Walnut Lawn, Cox Medical Center North and Cox Monett Hospital-as well as 55 physician clinics. Cox Medical Center South is a 562-bed tertiary care facility with medical/surgical intensive care and coronary care units, a neuro-trauma unit, a 52-bed nursery and a Level II trauma center. Cox Walnut Lawn is an extension of the South campus, offering rehabilitation services, wound healing and urgent care. Cox Medical Center North is a 274-bed community hospital offering special services such as The Center for Addictions, psychiatry services, Cox Diabetes Center, the Senior Health Center/Senior Advantage, Cox Occupational Medicine and Workers' Compensation Center, as well as general medical and surgical services and a 24-hour emergency department. Cox Monett Hospital is a 47-bed community hospital, located in Monett, Mo., offering 24-hour emergency care, cardiac rehabilitation, home health care, outpatient services, surgical services and maternity services, as well as other health care services to surrounding communities.

Cox Health Systems is a member of VHA Inc., a nationwide network of more than 2,200 leading community-owned health care organizations and their affiliated physicians. The VHA alliance comprises nearly 26 percent of the nation's community hospitals, including many of the nation's largest and most respected institutions. Sentillion is a VHA technology business partner. commend Cox Health Systems' choice to implement Sentillion's technology. We believe Vergence can bring tremendous value to our members and, ultimately, to their patients," stated K. Jeffrey Hayes, senior vice president for business operations at VHA. "As adoption of the CCOW standard continues to rise, we foresee an increasing number of our members taking advantage of Vergence. To help accelerate the CCOW uptake process, we now require all of our new business partners to be CCOW-compliant and our existing business partners to provide a CCOW-compliance plan."