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Medsphere Analyst News - 4.6.2010

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Welcome to the first issue of The Medsphere Analyst News, an e-newsletter designed to apprise you of recent developments at Medsphere Systems Corporation.

Over the past year, Medsphere has announced a string of new contracts with hospitals, clinics and integrated delivery networks. Most recently, we cemented a relationship with Kern Medical Center, a 222-bed, acute-care teaching hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., whose CEO, Paul Hensler, estimates the hospital “will be eligible for up to $9.1 million in incentives over the five years (of the Medsphere contract).”

Medsphere also recently upgraded our flagship open-source EHR solution, OpenVista®, to v.2.0, providing enhanced functionality and crucial interoperability.

Medsphere’s recent and future success is the product of an established message and mission: to give all Americans the benefit of EHR-powered healthcare and promote the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s (ARRA) vision for an interoperable and affordable national EHR network.

“Medsphere’s significant growth this year has demonstrated the market need for improving healthcare through technology,” said Medsphere CEO and President Michael J. Doyle. “Our objective is simple—an electronic health record in every hospital. Current users of OpenVista are experiencing clinical transformation on a dramatic scale, including reductions in medication errors, infection rates and patient deaths. Medsphere’s open-source, subscription-based business model makes necessary technology, and hence optimized healthcare, available to all American hospitals and their patients.”

Comprehensive clinical health IT adoption by U.S. medical facilities remains at 1.5 percent largely due to prohibitive EHR deployment costs. Many hospitals are now bypassing these barriers by adopting OpenVista, Medsphere’s commercialized version of the VistA EHR, the $8.5-billion taxpayer asset developed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Customers on Track for ARRA Funding

“As effective care providers, we look to continually demonstrate our leadership in the healthcare industry and the communities we serve. Implementing a proven solution such as OpenVista demonstrates Hoboken UMC’s commitment to the best possible clinical care with a constant eye on return on investment. We evaluated all the available EHR solutions and selected OpenVista based on the system’s track record and Medsphere’s commitment to helping us achieve financial support from the federal government.” — Spiros Hatiras, CEO, Hoboken University Medical Center

Since ARRA was signed into law, several Medsphere customers have or are in the process of implementing OpenVista, demonstrating that hospitals of virtually any size can afford a quality EHR.

  • Kern Medical Center (Bakersfield, Calif.)—222-bed acute-care teaching hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., affiliated with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the UC Irvine School of Medicine; affiliated clinics provide care and services for more than 100,000 patients.
  • Hoboken University Medical Center (Hoboken, NJ)—328-bed Hoboken city facility, oldest continuing hospital in New Jersey, chose OpenVista to decrease costs, increase revenue and maximize ARRA stimulus dollars.
  • Beauregard Memorial Hospital (Deridder, La.)—60-bed acute-care community hospital scheduled to fully and meaningfully deploy OpenVista by June 2010 and qualify for ARRA financial incentives.
  • Lutheran Medical Center (Brooklyn, N.Y.)—full-service 476-bed teaching hospital on track to implement OpenVista and qualify for ARRA financial incentives by June 2010; LMC CIO Steve Art told Healthcare Informatics OpenVista “is the answer to a cash-strapped industry’s prayers."
  • Blue Mountain Hospital (Blanding, Utah)—11-bed critical access hospital serving Four Corners region of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico; went live last year.
  • Silver Hill Hospital (New Canaan, Conn.)—nationally recognized not-for-profit psychiatric hospital; went live in February.

Maximizing ARRA

Medsphere has taken aggressive measures to ensure its customers maximize federal stimulus funding through rapid and affordable open-source EHR implementation. Last fall, we announced a stimulus guarantee that puts one-third of our subscription revenue at risk as a guarantee to hospital customers that we will enable them to meet federal meaningful use requirements.

Under ARRA legislation, eligible hospitals that implement and meaningfully use an EHR by the 2011 deadline may receive millions of federal dollars between 2011 and 2014. These incentives decrease gradually from 2011 to 2014 and become penalties for hospitals that have not implemented an EHR by 2015.

We have also created an ARRA ROI Stimulus Calculator so hospitals can determine how quickly they can recoup their OpenVista investment. The Calculator quickly establishes the point at which ARRA and CMS reimbursement incentives intersect with OpenVista subscription fees, demonstrating OpenVista’s affordability. The Calculator also shows that hospitals may be able to pay for the system in total with federal stimulus dollars.

In the Press

Medsphere’s effective disruption of the industry status quo, as detailed in this document, has not gone unnoticed by those whose business it is to notice new health IT trends. Below is a taste of some of the recent coverage of Medsphere and open source; for additional coverage, click here.

  • In March, Kaiser Health News writer Chris Weaver reported on Medsphere’s Stimulus Calculator and his inability to get similar price quotes from other vendors.
  • ZDNet and SmartPlanet blogger Dana Blankenhorn suggested that Medsphere’s contract with Kern Medical Center is a strong signal that open source has pulled ahead of proprietary systems in the ongoing federal stimulus funds bonanza.
  • Healthcare IT News’ Patty Enrado came to similar conclusions with regard to open source and healthcare in an editorial on Medsphere and Kern.
  • In November, Health Management Technology reported on Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County’s EHR success in “Lessons Learned . . .”  MHSC “became paperless in 18 months at the cost of $2 million.” At a time when hospitals are still reviewing their options and racing to qualify for ARRA funding, CNO Linda Simmons, RN, noted that “MHSC is looking ahead to further advance its healthcare IT after its successful open-source EHR implementation.”
  • In October, FOX Business News interviewed our CEO on the importance of EHRs to effective patient care and the potential health IT offers in terms of maximizing revenue and managing costs. Click here for a link to the Doyle news clip or a full transcript.

Ongoing Industry Recognition

The following awards were bestowed on the company, and its partners and customers in 2009.

  • A 2009 AlwaysOn Global 250 Award recognized Medsphere for its role as a private, emerging technology company creating new business opportunities in high-growth markets.
  • A 2009 CIO 100 Award recognized the CIO and information technology team at Medsphere customer Midland Memorial Hospital (Midland, Tex.) for implementation of OpenVista and strategic excellence in information technology. Midland was also a finalist for a 2009 American Business (“Stevie”) Award.
  • Brooklyn-based Lutheran Healthcare honored Medsphere CEO Michael Doyle with their prestigious Sister Fedde Award in recognition of his contribution to improving the health of area residents by leading the development of open-source health technology.

Partnerships

New partnerships are significantly expanding OpenVista’s reach by dramatically broadening our sales and services capabilities.

  • Nationally, Medsphere has partnered with Vangent, Inc. a global provider of information management and strategic business process services based in Arlington, Va., whose clients include the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. This alliance represents a strategic alignment of two organizations led by key government-sector leaders: former CMS Administrator Kerry Weems now serves as senior vice president and general manager of Vangent’s Health Solutions division; our board chair, Kenneth W. Kizer, MD, MPH, spearheaded the VistA EHR initiative that transformed the agency and paved the way for Medsphere’s OpenVista solution.
  • In New York, New Jersey and Florida, we are working with NITHealth to promote and implement the OpenVista solution. New York-based NITHealth is responsible for the IT system at Hoboken University Medical Center, which contracted with Medsphere for OpenVista.
  • To meet the needs of critical access hospitals, Medsphere has partnered with Dallas-based Phoenix Health Systems. Phoenix Health includes OpenVista in a Total IT Solution that is packaged to meet the unique requirements of resource-challenged rural hospitals. In March 2010 Medsphere announced a contract between Phoenix Health and Columbia Basin Hospital in Washington state for implementation of the Total IT Solution and OpenVista.
  • In the Chicago area, we work with the Acacia Group to identify hospitals that are a good fit for OpenVista and prepared to implement the solution rapidly in advance of the federal stimulus funding.
  • We are also partnering with MD Resources, a Fresno, Calif.-based business development and sourcing company that has included OpenVista in its services portfolio.

Personnel News

  • To meet expanding contractual obligations—including millions of dollars in new work orders from the Indian Health Service—Medsphere has added many new and highly skilled employees.
  • Other team members continue to be active as thought leaders and advocates for healthcare improvement. Our board chair, Dr. Kizer, a longtime member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, was elected a National Academy of Public Administration fellow late last year. Repeatedly voted one of the "100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare" (Modern Healthcare), he continues to advocate for the well-being of the men and women who serve our country, most recently testifying before Congress on behalf of Walter Reed Hospital patients.

About Medsphere and OpenVista

Learn More

More information about the company and OpenVista is available at medsphere.com.

All you need to know about the Healthcare Open Source Ecosystem can be found at medsphere.org.

Click here to contact Medsphere.