NORTHSTAR ANESTHESIA EXPANDS IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SHAREABLE INK ANESTHESIA RECORD TO 34 HOSPITALS NATIONWIDE

NORTHSTAR ANESTHESIA EXPANDS IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE SHAREABLE INK ANESTHESIA RECORD TO 34 HOSPITALS NATIONWIDE

First Deployment at Huguley Memorial Medical Center Demonstrates
Benefits to Both Hospital and Providers

Nashville, TN and Arlington, TX (January 25, 2011) — Shareable Ink, the leading provider of enterprise-grade digital pen and paper applications for healthcare, and NorthStar Anesthesia, a large, data-driven provider group, announced that Huguley Memorial Medical Center (HMMC) has successfully deployed the Shareable Ink® Anesthesia Record™. HMMC, a 213-bed acute care hospital in Fort Worth, TX, is the first deployment of a nationwide implementation that includes more than 34 hospitals serviced by NorthStar Anesthesia.

The success at HMMC is remarkable because traditional anesthesia EMR systems have typically fared poorly due to cost and the negative impact to productivity. As a result, less than 10 percent of the anesthesia market has purchased EMRs, and an even smaller portion of anesthesiologists actually uses them intraoperatively. As a result, the benefits that are possible with discrete electronic data elude many hospitals and provider groups.

In contrast, the Shareable Ink Anesthesia Record represents a natural approach to electronic anesthesia records that captures discrete useful data with no change in workflow. Using a specialized ballpoint pen with an optical recorder that communicates with powerful servers that are hosted offsite, the Shareable Ink Anesthesia Record enables anesthesia providers to document in their customary fashion with no loss of productivity. Moreover, availability of discrete data allows business rules to deliver immediate feedback to the provider and ensure that records are complete and immediately available.

Hospitals benefit from instant access to patient records, the capturing of key quality metrics, and high physician satisfaction. In addition, Shareable Ink’s automation eliminates the need for labor-intensive paper scanning and manual “spot-checking” of charts.

“The Shareable Ink Anesthesia Record gives us the opportunity for 100 percent automated chart review of all anesthesia quality metrics, including the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) measures that we report to CMS,” said Tammy Collier, MSB, CNAA, BC, FACHE, Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services at Huguley Memorial Medical Center. “Even better, the Shareable Ink approach proactively improves compliance by providing clinicians with immediate feedback during the documentation process, and that helps promote complete records.”

For provider groups, Shareable Ink Anesthesia Record streamlines the billing process and enables claims to be submitted without the charge lag typically associated with traditional paper records, saving large provider groups hundreds of thousands of dollars each day. In addition, Shareable Ink can deliver valuable insight into a group’s operations from an efficiency and quality standpoint.

“With more than 380 providers across 34 different hospitals and surgery centers, it’s important for us to be able to measure performance and quality of care in a standardized way — rather than relying on anecdotes and retroactive review of charts,” said Brian P. Woods, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of NorthStar Anesthesia. “Our Shareable Ink-powered anesthesia records are provider-intuitive tools that improve our documentation compliance and give us the data we need to manage anesthesia practices, turning down the ‘drama’ in the everyday OR.”

“Our team is thrilled with the success at Huguley Memorial Medical Center, which demonstrates Shareable Ink’s effectiveness in helping healthcare organizations become more electronic,” said Stephen S. Hau, President and CEO of Shareable Ink. “Furthermore, Shareable Ink has overcome the traditional challenge of providing software that meets the hospital’s goals for electronic data and that physicians also love to use.”

About Shareable Ink
Shareable Ink helps healthcare organizations of all sizes transition to electronic health records without disruption to workflow or burdensome IT projects. Its software platform incorporates enterprise‐grade digital pen and paper technology featuring Anoto functionality. Shareable Ink enables clinicians to continue documenting in the fastest, most natural manner, while populating the EHR with discrete data, as if typed with a keyboard. Built‐in analytics give hospitals and practices insight into their operations — from a clinical, quality and efficiency standpoint — all previously inaccessible from traditional paper records. For additional information, visit www.shareableink.com.

About NorthStar Anesthesia

NorthStar Anesthesia’s mission is to take a multi-dimensional approach to the responsibilities of excellent patient care, customer service, and partnerships with healthcare facilities. NorthStar Anesthesia’s physicians and nurse anesthetists are committed to efficient anesthesia care teams that foster the integration of multiple disciples to provide optimal patient care. We strive to enhance services provided to patients, surgeons and their support teams, and hospital administrations in ways that are consistent with our mission and core principles of honesty, integrity and clinical excellence. Learn more at www.northstaranesthesia.com.

   

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