Greater Rochester IPA Signs with Healthvision for Clinical Information Data Exchange; GRIPA Becomes Third Connected Healthcare Community Client in New York

GRIPA represents Healthvision's third client to build a connectedhealthcare community in New York State. The Taconic Health InformationNetwork and Community RHIO in the greater Hudson Valley signed withHealthvision in September 2004, and the Adirondack Regional CommunityHealth Exchange (ARCHIE) became a customer in October 2005.

GRIPA's mission is the delivery of the right health care at theright time in the right setting. Their efforts are to effectivelyspend healthcare dollars to focus on the efficient coordination ofcare, useful reporting, analysis and physician feedback. Clinicalintegration is another example of GRIPA's commitment to this mission.

"Too often, physicians don't have complete information about apatient," said GRIPA Chief Medical Officer, Eric Nielsen, MD. "Whetherit's a list of the medications that a patient is on, lab results, orimaging studies, it's imperative that physicians have a comprehensiveview of all of the relevant information, regardless of where thatperson has received care. We expect that having that information andclinical guidelines at the point of care will dramatically improvepatient outcomes, while reducing the cost of care."

At the heart of the effort is a clinical information dataexchange. With easy to use, highly secure web-based access to patientinformation and clinical guidelines, this virtual electronic networkwill securely allow physicians to collaborate with each other and thepatients they're treating. With patient approval, this informationwill be available to providers at the point of care. Tools includingePrescribing and Referral Management will assist physicians inmanaging the information.

In addition, EMR interoperability services will be in place toenable users of EMRs from multiple vendors to be able to easily sharepatient-centric information without having to replace current EMRsystems.

By providing the clinicians in the community with the rightpatient information and tools at the point of care, GRIPA can helpthem make more informed decisions. "Clinical Integration is our mostimportant organizational imperative in 2006 and beyond," said GreggCoughlin, GRIPA's president and CEO. "We selected Healthvision becausethey have the experience, the technology and the best practices tohelp get us to where we need to be, quickly and cost-effectively."

It's expected that by the end of 2006 more than 150,000 patientsand 400 physicians will take part in this innovative initiative."We're very excited to be GRIPA's technology partner on thisinitiative," said Decker. "GRIPA's work is groundbreaking, and we'reproud to be part of it."

About GRIPA

GRIPA is a partnership of physicians and hospitals in Monroe,Wayne, and Ontario Counties of the Greater Rochester region, including506 private physicians and 99 employed physicians, as well as theRochester General Hospital, Rochester General Physicians Organization,Newark Wayne Community Hospital, and the Wayne County PhysiciansOrganization.

About Healthvision

Healthvision creates RHIOs and Connected Healthcare Communities byhelping market leaders quickly and cost-effectively plan for anddeliver patient-centric information via shared information exchanges.Healthvision's capabilities cover the spectrum of needs ranging from asuite of strategic consulting services to web-based infrastructure andapplications -- all designed to enhance decision-making andeffectiveness. The Healthvision Interoperability Platform andapplications improve access to clinical information and enhancecoordination and collaboration of care.

The company's Web-based infrastructure, e-healthSOURCE, is themost widely used in the industry, hosting more than 8.0 million uniquepatient records. Additionally, more than 350 healthcare organizationsuse the company's solutions to make health care easier for their keyaudiences -- a number that represents more than 30,000 clinicians(including 11,000 physicians), thousands of patients and millions ofconsumers. A privately held company, based in Irving, Texas,Healthvision was formed in July 1999. For more information, visitwww.healthvision.com.