Meridian Health Selects ICA’s CareAlign™ Solution as “Connected Health” Technology Platform

March 16, health 2010, 05:07 PM — The Associated Press pointed out the obvious today in a piece headlined “China without Google: ‘a lose-lose scenario’.”

The piece says losing permission to operate in China means Google won’t be able to take Street View pictures, and its partnerships with cell phone companies and others would suffer. There are both direct and indirect downsides to Google.

But I think the downsides are far greater for the Chinese government.

Governments have long been forced to choose between authoritarianism and wealth. Authoritarian countries were poor. Capitalist democracies were rich.

Since the 1980s, China has tried to have it both ways: Suppress and control the people like a two-bit, third rate authoritarian government in the same category as, say, Burma or Cuba, but get rich on the spoils of capitalism like, say, the UK or Japan.

China has been getting away with it. The reason is above all its enormous population. Access to Chinese markets makes foreign multinationals and governments alike go all wobbly at the knees with greed. There’s so much money to be made. Why allow little annoyances like the systematic trampling of human rights get in the way of making money?

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NASHVILLE, pilule
Tenn
.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Informatics Corporation of America (ICA) (www.icainformatics.com), oncologist
unmatched in its ability to deliver a cost-effective, anaemia
proven solution that leverages complete data across clinical settings to aid decision-making and improve patient outcomes, today announced its CareAlignâ„¢ Solution has been selected by Meridian Health (http://www.meridianhealth.com/). CareAlignâ„¢ will connect internal and external health care participants across Meridian Health, including five, not-for-profit hospitals and its affiliated healthcare companies and providers spanning Central to Southern New Jersey.

Rebecca Weber, Senior Vice President, CIO for Meridian Health, which has been named one of Fortune’s 2010 100 Best Companies to Work For and named Healthcare’s 100 Most Wired for the past ten years, states, “Meridian Health is committed to improving the health and well-being of the residents of New Jersey by providing quality, patient-centered health care services. Providing a state of the art integrated patient clinical record will further enhance the quality and safety of care provided to our community. With the implementation of ICA’s CareAlign™ Solution, this integrated patient health record will be available to the Physician/Clinician whenever and wherever it is needed to deliver optimized patient care.”

Meridian Health, which includes Jersey Shore University Medical Center and K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, and Southern Ocean Community Hospital in Manahawkin, is among the state’s most comprehensive not-for-profit health care providers, with health care services that include: home care and hospice agencies; skilled nursing and subacute care facilities; physician practices; rehabilitation and fitness centers; occupational health services; home medical equipment and in-home safety technology; ambulance and medical transportation services; as well as outpatient laboratory, imaging, and surgery centers.

ICA’s CareAlign™ analytics capabilities are based on technology developed over 17 years by practicing physicians and informatics professionals at Tennessee-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center. This technology, now in use at HIEs throughout the country, will enhance Meridian’s ability to evaluate care provided and develop quality initiatives to constantly improve care within and across its five hospital systems and other facilities.

Gary Zegiestowsky, CEO of ICA, states, “Meridian is focused on the delivery of high quality care across its growing Integrated Health Network, and they selected our technology to support this expansion. As Meridian broadens its discussions for a regional HIE in central and south Jersey, the ICA technology solution is an ideal fit because it has already demonstrated its value to HIEs in both rural and urban settings. Our track record for generating rapid, high physician adoption and demonstrable results is becoming a standard for the industry.”

About Informatics Corporation of America (ICA)

Informatics Corporation of America (ICA) was formed to take innovative technology developed by practicing clinicians and informatics professionals at Vanderbilt Medical Center to the broader health care market. ICA’s solution enables interoperability of existing hospital and clinic systems to deliver a comprehensive electronic health record and tools ranging from a physician portal to secure messaging to disease dashboards. By providing clinicians with a comprehensive longitudinal patient record, ICA empowers caregivers to make informed decisions at the point of care, helps health care enterprises achieve operational efficiencies, and facilitates patient care across multiple providers and settings. Visit www.icainformatics.com.

About Meridian Health

Meridian Health is a family of not-for-profit health care organizations comprising Jersey Shore University Medical Center and K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Southern Ocean County Community Hospital, Manahawkin, and Meridian Partner Companies that include home health services, skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers, ambulatory care, ambulance services, and occupational health centers located throughout Monmouth and Ocean counties. Visit: www.meridianhealth.com