MEDHOST to Unveil House-wide Process Management System at HIMSS

MEDHOST, provider of leading healthcare throughput and emergency department software, will provide the first look at its new house-wide process management solution, called MEDHOST HD, during the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference and Exhibition Feb. 21-23 in booth #3831. MEDHOST HD provides a clearer picture of hospital operations, allowing healthcare executives to make data-driven decisions in the management of their facilities. Costly issues, such as patients in observation status, length of stays (LOS) that exceed the number of reimbursed days, and patients remaining in higher acuity beds than needed, are clearly identified and tracked, enabling proactive mitigation of financial risk.

Many hospitals lose money because of operational inefficiencies, increasing patient volumes and declining reimbursements. Compounding these issues, most hospitals are operating with fewer resources and smaller budgets. MEDHOST HD is the first-ever solution that helps track specific operational pain points, which left untreated, can cripple financial performance and throughput. MEDHOST HD, built with Microsoft® Silverlight®, the most nimble and robust of Web technologies, allows hospital leaders to easily identify high-level departmental process problems and drill down to patient-specific details, so they can understand the root cause of issues and provide the most appropriate resources or direction.

Ron Short, Vice President of Operations at Longview, Texas-based Good Shepherd Medical Center, is one of the MEDHOST Customers who helped shape MEDHOST HD’s functionality and features.

“There are very few solutions today geared for executive-level operations management of patient flow that provide real-time data to understand how work is really being done, visualize the impact, and allow for strategic adjustments. You simply can’t afford to make today’s management decisions based on last week’s data,” said Short. “MEDHOST HD identifies process management issues and detects outliers, both of which affect an organization’s financial health. Solutions like this, when incorporated into daily operations, will help hospitals reach and sustain profitability and operate more effectively.”

Some features of MEDHOST HD include:
•     Active filters that identify patients at risk for financial liability (ex. those approaching, or over, DRG-based LOS and patients in observation)
•     Easy identification of patients awaiting hospital discharge
•     The ability to recognize and recommend appropriate bed placements for internal transfers

“MEDHOST HD is a natural extension of our existing solutions, and we’re extremely excited because it has the power to address problems that continually challenge hospitals both operationally and financially,” said Craig Herrod, president of MEDHOST. “Until now, hospital leaders lacked visibility into systemic inefficiencies and throughput issues. With MEDHOST HD, they gain access to real-time information at a more global level so they can manage patient flow in the inpatient areas, better utilize beds, ensure full reimbursement, and track and address outliers.”

In addition to previewing MEDHOST HD at HIMSS, MEDHOST is sponsoring a product pavilion session, where Good Shepherd Medical Center’s Ron Short will present on Tuesday, Feb. 22 from 3:15 to 4 p.m. Titled, “The Ripple Effect of Patient Flow – How to Stay Above Water in an Environment of Increased Demand and Decreased Reimbursements,” the presentation will highlight how hospitals can leverage technology to manage LOS and refine the patient flow process. The pavilion is located in Hall A, booth #1185.

The beta version of MEDHOST HD goes live at Good Shepherd Medical Center in April 2011, and general availability is slated for 4Q11.

MEDHOST currently serves more than 240 facilities, including large IDNs, rural and suburban hospitals, and several academic facilities across the U.S. MEDHOST easily integrates with leading hospital information systems, including MEDITECH, Cerner, Siemens and McKesson, Eclipsys, CPSI and HMS.

Contact: Christina Baldwin
Jetstream Public Relations, Inc.
972.788.9456, ext. 302
baldwin@jetstreampr.com