Alegent Health and Siemens Partner to Create a Showcase for Innovative Medical Technology

In September 2002, Alegent Health and Siemens announced a 10-year strategic alliance that will make the Omaha metropolitan area a regional leader and showcase for innovative medical technology. One of the key projects in the agreement is the development of the new Alegent Health Lakeside Hospital. This new facility, opening on August 2, 2004, will be a full-service, digitally driven "smart" hospital, designed and built from the ground up with the latest Siemens healthcare information technology (IT) networks and medical imaging technology, including the most advanced X-ray, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance (MR), ultrasound, mammography, and nuclear medicine systems. The following IT innovations will streamline workflow and efficiencies, enable electronic health records and drive anytime, anywhere access to information.

Soarian(r) Clinical Access – Soarian Clinical Access is a longitudinal clinical repository that enables users across departments to view patient histories, demographics, allergies, results and images - and they can view this information from any Siemens syngo(r)-speaking workplace, reporting workstation, or machine with a standard Internet browser. Built with an open design, Soarian Clinical Access not only brings together results and other patient information from multiple information systems into a single comprehensive, object-oriented database, but also interfaces with a healthcare provider's Picture Archiving Communications System (PACS).

SIENET(r) PACS – In a PACS network, digital images are stored on computer memory and can be retrieved in seconds. This reduces the time between exam and therapy, and has the potential to impact the overall length of hospital stay. With digital imaging, doctors can immediately look up a patient's new and past images on a PC, instead of waiting for films to be de-archived from a shelf and delivered. In addition, a doctor who needs a specialist's opinion can electronically transmit a digital X-ray or other images to a hospital or clinic anywhere in the world. The most widely installed PACS network in the world, Siemens SIENET PACS supports the ability to diagnose across various modalities and lab systems. Siemens goal is continuous efficiency as well as quality improvements for its customers as the result of maximum modularity, minimal interface losses, and the highest degree of synergy in networking with overall medical and administrative workflows.

Soarian(r) HIM – A package of integrated solutions designed to lead Health Information Management (HIM) into a new, fully paperless era. Soarian HIM extends the reach of Soarian workflow technology to address the increasingly burdensome challenges that today’s HIM departments face, including coding and chart-completion backlogs, staff shortages and turnover, and regulatory compliance. With the growing need for competitive healthcare organizations to support an electronic health record, Soarian HIM was designed to help providers improve productivity, drive throughput, and optimize HIM business processes across the healthcare enterprise. Soarian HIM includes the following components, which can be implemented in a modular fashion:

• Online Medical Record – Eliminates the paper chart and enhances data capture and sharing while supporting HIPAA and other regulatory compliance.
• Completion Management – Enables HIM supervisors to identify and remedy medical record deficiencies and allows clinicians to more efficiently review, annotate, edit and sign their medical records from a single login-at the hospital or remotely.
• Coding Management – With more and more coding done remotely, Soarian HIM’s Web-based solution provides intuitive workflow so that coding supervisors can easily assign work, monitor coding productivity and generate reports.
• Disclosure Management – A scalable, Web-based application that allows hospitals and health systems to efficiently manage non-TPO (treatment, payment and operations) disclosures while supporting HIPAA compliance.
• Executive HIM Scorecard – Enables HIM executives to proactively monitor chart operations and related workflow to minimize impact on the revenue cycle while supporting regulatory compliance.
• Release Management – Manages processes associated with release of information requests.

Siemens Pharmacy – Siemens Pharmacy solution provides complete support for the Pharmacy department from an operational, clinical and management perspective, helping to optimize patient safety, streamline workflow and reduce operational costs. The system helps optimize patient safety by improving the quality of medication therapy through pharmacist intervention documentation, clinical conflict screening, drug-lab clinical rules, and the Siemens Rules Engine, a sophisticated clinical decision support tool that provides timely alerts and reminders. Siemens Pharmacy also helps streamline workflow by automating the medication distribution process and interfacing with third-party dispensing devices, facilitating improved productivity and reduced operational costs.

INVISION(r) – Rich in functionality, INVISION is the most widely used health information solution in history, offering integrated support to help streamline workflows across clinical, financial and administrative functions. INVISION clinical applications make critical information available when and where it's needed, with embedded support for point-of-care clinical decisions. Online alerts notify clinicians of medication conflicts, allergies, drug-to-drug interactions, duplicate checking, and other patient safety considerations. Through integration with the Siemens Rules Engine, this feature can include patient-specific alerts, such as notification of lab results and diagnoses, and can incorporate complex data calculations. INVISION financial applications currently provide integrated support for patient financial services (registration and billing) at hundreds of U.S. healthcare facilities.

Siemens Biometric Mouse and ID Center - Biometric technology enables clinicians and other users to authenticate themselves on any network workstation through a fingerprint scan. The system then automatically presents each user with the applications accessible to them through a set of workstation icons, which enhances physician workflow by providing quick and convenient access to information.