Nashville, Tenn., and Columbia, S.C. - Informatics Corporation of America (ICA) announces a strategic alliance with Companion Data Services, LLC (CDS) to offer a solution that integrates with and builds upon existing clinical systems to create a unified electronic health record. ICA and CDS will offer heath care consortiums and state agencies the capability to electronically move clinical information among disparate health care information systems and facilitate access to and retrieval of clinical data to provide higher quality, patient-centered care.
The synergies between CDS and ICA are significant. ICA offers the CareAlignTM application that provides health care providers an aggregated view of clinical data through their interoperability platform. CDS provides a world-class, state-of-the-art data center that features the physical and data security elements and disaster-recovery capabilities necessary for today's health care data protection requirements. Together, ICA and CDS will provide health information exchange functionality to some of the nation's leading integrated delivery networks, Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs), and Health Information Exchanges (HIEs).
ICA's expertise demonstrates fast implementation, flexible data storage, best-in-class patient matching, comprehensive auditing, easy-to-use clinical portal, and communication and workflow tools, while CDS offers secure data center hosting services with virtually unlimited capacity. CDS hosts numerous applications provided by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and commercial customers, and is projected to process more than 785 million Medicare claims in 2009.
"CDS continually seeks innovative and emerging technical solutions to improve business performance by discovering what its customers need, imagining the technical solution, and then implementing solutions in a cost-effective, world-class manner," said Steve Hammons, CDS' chief operating officer. "ICA's CareAlign product is designed to meet the needs of the emerging health information technology initiatives, including HIEs, RHIOs and the many consortiums around the country. ICA's quality product, coupled with CDS' hosting security, safeguarding and experience, gives us a successful combination."
Gary Zegiestowsky, ICA's CEO, said, "In the national discussions surrounding health care reforms, health care IT is capturing center stage, with consensus that it can help to reduce costs, increase clinical communication, and improve the quality of care. The ability to deploy systems that add value to long-term investments in existing health care information technology is crucial, and the collective capabilities of ICA and CDS represent a powerhouse of resources."
About Companion Data Services
Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., CDS offers data center hosting in a technically focused environment. Developing relationships and encouraging collaboration ensures achievement of its customers' program objectives. CDS provides leadership in technology to achieve its customers' business success. CDS and its parent company operate one of the largest health care insurance data center sites in the world in support of Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program and Medicare Advantage health plans, as well as other private health plans. For more information, visit http://www.companiondataservices.com/.
About Informatics Corporation of America
ICA offers innovative technology developed by practicing physicians and informatics professionals at Vanderbilt Medical Center to the broader health care market. Its flexible architecture integrates legacy systems data to provide a comprehensive clinical view of patient records within Integrated Delivery Systems and Health Information Exchanges/Regional Health Information Organizations. Today, ICA is unmatched in its ability to deliver a cost-effective, proven solution that not only leverages complete data across clinical settings to aid decision-making and improve patient outcomes, but also uses real-time clinical information when and where it is needed. For more information, visit http://www.icainformatics.com/.