Microsoft Healthcare Users Group and Microsoft Announce Winners of 2004 MS-HUG Annual Awards

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today at the HIMSS 2004 Conference & Exhibition, Microsoft Corp. and Microsoft Healthcare Users Group (MS-HUG) announced the winners of the 2004 MS-HUG Awards. The annual awards from MS-HUG, a part of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), recognize individuals and organizations in the healthcare industry for their innovative development on, and use of, Microsoft(R) technology to provide tangible business benefits and improved patient care.

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"We are pleased to recognize the efforts of these organizations and individuals to improve the overall efficiency and productivity of the healthcare industry using proven technology," said David Lubinski, managing director of the Healthcare and Life Sciences Group at Microsoft. "Microsoft commends the demonstrated commitment of this year's winners to improving patient care through the development and implementation of innovative solutions."

"This year's MS-HUG winners epitomize the successful use of technology to address key challenges faced by the healthcare industry," said Andrew Fowler, chairman of the MS-HUG Advisory Committee. "Each winner has demonstrated an ability to increase value across an organization by reducing the complexities faced by healthcare workers on a daily basis."

Winners of the 2004 MS-HUG awards were announced Tuesday, Feb. 24, at the Microsoft booth (No. 3069) during the HIMSS conference. A panel of healthcare industry judges selected winners for Customer of the Year Awards based on the entrants' innovative deployment and utilization of Microsoft-based technology solutions. Judges selected the ISV winners after viewing finalist demonstrations at the Microsoft booth.

The customer winners for 2004 are as follows: -- Microsoft Clinic of the Year: Central Utah Multi-Specialty Clinic, Provo, Utah. With a high growth rate (more than doubling the number of physician specialists on staff in less than two years), multispecialty focus and multiple sites, Central Utah Multi-Specialty Clinic (CUMC) had significant challenges in managing patients' clinical records. CUMC implemented Allscripts Healthcare Solutions' TouchWorks electronic medical record system, which has dramatically reduced transcription costs and increased transcription efficiency by 96 percent, reduced and eliminated chart pulls by creating a paperless environment, increased coding accuracy by improving documentation through electronic medical records (EMRs), reduced physical space requirements for patient charts, and improved access to information. CUMC estimates an $8.2 million savings over the next five years through increased efficiency. -- Microsoft Health Plan of the Year: Molina Healthcare Inc., Long Beach, Calif. Molina Healthcare Inc. has health plans in California, Washington, Utah and Michigan, and 21 primary care clinics in Northern and Southern California. To successfully expand its program for Medicaid recipients, Molina needed to implement new plans online quickly and serve all stakeholders effectively. The organization implemented Quality Care Solutions Inc.'s (QCSI) QMACS core claims system, a healthcare administration solution. QMACS has supported Molina's rapid growth by improving operational efficiency. With QMACS, Molina has been able to accommodate a near doubling in Medicaid membership, seen its claims volume increase 350 percent in three years, and the number of claims loaded electronically increase 600 percent in three years. -- Microsoft Hospital of the Year: Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Sarasota, Fla. Sarasota Memorial Hospital is the second-largest acute care public hospital in Florida. By implementing the Sunrise Clinical Manager from Eclipsys Corp., Sarasota Hospital has decreased lab turnaround times for urgent physician orders by 89 percent and for routine orders by 53 percent. The solution has resulted in an estimated $2 million in annual savings through elimination of printed documents and reduced labor costs. Sunrise Clinical Manager is an enterprisewide information solution that combines an electronic patient record with computer-assisted physician order entry, which enables physicians to enter orders quickly without disrupting their workflow, get up-to-date results immediately throughout the continuum of care, collaborate in real time to share their medical knowledge, and have full remote access to the information they need any time. -- Microsoft Nurse of the Year: Jennifer Lane, RN, BSN, Swedish Medical Center, Seattle. Swedish Medical Center's emergency department staff's efforts to work more productively were hampered by a complex manual paper-based data collection and distribution process. Deploying Cap Gemini Ernst & Young's clinical forms and collaboration solution on Tablet PCs connected to a wireless network enabled Swedish's emergency services staff to reallocate administrative time to more patient care, reduce errors in patient recordkeeping and perform trends analysis on the department's emergency care processes. The hospital expects a 137 percent internal rate of return and payback in eight months; emergency staff will spend an average of 12 percent less time documenting emergency care for each patient; emergency room doctors and nurses will spend an average of 7 percent less time caring for each patient because of greater patient knowledge; and emergency patients will spend an average of 5 percent less time per visit in the hospital. Jennifer Lane helped move the solution forward by creating forms, developing a process for the pilot implementation, assisting with the definition of data used and auditing captured data. -- Microsoft Pharma of the Year: PediaMed Pharmaceuticals Inc., Florence, Ky. PediaMed Pharmaceuticals develops and markets prescription pharmaceutical medicines that improve the health and well-being of children. With the large number of potential products and contacts PediaMed needs to track, the organization needed a user-friendly tracking tool with rapid access to business and corporate development data. Users of the PediaMed Business Development Tracker can capture necessary information, do quick searches and obtain relevant details on a contact or business discussion. The solution has increased organizational efficiency, time management, contact management, prioritization and reporting. -- Microsoft Physician of the Year (a tie): Dr. Kevin J. Doody, Center for Assisted Reproduction, Bedford, Texas; Dr. Jeffrey W. Johnson, Central Utah Multi-Specialty Clinic, Provo, Utah. Dr. Kevin J. Doody is the president and founder of the Center for Assisted Reproduction, which staffs 41 employees in four basic areas: medical staff, laboratory staff, front office and the billing department. The company implemented a digital wireless office solution to streamline the entire patient documentation process. The new system has decreased patients' wait time for appointments and test results so dramatically that the center has seen a 20 percent increase in patient volume without an increase in staffing. The solution also cut physical documentation time in half. The center has seen a savings and profit increase of almost 210 times the expense of the software. Dr. Jeffrey W. Johnson was heavily involved in the Central Utah Multi-Specialty Clinic's (CUMC) search for an EMR solution as a board member, member of the executive committee, chairman of the CUMC IT committee and executive physician responsible for supporting the project. The CUMC implemented Allscripts' TouchWorks electronic medical record system, which has dramatically reduced transcription costs and increased transcription efficiency by 96 percent, increased filing productivity by 800 percent, reduced and eliminated chart pulls by creating a paperless environment, increased coding accuracy by improving documentation through EMR, reduced physical space requirements for patient charts, and improved access to information. CUMC estimates an $8.2 million savings over the next five years because of increased efficiency. CUMC implemented the solution in 90 days, not the typical nine-month industry target. The ISV winners for 2004 are as follows: Administrative/Financial Systems -- NextGen Healthcare Information Systems Inc.: NextGen EPM. NextGen EPM contains a diverse range of functionalities designed to meet billing, reporting, registration and scheduling needs for healthcare practices. It includes measures for quality assurance in managing patient financials and customizable scheduling and billing processes to streamline clinical workflow, cut costs and increase operational efficiency. Acute Care: Clinical/Patient Information Systems -- VISICU Inc.: eICU Solution. The eICU solution uses intensivist resources with high-fidelity telemedicine and computer software. Intensivists and critical care nurses can use a centralized eICU facility to monitor and manage ICU patients in multiple hospitals around the clock when the attending physician is not at the bedside. These enabling tools and care model reduce clinical complications and mortality, and reduce ICU and hospital lengths of stay, improving patient throughput and reducing costs. The eICU solution provides business value by providing potential market share improvements, significant financial benefits, and improved productivity and efficiency by reducing clinical complications and mortality, ICU and hospital lengths of stay, and costs. Ambulatory Care: Clinical/Patient Information Systems -- NextGen Healthcare Information Systems Inc.: NextGen EMR. NextGen EMR facilitates clinical workflow and manages outcomes data to improve the quality of care, reduce risk and increase revenue. It creates and maintains complete medical records with minimal effort while streamlining workflow, controlling utilization and managing patient care outcome data. Enabling Technologies -- Synergistix Inc.: Call Activity Tracking System (C.A.T.S.). C.A.T.S. is a pharmaceutical sales force automation system that can run on any laptop, pen-enabled subnotebook or Tablet PC running Windows. The solution provides lists of targets and contact information for doctors and institutions, sorting and filter capabilities for daily and weekly planning, and market data for client and competitor products. It is compatible with Prescription Drug Marketing Act rules and guidelines for sample distribution and digital signature capture, and allows users to track the kinds of calls that are most successful for each sales representative. About MS-HUG

Microsoft Healthcare Users Group is a membership community within the HIMSS Users Group Alliance Program, providing technology leadership and knowledge for improving healthcare delivery and efficiency. The alliance provides HIMSS with targeted industry expertise to help broaden its professional and industry contributions, and MS-HUG members with the opportunity to reach new markets with educational and professional development programs.

MS-HUG is the leading healthcare industry forum for exchanging ideas, promoting learning and sharing solutions for information systems using Microsoft technologies. MS-HUG works to provide industry leadership, drive appropriate standards and develop associated requirements in support of healthcare solutions. The diverse membership of MS-HUG is united by a shared interest in implementing vendor- and user-developed software based on Microsoft technology to improve quality and efficiency in healthcare. More information can be found on MS-HUG's Web site at http://www.mshug.org/ .

About HIMSS

HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) is the healthcare industry's membership organization exclusively focused on providing leadership for the optimal use of healthcare information technology and management systems for the betterment of human health. Founded in 1961 with offices in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other locations across the country, HIMSS represents more than 13,000 individual members and some 150 member corporations that employ more than 1 million people. HIMSS shapes and directs healthcare public policy and industry practices through its advocacy, educational and professional development initiatives designed to promote information and management systems' contributions to quality patient care. Visit http://www.himss.org/ for more information. HIMSS. The Source for Healthcare Information.

About Microsoft in Healthcare and Life Sciences

Microsoft provides standards-based products and technology to help the healthcare and life sciences industries break down information barriers between the disparate IT environments across provider organizations and physicians, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, government and private-sector employers, health insurers, and consumers. With Microsoft technology in place, healthcare organizations and individual workers collaborate more effectively, are more productive, and are able to spend less time managing their IT infrastructure and more time delivering quality patient care.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any device.

NOTE: Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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