Client News: Oakwood Hospitals Earn National Recognition from Joint Commission

Source: Oakwood Healthcare Press Release

Two Oakwood Healthcare hospitals were named as national top performers on key quality measures by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of healthcare organizations in America.

Oakwood Heritage Hospital (OHH) in Taylor and Oakwood Southshore Medical Center (OSMC) in Trenton earned the distinction based on data reported about evidence-based clinical processes that are shown to improve care for certain conditions, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical care.

“We understand that what matters most to patients at Oakwood Healthcare’s various sites is safe, effective, patient-focused care,” said Brian Connolly, president and chief executive officer of Oakwood Healthcare, Inc. “Our entire organization has made a commitment to positive patient outcomes through evidence-based care processes. Oakwood Heritage Hospital and Oakwood Southshore Medical Center’s recognition for quality by The Joint Commission demonstrate how dedicated our physicians, employees and volunteers are in the pursuit of excellence in clinical care.”

The two hospitals are part of an elite group of just 405 U.S. hospitals and critical access hospitals across the nation that earned the distinction of top performer on key quality measures, for attaining and sustaining excellence in accountability measure performance. Only 10 hospitals in Michigan received the recognition and Oakwood Healthcare, Inc. (OHI) was the only healthcare system with two hospitals honored in the metro Detroit area.

“Today, the public expects transparency in the reporting of performance at the hospitals where they receive care,” said Mark R. Chassin, M.D., FACP, M.P.P., M.P.H., president, The Joint Commission. “The Joint Commission is shining a light on the top-performing hospitals such as Oakwood Heritage Hospital and Oakwood Southshore Medical Center, which have achieved excellence on a number of vital measures of quality of care.”

“This recognition falls right in line with Oakwood’s focused, relentless and continuous pursuit of excellence,” said Kelly C. Smith, chief operating officer of Oakwood Heritage Hospital. “The entire group of physicians and other clinicians at our hospital has been working tirelessly to exceed top decile across a multitude of quality indicators that we track for every patient, every day. Inclusion on this prestigious list—especially when so many other local hospitals were absent—speaks volumes about the dedication of the team at Heritage. I certainly am proud to work here.”

“This kind of honor goes straight to the heart of the Oakwood credo—‘The patient comes first,’” agreed Edith Hughes, president of Oakwood Southshore Medical Center. “The physicians, employees and volunteers at Oakwood Southshore are dedicated to every patient receiving excellent quality care. This award acknowledges their dedication. The Joint Commission’s stringent standards for this list demonstrate that we’ve had success in meeting the Oakwood goals for excellence in clinical care, and that translates to a high quality, safe environment for our patients.”

To be recognized as a top performer on key quality measures, an organization must have met two 95 percent performance thresholds. First, they must have achieved a composite performance of 95 percent or above after the results of all the accountability measures were factored into a single score—including measures that had fewer than 30 eligible cases or patients. They must also have met or exceeded a 95 percent performance target for every single accountability measure for which they reported data, excluding any measures with less than 30 eligible cases or patients.

More information about the list can be found in The Joint Commission’s Improving America’s Hospitals annual report and on The Joint Commission’s Quality Check website. 

Client News: Oakwood Hospitals Rank Among Metro Detroit’s Best

Source: Oakwood Healthcare System Facebook Page

• Thanks to the outstanding care provided by Oakwood’s employees and physicians, we have the privilege to announce that all four Oakwood Healthcare hospitals ranked in the top 20 in the Detroit metro area, with Oakwood Hospital & Medical Center (OHMC) at number four, according to the U.S. News & World Report metro area rankings.

• Oakwood Annapolis Hospital was ranked at 12; Oakwood Southshore Medical Center was ranked at 14 and Oakwood Heritage Hospital was ranked at 16.

• “It’s an honor to be recognized for the quality services we provide,” said Brian Connolly, president & chief executive officer of Oakwood Healthcare. “I’m proud of all of our employees who take the extra steps to ensure our patients are well-cared for and have a positive overall experience. It’s a team effort and this is a validation of that hard work.”

• Michael Geheb, MD, president Greater Dearborn Region, and chief administrator at OHMC, agrees.

• “This recognition is an honor and a testament to the dedication and commitment of our team. This level of excellence in patient care would not be possible without the collaboration of our physicians, nurses and support staff,” he said.

• U.S. News & World Report released its first-ever Best Hospitals metro area rankings in March. To be ranked as of the best in its metro area, a hospital had to score in the top 25 percent among its peers in at least one of 16 medical specialties.

OHMC was recognized as a “high-performer” in the following specialties:

•Ear, Nose & Throat
•Gastroenterology
•Geriatrics
•Gynecology
•Heart & Heart Surgery
•Kidney Disorders
•Neurology & Neurosurgery
•Orthopedics
•Pulmonology
•Urology

U.S. News & World Report created the Best Hospitals rankings program began more than 20 years ago to identify hospitals exceptionally skilled in handling the most difficult cases. Being named among these high-performing hospitals is evidence of our commitment to putting patients first and providing excellence in care to our communities.

Client News: Oakwood Wins First ‘Best' Honor for its Hospitals

Souce: Hometownlife.com via Oakwood Healthcare System Facebook Page

The Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center in Dearborn is among the top five hospitals in southeast Michigan and the highest-ranking hospital in western Wayne County, according to the U.S. News and World Report.

The publication recently released its first-ever Best Hospitals metro area rankings, and it showed that the OHMC was the fourth best hospital in the Detroit metro area, behind Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak; the Detroit Medical Center's Harper Hospital and the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

All four of the acute care hospitals operated by Oakwood Healthcare Systems were among the top 20. Oakwood Annapolis Hospital in Wayne was ranked at 12th; Oakwood Southshore Medical Center in Trenton was ranked at 14th and the Oakwood Heritage Hospital in Taylor was ranked 16th.

“It's an honor to be recognized for the quality services we provide,” said Brian Connolly, president and chief executive officer of Oakwood Healthcare. “I'm proud of all of our employees who take the extra steps to ensure our patients are well-cared for and have a positive overall experience. It's a team effort and this is a validation of that hard work.”

Eric Widner, president of the western region of Oakwood Healthcare and chief administrator at Oakwood Annapolis Hospital in Wayne, agreed.

“Our dedication and commitment to excellence in patient care would not be possible without the collaboration between physicians, nurses and the support staff,” he said.

The magazine created Best Hospitals more than 20 years ago to identify hospitals exceptionally skilled in handling the most difficult cases, such as brain tumors typically considered inoperable and delicate pancreatic procedures, according to Avery Comarow, health rankings editor for U.S. News and World Report.

“The new metro area rankings are relevant to a much wider range of healthcare consumers,” she said, adding that they are aimed primarily at consumers whose care may not demand the special expertise found only at a nationally ranked

“All of these hospitals provide first-rate care for the majority of patients, even those with serious conditions or who need demanding procedures,” said Comarow. “The new Best Hospitals metro rankings can tell you which hospitals are worth considering for most medical problems, if you live in or near a major metro area.”

The new rankings recognize 622 hospitals in or near major cities with a record of high performance in key medical specialties, including 132 of the 152 hospitals already identified as the best in the nation. There are nearly 5,000 hospitals nationwide. To be ranked in its metro area, a hospital had to score in the top 25 percent among its peers in at least one of 16 medical specialties.

Client News: Oakwood Earned Level II Trauma Center Certification

Source: The News-Herald
Written by: Richard Jenkins

Oakwood Southshore Medical Center earned Level II trauma center certification from the Michigan Department of Community Health last month.

Southshore, 5450 Fort St., is Downriver’s first hospital to earn the designation. The next-closest trauma center is Oakwood Hospital & Medical Center in Dearborn, which has Level II certification. The closest Level I trauma centers are Detroit Receiving Hospital, Henry Ford Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Michigan, all in Detroit.

Looking south, there are no trauma centers in Monroe County and three Level I centers in Toledo, Ohio. The next Level I centers to the west are the University of Michigan and C.S. Mott Children’s hospitals in Ann Arbor.

A Level II trauma center is similar to a Level I in that they both must have the resources to handle both the initial trauma and more in-depth procedures such as surgeries. However, Level I trauma centers have an additional research component.

According to Oakwood Healthcare System, patients with serious injuries require stabilization within an hour to improve their chances of survival.

“When you look at trauma care, time is of the essence,” said Kathy Kemp, Southshore trauma coordinator.  One of the big differences between trauma center and nontrauma center hospitals is the amount of planning and preparing for trauma patients.

“(Trauma care) is a system approach to the care of the patient,” Kemp said. “Whether it’s operative or nonoperative, the process has been thought of.”

Kemp said that the response time of a surgeon in a nontrauma hospital can be as long as a few hours, compared to the 15-minute maximum response time at Southshore.

“If you aren’t a trauma center, those plans aren’t in place,” she said. “It’s not that they choose to give bad care, it’s that they just aren’t put in place.”

While many of the trauma patients are going to be from car crashes, Kemp said it is surprising how many come from the fairly active sports community.

In addition to the state certification, trauma centers are subject to review by the American College of Surgeons.

Southshore has one of four emergency rooms Downriver. The others are at Oakwood Heritage Hospital in Taylor, Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital and Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital’s Center for Health Services in Brownstown Township.

Client News: Midwest Medical Center Officially Opened for Patient Service on January 3, 2011

Source: Oakwood Facebook Page

Less than two years after breaking ground, the Midwest Medical Center officially opened for patient service on Jan. 3.  Oakwood President & CEO Brian Connolly and Dr. Mark Saffer of Midwest Health Clinic were joined by Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly, Jr., Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano and Dale Watchowski of REDICO Development Company to celebrate the completion of the building project during a Dec. 15 ribbon-cutting celebration of the Midwest Medical Center, at 4700 Schaefer Rd. in downtown east Dearborn.

Located within the new Dearborn Town Center development, the Midwest Medical Center will provide citizens of Dearborn, Detroit and southeast Michigan with comprehensive healthcare services including: 24-hour walk-in urgent care, primary and multi-specialty medical care, state-of-the-art imaging technologies, and on-site laboratory and pharmacy, an operating room, enhanced corporate health and occupational medicine programs, as well as a restaurant and retail amenities.

Midwest is part of a multi-specialty corporation established by Dr. Saffer in 1981, which was acquired by Oakwood in January 2009. Dr. Saffer, who has been recognized for his innovation of healthcare delivery models, oversees the day-to-day management of all Midwest facilities and will also lead the new Dearborn center.

Client News: New Oakwood Medical Center to Open on Old Montgomery Ward’s Site Opens January 3

Source: Press & Guide Newspapers
Written by: J. Patrick Pepper

Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr., Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, Dr. Mark Saffer, president of Midwest Health Center, Brian Connolly, president and CEO of Oakwood Healthcare, and Dale Watchowski, president and CEO of REDICO pose with the topping off beam at the Dearborn Town Center development in 2009 on the site of the former Montgomery Ward. Photo by Millard Berry.

A new medical center with two of the biggest local names in healthcare is on schedule to open next month in the heart of the city’s east downtown.

Named Dearborn Town Center, the $70 million facility is located at the southeast corner of the busy Michigan Avenue-Schaefer intersection, across Schaefer from City Hall.

The complex will house offices for Midwest Health doctors, administrators and support staff, as well as Oakwood Hospital specialists. Including maintenance and other ancillary positions, there will be about 500 people working at the building at any given time, development officials say.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 15 and Jan. 3 is when the place will be open for regular business.

The completion of the project marks a corner-turning for one of the city’s marquee corners. That’s because when the Montgomery Ward that formerly occupied the site closed for business in 2001, it began six years of uncertainty.

An investor first purchased the parcel in 2001 for $1.8 million and then sold it for a profit the following year. The buyers included Talal Chahine, the founder of the defunct LaShish restaurant empire who is wanted for tax evasion, and partner Kayed Bazzi.

With Chahine on the run from federal agents and city officials unsatisfied with the ideas being proposed for the site, the city bought the building for about $3.5 million in 2005. Two years later, Southfield-based REDICO was chosen to develop the property based on a proposal to build a medical facility.
Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly, who has been a vocal advocate for the project throughout, said Monday that he’s happy to see it finally coming to fruition.

“I really think this is going to be a great thing for the businesses around here, and the facility itself is in one of the few growth industries around here,” O’Reilly said.

With its brick-and-limestone facade and curved architecture at the most visible part of the building, the 125,000 square-foot structure shares some of the aesthetics of the Montgomery Ward department store.

Also like Ward, the facility’s main entrance is at the rear of the building, putting it in closer proximity to the municipal parking deck built for the project.

The roughly $11 million deck will be paid for using tax capture revenues from the new development, which is already 96 percent leased, and any shortfalls will be made up by the developer.

REDICO will complete the project in line with projected timelines, though some of the elements in the initial development proposal have been shelved because of the economy.

Those items include senior housing, which eventually is supposed to run along the residential neighborhood to the east of the property, as well as some retail suites. Development officials said these aspects would be built when the economy improves.

Client News: Hospitals Rev Up Recycling Efforts

Source: Melissa Burden / The Detroit News

Photo Credit: Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News

Hospitals in southeastern Michigan and across the country are reprocessing everything from drill bits to surgical staplers used in operating rooms, a move that not only saves money but spares trash from landfills.

The growing recycling effort of single-use medical devices comes as hospitals strive to cut expenses and become more green-friendly. A recent Johns Hopkins University study estimates hospitals can save millions by reprocessing or resterilizing single-use medical equipment, devices that otherwise are thrown out.

U.S. health care facilities send more than 4 billion pounds of waste each year to landfills and incinerators, according to a report in Materials Management in Health Care magazine. Medical waste is five to 10 times more costly to dispose of than solid waste, experts say.

 
"Reprocessing saves over 2 million pounds of medical waste from being sent to landfills each year," said Darren J. Wennen, vice president of marketing and business development for Minnesota-based SterilMed Inc., a reprocessing company with 1,700 customers nationally and about 100 in Michigan.

Hospitals typically ship the devices to a company such as SterilMed, which decontaminates, thoroughly cleans, inspects, repackages and sterilizes them before sending the devices back to the hospital.

The St. John Providence Health System, a six-hospital system in southeastern Michigan, will save about $1.2 million this year by reprocessing, according to SterilMed.

The system's largest hospital, the 804-bed St. John Hospital & Medical Center in Detroit, will save about $400,000 by reprocessing and will keep more than 12,000 pounds of medical waste from landfills.

"Health care is just a tremendous wasteful organization," said Vicki Boyce, a clinical nurse specialist who chairs St. John Hospital's Go Green committee.

Single-use medical reprocessing — which has come under fire over patient-safety concerns but has been deemed safe by the federal government — is just one way hospitals are cutting waste. Several Metro Detroit hospitals also have growing solid-waste recycling programs, where they're able to keep thousands of tons of waste from landfills.

Reprocessing saves millions

Hospitals and health systems such as the Detroit Medical Center, Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Oakwood Healthcare Inc. and the St. Joseph Mercy Health System also are reprocessing devices, while some such as St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor have branched out to use reusable sharps' containers instead of disposable containers.

Most Michigan hospitals use reprocessed devices, said Dave Finkbeiner, senior vice president of advocacy at the Michigan Health & Hospital Association.

"Since we started the program here in 2006, we've saved more than $2 million by using reprocessed devices," said Bruce Lawrence, supply chain project manager for the eight-hospital Detroit Medical Center, which since 2006 has reprocessed 16 tons of devices such as clamps, tourniquet cuffs and electrophysiological catheters.

Over the past year, Beaumont Royal Oak sent 8,155 single-use devices to SterilMed for reprocessing, diverting 14,537 pounds from landfills and saving $500,000, said Beaumont spokesman Robert Ortlieb and Eric Tenner, manager of its central processing department. The hospital and the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers also donate working but unused medical instruments.

And hospitals increasingly are switching disposable sharps' containers that handle needles, syringes and scalpel blades for reusable containers.

Prior to making its switch four years ago, St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor had been using more than 22,000 disposable containers a year. Now the Ann Arbor hospital and hospitals in Saline and Howell collectively use about 1,500 reusable containers a year, said Wayne Root, manager of central sterile reprocessing for St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor.

And Dearborn-based Oakwood Healthcare Inc.'s four hospitals believe the move they are planning will cut up to 13 percent of its medical waste and reduce medical waste costs by up to 11 percent, said Keith Cottrell, Oakwood's resident regional manager over environmental services.

The increased acceptance among hospitals to reprocess single-use devices, though, hasn't come without some people's concerns that using refurbished devices isn't safe.

Legislation introduced last year in the state legislature would have prohibited using devices labeled for single use that had been reprocessed, but the hospital association successfully pushed to amend the law to allow hospitals to use reprocessed medical devices as long as it's done by a reprocessor registered and regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Finkbeiner said.

"The FDA has reported consistently that there is no evidence that reprocessed single-use devices … create an elevated health risk to patients," Finkbeiner said "In all, the reprocessed devices account for approximately 2 percent of all medical equipment labeled for single-use."

The U.S. Government Accountability Office also has issued reports, most recently in 2008, that confirm the safety of reprocessing.

SterilMed said its reprocessed devices are "substantially equivalent to a new product with respect to cleanliness, functionality and sterility," Wennen said.

Solid waste recycled, too
Hospitals also are expanding solid-waste recycling.

In 2009, St. John Hospital was able to cut about 10 percent from its annual waste stream by recycling 105 tons of paper, 54 tons of cardboard, six tons of single-use devices, four tons of plastic, three tons of batteries and one ton of cooking and motor oil, plus a half-ton of chemicals, Boyce said.

And last year, the University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers recycled 28 percent of its total waste stream or 2,433 tons, while Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital recycled 1.7 million pounds.

Oakwood's hospitals and two long-term care centers now partner with a vendor who recycles up to 65 percent of its solid waste, Cottrell said. An energy facility also burns some waste, captures the steam and recycles that into electricity, he said.

"The main reason we do this is because we want to be very accountable in how we manage our waste," Cottrell said.

"Managing our waste in landfills is a very responsible thing to do."

Client News: Oakwood wants to build $23M facility

Source: The Detroit News
Written by: Melissa Burden

Detroit -- Oakwood Healthcare Inc. wants to build a $23 million medical building near the Southfield Freeway and West Outer Drive, a project that would significantly expand its presence in the city.

The Dearborn-based health care system received preliminary approval from the Detroit Economic Development Corp. board to tap federal bonds to help finance the project

Plans call for a 70,000-square-foot building that would include a surgery center, space for medical services, radiology and clinical programs, according to EDC documents.

Oakwood wants to lease six acres on the northwest campus of Wayne County Community College, and the facility would serve as an education site for health students, according to the EDC. The project would create 162 job, according to EDC documents.

Paula Rivera-Kerr, a health system spokeswoman, had no information to share about the project Tuesday because "the approval process is a long way away and the project is really in the very early stages."

The college has been in discussions with Oakwood, but an agreement has not been reached, said Mike Dotson, the college's vice chancellor for campus operations.

Dotson said the college partners with all the major Metro Detroit health care systems to offer health students practical work experience.

"Any time we can partner with any of the health care systems going forward, it benefits our students, it benefits our communities," he said.

Oakwood wants to use up to $20 million in recovery zone facility bonds to fund the project, said Scott Veldhuis, a project manager for the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., which provides staff services to the EDC. The city was allocated $74.5 million in federal stimulus money for the bonds.

The project must go through more approval steps before the bonds can be issued, though it's expected that could happen by year's end, Veldhuis said.

An official with the Michigan Department of Community Health said Oakwood has not yet filed a certificate-of-need application for a surgery center in Detroit, which must be approved by state health officials before construction can begin.

Oakwood owns four hospitals, 45 primary care/specialty care sites and employs more than 9,200 employees in Metro Detroit. It has owned Midwest Health Center, an occupational medicine clinic in Midtown, since 2009.

Client News: Lynn A. Flynn, Corporate Director of Revenue Cycle at Oakwood Healthcare System Speaking at NAHAM

TOPIC:
"Integrated Workflow in Financial Clearance and Patient Access Through Automated Worklists"
Speaker:
Lynn A. Flynn, Corporate Director of Revenue Cycle
Oakwood Healthcare System

NAHAM 36th Annual Educational Conference and Exposition
Learning Lab Series II - A (Process Improvement), B (Revenue Cycle)
Saturday, May 1
2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

A significant benefit for Oakwood has been the integrated use of worklists and managed care rules throughout the scheduling, financial clearance, and patient check-in processes. In this session, learn how the application of automated work lists—applied to and integrated into the access workflow—aids in financial clearance, improved collections, and greater customer (patient) satisfaction.

(The 36th Annual Educational Conference and Exposition has 5 Concurrent Learning Labs Sessions which include more than 25 workshops covering a diverse array of topics.) View the conference brochure (PDF) here.

PRESS RELEASE: Oakwood Healthcare System Partners with Unibased Systems Architecture to Streamline Healthcare Consumer Access to Care

Chesterfield, MO., March 23, 2010: Unibased Systems Architecture, Inc. (Unibased), the leading provider of enterprise-wide resource management solutions, today announced that Oakwood Healthcare System has selected its consumer portal, Consumer Access and Scheduling for Healthcare (CASH), to simplify and expedite access to services. Unibased’s CASH provides consumers enhanced flexibility and instant access to healthcare services during these times of busy, on-the-go patient lifestyles. The web application is fully integrated with Unibased’s ForSite2020® product suite and provides 24/7 access to scheduling and registration, eliminating the usual impediments consumers experience in obtaining their healthcare needs.

“Improving convenience and streamlining access to care for our patients is an extremely important and ongoing effort for Oakwood Healthcare”, stated Lynn Flynn, Oakwood Healthcare’s Corporate Director of Revenue Cycle. “The consumer portal from Unibased is going to be a powerful addition to our corporate access center and will give patients the flexibility they need to be more informed and in charge of their healthcare delivery. We are excited about all of the opportunities this will provide to our patients and providers alike as we continue to meet their changing needs and priorities in these times of busy lifestyles and increased demand.”

According to Larry Covington, Unibased’s President and CEO, “Today’s healthcare consumer demands convenience. They expect more patient-friendly services that provide more information about treatment options, quality and price. Unibased’s CASH is a completely integrated web-based patient portal designed to improve communications between consumers and their healthcare providers by providing a patient-centered, consumer-focused model. We have to remember that this is all about the patient, and compassion for their needs in this day of rapid pace includes convenience. Consumers are more informed and in control of their healthcare decisions, and realize there are choices out there. They require the same conveniences they receive in other industries, including unrestricted access to scheduling services. By embracing an open, transparent and patient-centered environment, huge gains in safety and quality are attained.”

About Unibased Systems Architecture: Celebrating its 24th year in the healthcare information technology (HIT) industry, Unibased Systems Architecture’s reputation for product quality, reliability and supporting services has no equal. Unibased and its products have maintained the highest rankings from the KLASTM independent reporting for the last eight years. Unibased is often referred to as the “perfect vendor” by its clients. Unibased markets various products that are open, scalable, integrated client/server and web-enabled solutions, designed to meet the unique needs of sophisticated enterprise organizations. Unibased also has major solution offerings in the air travel market, providing real-time production scheduling, human resource, security and financial systems.

In the HIT industry, Unibased offers ForSite2020® as an integrated solution that provides alternative access management techniques, including scheduling, EMPI, and registration, and tracks patient resource needs from pre-access through follow-up. ForSite2020 also monitors the effectiveness of clinical programs, financial productivity and capacity management. ForSite2020 has an integrated module which addresses surgery procedure(s) and surgeon scheduling, pre-admission activity monitoring, surgeon preferences, suite utilization, materials management, clinical worker training and certification, perioperative charting, and surgery based EHR. ForSite2020 results in significant improvements in physician and patient relations by including a physician portal, consumer portal, automated order creation, a business intelligence offering labeled ForSite Analytics and revenue cycle functions such as validation of patient demographics, patient’s current insurance eligibility checking, assurance of medical necessity compliance and estimation of the patient’s out-of-pocket expense based upon scheduled and ordered services. All Unibased solutions are supported by integrated automatic data collection processes such as bar coding, facsimile collection and retention, optical and intelligent character recognition and document image collection and storage, all linked to the appropriate patient and administrative records.

Unibased products and services are available through direct sales, marketing partners, value-added resellers and system integrators. Unibased Systems Architecture is a private corporation founded in 1986, and is based in Chesterfield, Missouri. Visit Unibased on the web at www.unibased.com.

Client News: Oakwood Healthcare System among top 100 integrated healthcare networks!

Oakwood has been named by SDI, Innovations in Healthcare Analytics, among the Top 100 integrated healthcare networks nationwide.

More information, including rating methodology and regional rankings can be found at http://bit.ly/cxX66M