Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Press Release: Healthcare Information Technology Pioneer, Charles W. Kean, Retires After 43 Years

Charles W. Kean
Unibased Systems Architecture, Inc. (Unibased) announced that Charles W. Kean is retiring after 43 years in the healthcare information technology (HIT) industry. Recognized as one of the original HIT pioneers, Charlie helped shape the future destiny of GE Medinet, McDonnell Douglas Healthcare Division (now Boeing), Unisys, Ferranti, Motorola EMTEK (now Eclipsys Corporation), and Unibased. With an exceptional ability to develop innovative sales strategies in achieving plans and objectives, Charlie launched his career with his first major sale of the GE Medinet product to Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) and Hospital Affiliates, LLC in 1972. As Vice President of Sales for McDonnell Douglas Healthcare Division, Charlie repositioned the company with “turnkey” products in the late 1980’s, resulting in industry-leading market share and the eventual sale to American Express Healthcare Solutions which later became HBO & Company (McKesson). Other stops at Unisys, Ferranti, and Motorola resulted in major EHR contracts with the top academic healthcare organizations, setting the stage for CPOE promulgation. Prior to joining Unibased, Charlie was the National Accounts Director for Eclipsys Corporation, where he assisted in establishing the VHA HEALTHvision relationship, guiding the development of business strategy for physician and consumer portals. Charlie has spent the last 10 years at Unibased as Vice President of Sales and Client Relations, orchestrating ground-breaking access management and surgery management sales to some of the largest multi-entity healthcare organizations in the country.

L.V. “Skip” Covington, Unibased Chairman and CEO, stated, “The ‘Charlie Keans’ of the industry will not and cannot be replaced. Charlie was a significant contributor to both the creation and growth of the HIT industry, initially selling time-sharing solutions, then moving on to financial service bureau solutions, and eventually to enterprise turnkey solutions. His HIT provider, vendor, and acquaintance contacts were his friends, much more than business opportunities. He will retain his long list of friends and stay in touch; and in that sense, will never really ‘retire’ from the industry. We wish Charlie all the best and thank him for his years of service, hard work, and dedication.”

Download PDF of Full Press Release Here
 

Thursday, September 12, 2013

ForSite2020® CASH -- Patient Portal Enhancements

New features have been added to Unibased’s ForSite2020® Consumer Access & Scheduling for Healthcare (CASH) patient portal. Reminder notices now allow for facility-customized reminders for both patient requests and patient schedules to provide improved patient interaction and decreased “no-show” occurrences. Also added are patient surveys, allowing patients to rate their experiences as well as schedule post-acute discharge related orders and services in an effort to reduce costly re-admissions. Unibased’s providers should anticipate increased market share and an enhanced bottom line.  For more information, visit: http://www.unibased.com/patientselfscheduling.html

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Today we recognize the September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance -- we remember the innocent lives lost, and honor the first responders and men and women in uniform who have served and sacrificed to keep our great country safe.

All Americans are called to participate in our nation's continual recovery and renewal by serving in our communities. There are many ways to get involved. Visit:  http://www.serve.gov/

Friday, September 6, 2013

Client News: Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (Brattleboro, VT) has names new Director of Risk Management

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital officials announced the hiring of Mary Ellen Esser, RN as Director of Risk Management, Patient Safety and Credentialing.

Esser has more than 15 years of experience in the field of medical risk management, performance improvement and infection control. Most recently, she was the Interim Director of Quality for Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center, a 95 bed facility serving the needs of south-central New Mexico. Esser has also worked for major hospitals in both Washington, DC and Long Beach, CA and served as a consultant to health care facilities in Texas.

“Mary Ellen brings with her a depth of knowledge, experience and focus in the field of quality and risk management. BMH is very fortunate to have her on our team,” said BMH Chief Medical Officer, Kathleen McGraw, MD.

[Source: Brattleboro Memorial Hospital - Press Release http://www.bmhvt.org/news/bmh-hired-new-director-risk-management}

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Press Release: Unibased Announces Solutions Aimed at Improving Provider Productivity and Population Management

Unibased Systems Architecture, Inc. (Unibased) announced major enhancements in recent software releases aimed at broadening communication and strengthening ties between patient, physicians, and major providers. Included with the Unibased ForSite2020® product suite is advanced workflow management, greater operational efficiencies leading to easier access, improved revenue cycle management, and an enhanced healthcare consumer experience. The new solutions are being installed in several locations, and include the recently announced bi-directional scheduling capability with Microsoft Outlook®.

Unibased’s ForSite2020® offers significant enhancements that will have a substantial impact on healthcare organizations. New and innovative features such as a streamlined orders list for inpatient and outpatient physician orders provides detailed and comprehensive information on the orders, including reasons they have not been processed by the provider and a call history with the number of call attempts to the patient and physician. This new feature displays orders collected from all sources including the HIE, HL-7 based orders, or faxed orders, and offers an at-a-glance summary of all open orders as well as a drill-down view for more detailed information pertaining to the order, patient, and/or procedure(s). The solution also converts image data, such as faxes, to discrete data while retaining the image for audit trail purposes. This improved workflow and enhanced accuracy minimizes lost orders and coordinates the scheduling of resources in the most efficient and expeditious way possible.

Other new and exciting enhancements improve productivity with an interactive and prioritized work list to expedite processes and workflow. The new functionality takes the existing work queue and groups tasks together as well as provides an escalation of idle items for a certain specified number of days. The check-in/check-out daily work list displays all work queues for a given patient on the list and the ability to schedule an appointment directly from that list for increased efficiency.

New features have also been added to Unibased’s ForSite2020® Consumer Access & Scheduling for Healthcare (CASH) patient portal. The ForSite2020® CASH reminder notices now allow for facility-customized reminders for both patient requests and patient schedules to provide improved patient interaction and decreased “no-show” occurrences. Also added to ForSite2020® CASH are patient surveys allowing patients to rate their experiences as well as schedule post-acute discharge related orders and services. Providers should anticipate increased market share and an enhanced bottom line.

L.V. “Skip” Covington, Unibased Chairman & CEO, states, “The Unibased challenge is to help the industry recognize that the vast majority of healthcare operational and consumer-related data remains in an unstructured format even after the industry-wide push on EHRs and HIEs. Productivity remains difficult to improve because actual workflow remains manual folder processing-orientated in many areas. Unibased captures, converts, links, stores, and analyzes both unstructured and discrete data, which leads to transaction workflow monitoring to insure expeditious processing of orders, modifications, patient and resource schedules, and general distribution of information to the appropriate areas. Unibased is currently focused on convenient consumer and physician access to services as well as the education of the patient regarding various options and related costs for all modalities including surgery. Where implemented, provider ROIs are significant and can be reached within a short time-frame while requiring minimal resources.”

Download PDF of Full Press Release Here

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

2013 NTT DATA Client Conference

Congratulations to our winner of the HDTV giveaway at the 2013 NTT DATA Client Conference, SUE ALLEN R.N., with Montgomery County Memorial Hospital in Iowa!  It was a great event in gorgeous San Diego, CA.  Thanks to all who stopped by our booth!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

2013 National Veterans Small Business Conference

Visit us at BOOTH 102 at the 2013 National Veterans Small Business Conference, August 6-8 at the America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis, MO!   To learn more about the event, go to: http://nationalveteransconference.com/

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

"U.S. News Best Hospitals 2013-14" Report

Congratulations to our clients who were named in the recent "U.S. News Best Hospitals 2013-14" report!
  • East Texas Medical Center (Tyler, Texas)
  • Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian (Newport Beach, California)
  • Inova Alexandria Hospital (Alexandria, Virginia)
  • Inova Fairfax Hospital  (Falls Church, Virginia)
  • Inova Loudoun Hospital (Leesburg, Virginia)
  • Inova Mount Vernon Hospital (Alexandria, Virginia)
  • Jewish Hospital (Louisville, Kentucky)
  • MaineGeneral Medical Center (Augusta, Maine)
  • Mount Sinai Medical Center (Miami Beach, Florida)
  • Norton Hospital (Louisville, Kentucky)
  • Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center (Dearborn, Michigan)
  • St. Francis Medical Center (Monroe, Louisiana)
  • Trinity Mother Frances Hospitals and Clinics (Tyler, Texas)
  • WellSpan York Hospital (York, Pennsylvania)
For more information, go to: http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Happy Independence Day!

We wish everyone a happy and safe Independence Day!   We are thankful and grateful to all of the veterans who made the sacrifices of their time, liberty and even their lives, so that we may live and enjoy the freedom we have in this great country of ours. 
Happy Independence Day!


Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Press Release: North Bend Medical Center Signs Agreement for Unibased’s ForSite2020® Surgery Management and Physician Order Collection Solution

Unibased announced today that North Bend Medical Center, Inc. (NBMC), located in Coos Bay, OR, has signed an agreement for its market-leading surgery management solution, ForSite2020® periOperative Resource Management System (ORMS), aimed at improving workflow and productivity as well as providing efficient resource management to reduce costs and effectively manage inventory. NBMC, a 55-physician multi-specialty group practice clinic offering ambulatory surgery, diagnostic imaging, lab services, rehabilitation therapy, and other services, has also contracted for Unibased’s unique ForSite2020® Physician Order Collection & Enterprise Tracking (POCET) physician portal as well as its ForSite Analytics business intelligence solution to enhance communication and strengthen ties with patients and physicians. ForSite2020® will provide NBMC with an enhanced workflow, increased operational efficiency, and improved physician relations as well as an improved patient experience with streamlined coordination of care.

Bill Murray, NBMC Chief Executive Officer, stated, “Key considerations in selecting Unibased’s comprehensive ForSite2020® ORMS surgery management solution included ease-of-use, rapid system performance, and an excellent track record of successful integration. The integration with our Allscripts practice management system as well as inventory management will be instrumental to automating billing and will provide significant cost savings by enabling effective supply management and surgical case cost control. ForSite2020® will ensure all equipment and supplies are available and on-hand for scheduled cases, and provide the ability to accurately calculate case costs and effectively manage inventory. NBMC is eager to benefit from the robust capabilities offered by ForSite2020®, and we look forward to a strong partnership with Unibased while continuing to provide the highest level of quality service to Oregon’s South Coast.”