Columbus, OH Jul 30, 2015 – Quantum Health, the leader in care coordination and consumer navigation, announced today that it has named Jan Berger, M.D., M.J., as chief clinical strategist. Dr. Berger will serve as the senior consulting liaison between the company’s client partners and clinical leadership and will set the direction and framework for clinical care coordination at Quantum Health. Dr. Berger will also be an asset in the expansion of the company’s Personalized Solution Enabler, the first product in the health benefits marketplace to provide customized guided solutions for every health plan member’s individual healthcare needs.
“Jan is a true healthcare innovator, whose keen insights, strong clinical expertise and knowledge of the evolving healthcare industry will be instrumental to our continued growth,” said Kara Trott, founder and chief executive officer of Quantum Health. “Her passion for our mission is palpable. We will look to her to further enhance our exceptional member experience through the Personalized Solution Enabler, ensuring that our members are taking full advantage of their healthcare plans and employers are realizing the expected savings, improved employee satisfaction and improved outcomes.”
Dr. Berger brings over 30 years of clinical and business experience, including healthcare administration, health plan management and leading operations for two population health companies. She served as Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer for CVS Caremark, where she led the company’s Medicare Part D development and was clinical lead for M&A and the integration of acquired organizations. She is a published author, professor at Northwestern University’s School of Medicine and School of Communication, and has served as editor-in-chief for the American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits as well as on the editorial boards of a number of other healthcare journals.
“Quantum Health is the leader in an important and growing segment of the healthcare industry,” said Dr. Berger. “Their groundbreaking consumer-focused approach, industry-leading levels of engagement and ability to reduce costs and improve outcomes is what self-insured employers should be considering in order to maximize the value of their benefits plans, keep employees healthy and keep their costs in line. It is an exciting time to be at Quantum Health, and I’m looking forward to contributing to the continued success of the company.”
Quantum Health was the first to define and use consumer behavior process mapping in healthcare by tracking 3,200 patients and 290 providers for two years. From this research, the company built a best-in-class model for care coordination and consumer navigation based on how people experience their healthcare journey, what they need and how best to connect with them.
Author: Julie Kaloides
Cryotherapy Giving Kidney Cancer Patients Hope KVUE-TV (ABC)
Indianapolis, IN Jul 28, 2014 – HealthTronics’ Endocare® cryotherapy technology for kidney cancer was featured on KVUE-TV (ABC) in Austin, Texas. Click on the image below to see the story and how HealthTronics is helping to stop cancer cold.
CSafe Global Celebrates Open House at New Basel Service Center
Dayton, OH Jul 27, 2015 – CSafe Global announced the opening of a new full service centre serving the Basel, Switzerland area. The recently opened service centre is a new location for Airplane Equipment Services (AES). AES also supports CSafe in Frankfurt and Cologne. CSafe and AES welcomed customers at an open house held on July 9.
Brian Kohr, President and CEO of CSafe Global commented, “The use of the CSafe RKN continues to grow out of Switzerland and we are very excited about adding to our relationship with Airplane Equipment Services. The opening of the new service centre as of June 1 meets our strategic timeline in expanding our CSafe RKN service and maintenance network to support and growing customer demand in BSL. Where we were able to provide some services and stocking of containers in Basel in the past, the new location is capable of performing repair work.”
The Managing Director of Airplane Equipment & Services GmbH (AES), Mr. Willy Reinhardt commented, “Having gained extensive experience over the last eighteen years in assembling, modifying and carrying out various programs on ULD Equipment manufactured by all significant OEM´s, AES is proud and honoured to play a role in the new service support centre for our partner CSafe in Basel. It is our mission to see to it that the CSafe RKN’s are appropriately and professionally handled, inspected, stored and prepared for their next use.”
Precyse Enters into Acquisition Agreement with Pamplona Capital Management
Health Information Management Leader Poised to Implement Next Phase of Growth
Wayne, PA Jul 1, 2015 – Precyse, a leader in health information management (HIM) technology, services and education, announced today that, as part of its long term growth plan, the company has entered into an agreement to be acquired by investment firm Pamplona Capital Management (Pamplona). Precyse’s board and their current outside private equity investors, Altaris Capital Partners and NewSpring Capital, have approved this corporate transaction.
Precyse, founded in 1999, has assisted nearly 5,000 healthcare facilities and systems across the United States to improve efficiency and deliver tangible outcomes. The company delivers a robust combination of experienced, highly trained people; premier technology solutions; and industryleading education, targeted at all clinical and financial aspects of Health Information Management. Collectively, this equips healthcare organizations to achieve enhanced, sustainable operational performance.
“We are delighted to be partnering with Pamplona at this exciting time in Precyse’s evolution,” said Precyse CEO, Chris Powell. “Precyse offers a wide range of services, education and technology solutions to help healthcare organizations thrive. Pamplona will help us meet our long term growth objectives as we continue to build out our current successful model and expand our offerings in the future to help healthcare organizations reach new levels of operational success.”
Dr. Jeremy Gelber, Pamplona Capital Management partner and leader of the investment, is equally thrilled about the transaction, “Precyse has established itself as a leader in Health Information Management with the ability to fully outsource HIM departments, provide services or technology on an as-needed basis, and supply educational tools to help hospitals achieve better outcomes. We and Precyse have a shared vision in expanding the business beyond the company’s traditional offerings into other areas that positively impact providers’ clinical and financial outcomes, both in Health Information Management and beyond.”
Adds Powell, “I am excited to have the financial resources and talent that Pamplona brings to Precyse which enables us to continue to deliver on our commitments to our clients and allows us to bring new and valuable solutions to our market as we evolve in today’s dynamic healthcare environment. I am proud of our people who have demonstrated their unwavering dedication and hard work to put Precyse in this fortunate position of our corporate evolution and grateful to Altaris Capital Partners and NewSpring Capital for their support throughout this process. Our commitment to our clients remains our number one priority.”
Pamplona Acquires Health Information Management Expert Precyse
A new service to strengthen the critical link between clinical and financial operations
London?New York Jun 30, 2015 – Pamplona Capital Management (“Pamplona”) is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement to acquire Precyse, a leader in Health Information Management services, education and technology, from Altaris Capital Partners and NewSpring Capital. Precyse’s industry-leading expertise and technologies empower healthcare organizations to most effectively capture, organize, secure and analyze clinical data to improve financial performance and the quality of care delivered.
Precyse, founded in 1999, has enabled nearly 5,000 healthcare facilities and systems across the United States to improve efficiency and deliver tangible outcomes. The company delivers a robust combination of experienced, highly trained people; premier technology solutions; and industry-leading education, targeted at all clinical and financial aspects of Health Information Management. Collectively, this equips healthcare organizations to achieve enhanced, sustainable operational performance.
“We are delighted to be partnering with Pamplona Capital at this exciting time in Precyse’s evolution,” said Precyse CEO, Chris Powell. “Precyse has a wide range of services, education and technology solutions that enable us to help healthcare organizations thrive. Pamplona will help us meet our growth objectives as we continue to build on our successful solutions today and expand our offerings in the future to help healthcare organizations reach new levels of operational success.”
“Precyse has established itself as a leader in Health Information Management with the ability to fully outsource HIM departments, provide services or technology on an as-needed basis, and supply education tools to help hospitals achieve better outcomes,” said Pamplona Capital partner, Dr. Jeremy Gelber, who is leading the investment. “We and Precyse have a shared vision in expanding the business beyond the company’s traditional offerings into other areas that positively impact providers’ clinical and financial outcomes, both in Health Information Management and beyond.”
In addition to Precyse, Pamplona’s healthcare investment portfolio currently includes Spreemo, a company that is bringing cost transparency and quality metrics to the workers compensation specialty benefits management industry with an initial focus on radiology; Intralign, which helps hospital and surgeons achieve a rep-less, optimized surgical episode by combining assessment with clinical support and operational tools; Magnacare, a leading healthcare administrative services company focused on self-insured employers and workers comp plans in the New York and New Jersey regions; and Privia Health, a physician practice management and population health technology company.
Earlier this month, Pamplona sold the majority of its controlling stake in Alvogen, a high growth generic drugs company, to a consortium of investors.
M2S® and VQI® Carotid Artery Stent Registry™ Selected to Support CREST-2 Trial
Chicago, IL and West Lebanon, NH Jun 24, 2015 – M2S, Inc., a leader in providing clinical outcomes data, and the Society for Vascular Surgery’s Vascular Quality initiative® (SVS VQI) have been chosen by the principal investigators for the CREST-2 Randomized Control Trial (RCT) to collect procedural data and reports for this project. M2S, as the exclusive registry provider to the SVS VQI, will be contracting with sites for the associated CREST-2 Registry, which will monitor volumes of carotid artery stent (CAS) procedures performed by potential CREST-2 interventionists until they achieve the minimum volume and quality to join the CREST-2 RCT. The VQI CAS Registry is already providing this support to VQI members who intend to participate in CREST-2, through current or previously entered cases. Centers with interventionists who wish to participate in CREST-2 but are not yet members of VQI may join the CAS Registry. Retrospective procedure entry as far back as September 17, 2014 can be reported for this project.
After sites are approved for the RCT, they will be required to continue to enter data into the VQI CAS Registry for patients who undergo CAS but are not included in the RCT. Participation in CREST-2 Registry and RCT allows sites to be reimbursed by CMS for CAS procedures in asymptomatic patients or lower risk symptomatic patients for whom Medicare coverage is not otherwise available
About the CREST-2 Trial
The CREST-2 Trial goals are to compare medically managed patients versus Carotid Endarterectomy and to compare medically managed patients versus carotid artery stent procedure. CREST-2 will enroll a maximum of 2,480 participants at 120 medical centers across the United States and Canada. The physicians will be chosen to participate in CREST-2 based on their previous experience and are skilled at performing the procedure, based on a rigorous credentialing process which includes evaluating results from the CREST-2 Registry.
CREST-2 is sponsored by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health. CREST-2 is designed to compare three different methods of stroke prevention to find the safest and most effective treatment for patients with narrowing of their carotid arteries. The stroke prevention methods include intensive medical management alone compared to intensive medical management in combination with a procedure to reopen the carotid artery for treatment of plaque buildup. The two procedures available in this study are carotid endarterectomy and carotid artery stenting. All participants will receive intensive medical management to help control their risk factors for stroke. CREST2 is co-sponsored by the Mayo Clinic and University of Maryland.
University of Maryland Training
Potential operators must undergo the web-based training program for the CREST-2 CAS protocol prior to enrolling patients into CREST-2 Registry. The University of Maryland Team will conduct these training and can be contacted at C2R@smail.umaryland.edu. Contact the University of Maryland team for any questions regarding Medicare reimbursement. More information may be found at:
http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare‐General‐Information/MedicareApprovedFacilitie/Carotid‐Artery‐Stenting‐CAS‐Investigational‐Studies.html
About the Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI)
The VQI was launched in 2011 by the Society for Vascular Surgery and M2S to improve the quality, safety, effectiveness and cost of vascular healthcare (www.svsvqi.org). It consists of web-based clinical data registries with real-time reporting capability that allows centers to anonymously compare their patients, processes of care and procedure outcomes with others. The VQI has important features that distinguish it from other national data registries, organized as a Patient Safety Organization, which allows providers to submit all outcomes without fear of reprisal. The VQI audits claims data submitted by members to insure that all procedures are submitted, to ensure 100% reporting. The VQI also includes one year follow-up to assess both early and late results. Finally, centers in VQI are organized into regional groups that meet semi-annually to discuss variation in regional processes and outcomes, in order to design and implement regional quality improvement projects. For more information about the VQI, visit www.svsvqi.org.
CIO Review Names GAFFEY Healthcare as One of the 20 Most Promising Workflow Management Solution Providers
Plano, TX and Pleasanton, CA Jun 23, 2015 – GAFFEY Healthcare, a leading provider of next-generation revenue cycle and business analytics software for the healthcare industry, today announced that CIO Review, a technology and business magazine for corporate decision makers of enterprise IT, has chosen GAFFEY Healthcare for its 20 Most Promising Workflow Management Solution Providers.
The list is featured as a Workflow Management Special of CIO Review’s June edition and is intended to help enterprises match various workflow management and automation technologies to their specific business needs. Criteria for review included demonstrated depth of knowledge and industry expertise in delivering workflow technologies. Final nominations for the list were determined by a panel of CEOs, CIOs, analysts and the CIO Review editorial board.
What qualifies GAFFEY Healthcare above others is a history of innovation that dates back close to 30 years as one of the first pioneers of applying EDI to claims management. Today, over 200 hospitals and health systems utilize GAFFEY Healthcare’s cloud-based suite of business office efficiency & productivity tools – AlphaCollector & AutoStatus – to automate tasks and leverage data to realize their highest levels of financial performance.
“We’re honored and thrilled to be included on this list by CIO Review,” stated Derek Morkel, CEO of GAFFEY Healthcare. “Being selected is a validation of the important role that automation technologies like AlphaCollector and AutoStatus will continue to play within healthcare to eliminate manual processes and, in turn, reduce costs for providers within an increasingly competitive and challenging landscape. Furthermore, it’s a testament to our team’s vision, hard work and tireless drive to provide the best possible technology to our healthcare provider clients,” he continued.
Precyse Helps Healthcare Providers Unlock Revenue and Resources at HFMA ANI 2015
Enterprise HIM technology, services, and education leader to present best practice strategies that transform patient care and financial performance.
Orlando, FL June 22, 2015 – Precyse, the industry leader in Health Information Management (HIM) performance solutions, invites HFMA ANI show attendees to visit booth #225 at the Orange County
Convention Center and see how its technology and services can help organizations unlock revenue and resources within their facilities. HFMA ANI attendees are invited to attend Precyse’s educational
sessions that help bridge the gap between financial and clinical processes.
On Monday, June 22, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. in room PCW2 at the Orange County Convention Center Terry Allison Rappuhn, CPA SC Regional Health System LLC, HFMA Patient Friendly Billing Project
Leader, George A. Semko, CHFP, Augusta Health, Revenue Cycle Administrative Director, and Sandy Wood, NCH Healthcare System, Revenue Cycle Director, and Denise Johnson, RHIA, MS, CPHQ, VP,
HIM Integrated Services, Precyse, will present “Using HIM to Improve Patient Care and Financial Performance”. During this workshop, industry experts will show the value of the health information
management (HIM) function and its impact on both patient care and financial performance.
Medstreaming and M2S Sign Licensing Agreement to Develop Fully Automated Interface for Seamless Transfer of Structured Data to Vascular Quality Initiative® Registry
Chicago, IL and West Lebanon, NH Jun 17, 2015 – Medstreaming, a leading medical informatics company specializing in workflow productivity technology and M2S Inc., a leader and innovator in technology for quality improvement in healthcare, announced the formation of a strategic licensing relationship to develop automated transfer of structured data to the Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI) Registry at the annual Society of Vascular Surgery (SVS) meeting June 17-20, 2015. Using the Medstreaming Clinical Data Management echo system for structured data aggregation, Medstreaming and M2S are focused on revolutionizing data capture and reporting for outcomes analysis.
The licensing agreement will allow hospitals, outpatient facilities, and vein centers who are participating in VQI Registries to significantly improve their data entry workflow and efficiency. Medstreaming’s workflow solution software will automate the capture of structured data elements on the web-based PATHWAYS form for the registry, including patient demographics and history, procedure details and follow-up.
Jeff Lord, Chief Technology Officer at M2S, says “Effective workflow integration is essential for the clinical registries on the PATHWAYS platform in order to streamline the data entry process for our clients. Our initial focus with Medstreaming will be on the integration for the Varicose Vein Registry. This will both strengthen the PATHWAYS platform and help our clients to capture the quality data they need to track outcomes.”
“Our collaborative effort with M2S and this innovative integration is designed to lower the costs associated with data capture and data aggregation in hospitals and outpatient offices”, said Wael Elseaidy, Medstreamings Co-Founder and CEO. “Through the use of specialty based workflow technology, we intend to significantly reduce the need for manual data entry while at the same time increasing the quality of the information transferred to the PATHWAYS Registry. This is something our clients have been asking us to accomplish for quite some time and we intend to deliver this additional value through our new strategic partnership with M2S,” said Elseaidy.
Quantum Health to Speak at 2015 Institute for Healthcare Consumerism (IHC) Forum and Expo
Columbus, OH Jun 16, 2015 – Quantum Health Chief Operating Officer Shannon Skaggs will present on the panel “Innovative Physicians, Telehealth, and Healthcare Executives Discuss Latest Healthcare Access Strategies” alongside Brian E. Hill, MD, Docs4PatientCare, Henry DePhillips, MD, FAAFP, Chief Medical Officer, Teladoc, Inc., and John F. Jesser, Vice President, Provider Engagement Strategy, Anthem, at the 2015 Institute for Healthcare Consumerism Forum and Expo. The conference will be held June 23-25, 2015 at The Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta. The presentation will focus on the health care consumerism movement as the primary force moving the market beyond simple insurance reform and toward true patient need, including advancements in treatment choices, access options and quality.