CommonWell Health Alliance Welcomes New Members Across the Health Care Continuum

BOSTON, April 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- CommonWell Health Alliance today announced the addition of five new members that significantly enhance the association's nationwide footprint, share of the EHR marketplace and diversity across the care continuum. MEDITECH, Merge and Kareo join as contributing members while PointClickCare and Surgical Information Systems (SIS) join as general members.

With the addition of these new members, CommonWell membership now represents 70% of the acute care EHR market and 20% of the ambulatory care EHR market. CommonWell membership also represents market leaders in imaging, perinatal, laboratory, retail pharmacy, oncology, population health, post-acute care and others across the care continuum.

"We know it takes collective experience and dedication to break down barriers to nationwide data exchange, so we are especially pleased to welcome these industry innovators to the CommonWell family," said Nick Knowlton, Vice President of Business Development at Brightree and CommonWell Membership Committee Chair. "Each organization will contribute to our effort by providing a commitment to action and new perspectives for additional use cases that will help us accelerate our current deployment of real-world interoperability services."  

• MEDITECH is one of CommonWell's largest members to join since inception. It provides fully integrated technology solutions for hospitals, ambulatory care centers, physicians' offices, long‑term care and behavioral health facilities, and home care organizations. MEDITECH's membership increases CommonWell's share of the acute care market from 50% to 70%.

• Merge is a leading provider of enterprise imaging, interoperability and clinical systems that seek to advance health care. It offers solutions in radiology, eye care, cardiology, orthopedics and clinical trials—all of which provide the opportunity for CommonWell to develop new use cases across a broader spectrum of the health care continuum. Additionally, Merge has the most complete radiology solution on the market, from small-volume sites up to the largest practices and chains in the country.
  
  "Merge embraces the opportunity to join CommonWell at a critical moment in health care," said Steve Tolle, Chief Strategy Officer at Merge Healthcare. "Industry leaders must actively come together to make interoperability real, and the Alliance provides an effective platform for meaningful dialogue and collaboration to help chart the future trajectory of the health care industry."

• Kareo brings over 30,000 providers and 60,000 users of its cloud-based medical office software suite into CommonWell. As CommonWell continues to deploy services nationwide, Kareo's ambulatory experience and reach will accelerate universal provider access to critical health care data.
  
  "Kareo believes the powerful combination of the more than 60% of U.S. doctors that practice independently with truly interoperable health care technology will drive breakthrough improvements in patient care quality and successful outcomes," said Dan Rodrigues, Founder and CEO of Kareo. "We're excited about the opportunity to contribute our efforts to the compelling vision of CommonWell."

• PointClickCare's cloud-based software platform helps more than 10,000 senior living and skilled nursing communities to achieve results that matter – enriching the lives of their residents for better outcomes, improving financial and operational health and mitigating risk. The company's person-centered approach to managing senior care ensures providers can collaborate securely, across care settings with confidence.

• Surgical Information Systems (SIS) joins as CommonWell's first vendor solely focused on providing solutions specific to the perioperative process. As CommonWell prepares to develop new use cases, SIS' expertise and knowledge of the complex surgical environment will serve to enhance CommonWell's ability to offer real-world interoperability services that are functional for specialty care settings.

To date, CommonWell's services—patient identification, record location, patient privacy and consent, and trusted data access—are live in six states including North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Massachusetts, Washington and Illinois. More than 20 provider locations are using the services, and more than 26,000 persons have consented to enroll on CommonWell's network.

For more information on participating and membership levels, visit the CommonWell Health Alliance website.

About CommonWell Health Alliance
CommonWell Health Alliance is a not-for-profit trade association of health IT companies working together to create universal access to health care data. CommonWell is open to all organizations that are committed to making patient data available to providers regardless of where care occurs. Members support the belief that provider access to this data must be built into health information technologies at a reasonable cost for use by a broad range of health care providers and the populations and people they serve.

To learn more about CommonWell Health Alliance, please visit www.commonwellalliance.org, and read the CommonWell blog. Also follow CommonWell on Twitter at @CommonWell, join us on CommonWell's LinkedIn page, and like CommonWell's Facebook page.

About MEDITECH
Today, more than 2,300 institutions worldwide use MEDITECH's fully integrated, interoperable EHR to provide healthcare to the communities they serve. Their robust, patient-centered technology spans the healthcare continuum, including unique functional capacity for the following environments: ambulatory care, acute care, long-term care, rehabilitation services, behavioral health, and home health care. Learn more at www.meditech.com.

About Merge
Merge is a leading provider of innovative enterprise imaging, interoperability and clinical systems that seek to advance healthcare. Merge's enterprise and cloud-based technologies for image intensive specialties provide access to any image, anywhere, any time. Merge also provides clinical trials software with end-to-end study support in a single platform and other intelligent health data and analytics solutions. With solutions that have been used by providers for more than 25 years, Merge is helping to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and enhance the quality of healthcare worldwide. For more information, visit www.merge.com and follow us @MergeHealthcare.

About Kareo
Kareo is the only cloud-based medical office software and services platform purpose-built for small practices. At Kareo, we believe that, with the right tools and support, small practices can do big things. We offer an integrated solution of products and services designed to help physicians get paid faster, run their business smarter, and provide better care. Our practice management software, billing services, and free, award-winning fully certified EHR help more than 30,000 medical providers more efficiently manage the business and clinical sides of their practice. Kareo has received extensive industry recognition, including the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, Inc. 500/5000, Forbes Top 100 Most Promising Companies, and Black Book #1 Integrated EHR, Practice Management and Billing Vendor. Headquartered in Irvine, California, the Kareo mission is to help providers spend their time focused on patients, not paperwork. For more information, visit www.kareo.com.

About PointClickCare
PointClickCare, the leading cloud-based software platform for the senior care market, helps healthcare providers meet the challenges of senior care by enabling them to achieve the business results that matter—enriching the lives of their residents, improving financial and operational health, and mitigating risk. Recently recognized as the 2014 #1 long-term care software vendor by KLAS Research, PointClickCare's cloud-based software platform takes a person-centered approach to managing senior care, connecting healthcare providers across the senior care continuum with easy‑to‑use, regulatory‑compliant solutions for improved resident outcomes, enhanced financial performance, and staff optimization. Over 10,000 senior care facilities use PointClickCare today, making it the North American healthcare IT market leader for the senior care industry. For more information on PointClickCare's ONC­‑certified software solutions, please visit www.pointclickcare.com, or follow us on Twitter @PointClickCare.

About SIS
Surgical Information Systems (SIS) provides software solutions that are uniquely designed to add value at every point of the perioperative process. Developed specifically for the complex surgical environment, all SIS solutions—including anesthesia—are architected on a single database and integrate easily with other hospital systems. SIS Anesthesia was notably rated #1 in the anesthesia specialty report by KLAS and awarded the Category Leader Designation in the 2014 Best in KLAS Awards.¹ For more information, visit our website, SISFirst.com. 

¹ Anesthesia 2014: Putting Performance Questions to Rest." December, 2014 and "2014 Best in KLAS Awards: Software & Services." January, 2015. © 2015 KLAS Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved. www.KLASresearch.com

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SOURCE CommonWell Health Alliance

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