Faxton St. Luke's Healthcare Selects Anesthesia Automation from Surgical Information Systems, Expands Surgical Solution

ATLANTA, Oct. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Surgical Information Systems (SIS), a leader in perioperative information systems, announced today that Faxton St. Luke's Healthcare has added the company's anesthesia information management system (AIMS) to its perioperative IT system, Sunrise Surgery™ from Allscripts, powered by SIS. Faxton St. Luke's Healthcare is a not-for-profit healthcare system serving New York's Oneida, Herkimer, and Madison counties.

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Demands for improved quality of care and decreasing reimbursements are rapidly driving adoption of AIMS systems. In fact, in a recent healthcare IT survey, 63% of anesthesia providers reported Meaningful Use requirements as a key driver in IT decisions. Such requirements were also the key drivers for executives at Faxton St. Luke's, who wanted to automate anesthesia documentation in anticipation of the upcoming criteria. SIS Anesthesia Version 5 is certified to meet 2011/2012 Stage 1 Meaningful Use measures as a modular Electronic Health Record (EHR).

"SIS' workflow-driven anesthesia documentation enables fast, comprehensive and legible anesthesia records, an important safety feature for our patients and care team. The facilitated billing solution also helps us receive ARRA funding which helps us to lower the cost of implementation," said Patricia A. Roach, MS, RN, and Senior Vice President/CNO at Faxton St. Luke's. "Given the direction health care is headed, these are significant benefits and helps our organization to enhance safety and quality as well as improve efficiency and control costs."

The SIS AIMS solution works with the hospital's Allscripts Sunrise Clinical Manager™ electronic health records system and current Sunrise Surgery™ solution, facilitating the flow of patient information throughout the perioperative continuum. "Adding anesthesia automation is the natural next step to creating a fully electronic perioperative record and supports our efforts to provide safe, efficient care," said Kevin Mahoney, CIO at Faxton St. Luke's Healthcare.

"Hospitals and anesthesia providers are being challenged in various capacities including reimbursement changes, increased regulatory reporting, and Meaningful Use," says Ed Daihl, CEO of Surgical Information Systems. "SIS is passionate in our commitment to help hospitals and anesthesia providers respond and prepare for today's healthcare challenges. We are honored to be part of Faxton St. Luke's approach to meeting Meaningful Use requirements by delivering an anesthesia solution that is both feature-rich and Meaningful Use certified."

About Faxton St. Luke's

Faxton St. Luke's Healthcare is a not-for-profit healthcare organization located in Utica, New York. The system offers clinical Centers of Excellence at its Faxton and St. Luke's Campus locations and includes St. Luke's Home, Visiting Nurse Association, Senior Network Health and Mohawk Valley Home Care. The organization is also home to Adirondack Community Physicians comprised of eight primary care offices located throughout Oneida and Herkimer Counties.

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 offers the only surgical scheduling system and the only anesthesia information management system endorsed by the American Hospital Association (AHA), and analytics and rules-based charging products that have been granted Peer Reviewed status by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). SIS is also the first AIMS provider to be designated as an AQI Preferred Vendor by the Anesthesia Quality Institute (AQI).

SIS Anesthesia Version 5.0 is 2011/2012 compliant and has been certified by an ONC-ATCB in accordance with the applicable certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This certification does not represent an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or guarantee the receipt of incentive payments.Sunrise Anesthesia v 5.0 was certified on October 6, 2011, Certification ID 10062011-6162-6.

SIS, the SIS logo, and Surgical Information Systems are trademarks of Surgical Information Systems, LLC. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information, visit our website, www.SISFirst.com.

SOURCE Surgical Information Systems