Fujitsu and Osmosyz Pioneer New Healthcare Standard for Electronic Clinical Documents; Interoperability Standard Identified by The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Fujitsu, the market leader in document imaging scanners, and Osmosyz, experts in document interoperability, today announced the availability of a new product suite that supports the use of exchange standards which have been identified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Fujitsu and Osmosyz, along with the Health Story Project, a collaborative of healthcare vendors, providers and associations, worked for two years through the HL7 International standards development organization to develop and publish an implementation guideline for unstructured clinical documents. The "Unstructured Document" standard, based on the HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA®), offers healthcare organizations a powerful on-ramp to healthcare information exchange through basic document management workflow guidelines that are now universally recognized and accepted.  

Today, based upon the unstructured document standard, Fujitsu is launching the first and only solution of its kind designed to support Meaningful Use Stage 1 requirements and meet anticipated requirements for Stage 2, as defined in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. The Fujitsu ScanSnap N1800 Network Scanner and ScanSnap fi-6010N iScanner, equipped with Inofile ChartMD software from Osmosyz, gives healthcare organizations the ability to make clinical documents, such as paper-based clinical notes and other encounter-related documents, available across multiple systems in an electronic format that meets international standards for information exchange. Fujitsu and Osmosyz, along with their EHR partner Aprima Medical Software, will be giving hands-on demonstrations of these network scanning solutions at the annual MGMA Conference (Booth #1108 and #409) in Las Vegas, Oct. 23-26, 2011.

"Fujitsu and Osmosyz worked hard through Health Story to create a standard for managing unstructured documents within health information systems, and we couldn't be happier about the current traction the standard is getting and the forth-coming recognition by the federal government for Meaningful Use," said Victor Kan, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. "The Fujitsu network scanners with Inofile are the first and only solution available today that use standards-based capture to create smart documents that can be easily integrated into any EMR system and support national goals for healthcare information exchange."

How Do Healthcare Organizations of Any Size Get Started?

Clinicians in the U.S. create more than a billion clinical notes each year. More than 60% of the full patient narrative resides in these unstructured documents and outside of discreet data elements within an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) database. These notes are often used as the primary source of information for reimbursement and proof of service. With established data standards such as the new standard for "Unstructured Documents," the output can easily be integrated with EMR systems and Health Information Exchanges (HIE), providing a low-cost and universally accepted path to interoperability. Working through Health Story, Fujitsu has helped deliver a standard that raises the level of interoperability for clinical documents.  

"Many providers do not know that companies in the clinical documentation industry can produce and offer electronic documents in the CDA format," said Bob Dolin, MD, president and chief medical officer, Lantana Consulting Group and chair of HL7.  "In many cases they can leverage their current vendors to get to structured information in a way that supports national goals for meaningful use and that is minimally disruptive to clinician workflow."

By applying the "Unstructured Documents" standard, Fujitsu is helping healthcare organizations include their clinical documents in their digital enterprise and to provide full access to the longitudinal patient record across a continuum of care. Below are a few key dates and milestones for healthcare organizations to note:

• August 2010: CDA "Unstructured Document" standard approved by HL7
• October 2011: HL7 CDA standard identified by the ONC as a national standard to support Meaningful Use
• January 2011: Registration for the EHR incentive program begins
• May 2011: EHR incentive payments begin
• 2014: Last year to initiate participation in the Medicare EHR incentive program
• 2016: Last year to initiate participation in Medicaid EHR incentive program

Network Scanning: Apply Data Standards, Integrate With EMRs, Increase Workplace Efficiency

The biggest challenges in meeting new government requirements while adhering to standards are the cost and complexity of the technology involved. In today's economy, the time and resources required to train users and deploy new technology can be crippling to healthcare providers. The Fujitsu ScanSnap network scanning solutions equipped with Inofile ChartMD software offer new tools to make digitizing documents simple and specialized training unnecessary, enhanced security features to combat the threat of data compromise, and the ability to seamlessly integrate within a company's existing network infrastructure allowing users to easily scan and share information on the network.

The Inofile interface on the Fujitsu network scanners allow hospitals and clinics to scan a batch of documents, perform a quality assurance check of the documents on the touch screen, index the documents with a few simple keystrokes, and upload the documents to a content repository or EHR without having to be tied to a workstation. This means critical clinical documents can be added to the electronic patient record in seconds without having to be added to a queue for scanning at the end of the shift, day, or week. It also means secure two-way exchange of information across multiple systems, including HIEs, EMRs or even personal health record databases.

"Healthcare organizations are realizing that deploying a network scanning strategy is quite simple and the learning curve to quickly scan and share documents across the entire organization is minimal," said Therasa Bell, chief architect of the distributed clinical scanning module, Inofile, and president at Osmosyz, Inc. "The Fujitsu/Inofile solution allows an organization to send and receive smart documents over an exchange and submit to an EMR. This removes the need for fax transmission of documents between providers and allows documents to automatically transfer between different providers and different EMR applications, saving valuable time and money."

Aprima Medical Software, Inc. recognized the value of the combined solution that the Fujitsu network scanners and Inofile application delivers to a practice. More than two years ago Aprima became the first EHR to support the CDA architecture and adopt it into its product via the Fujitsu/Inofile solution.  

"When Fujitsu came to us with this solution, we immediately recognized the value over traditionally labor intensive and cumbersome document management processes, as well as the newly increased value of the data once loaded into a database using CDA," said Mark Richards, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Aprima. "We couldn't wait to integrate these solutions into our EHR as it not only helps ease the initial transition from paper to electronic records, but long term it improves overall workflow in physician offices. Customers of all sizes from 1 to 100+ are taking advantage of this every day. In addition, it doesn't tie up a workstation, it requires minimal training, and is extremely secure."

Additional Supporting Resources

For more information about the data standards initiative for clinical document and Fujitsu Network Scanners, visit:

• Fujitsu Healthcare Resource Page: http://us.fujitsu.com/ehrsolutions
• Health Story Web site: www.healthstory.com
• Inofile Platform: http://www.inofile.com
• Aprima Medical Software www.Aprima.com

About Health Story

The Health Story Project was founded a little over three years ago by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI), the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), the Clinical Documentation Industry Association, Lantana Consulting Group, and M*Modal. It is now a collaborative of over two dozen healthcare vendors, providers and associations. Health Story accelerates development of HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) Implementation Guides for common types of electronic healthcare documents, brings them through the HL7 ballot process and promotes their adoption within the industry. Over the previous three years, the initiative supported the development of eight technical implementation guides for standard electronic documents, including the Consultation Note, Diagnostic Imaging Report, Discharge Summary, History and Physical, Operative Note, Procedure Note, Progress Note and Unstructured Documents. Health Story Promoter members include A-Life Medical, Emdat, Fujitsu, GE Medical, InfraWare, MedQuist, Nuance, Osmosyz, 3M and Verizon. It has affiliate relationships with AHIMA, AHDI, CDIA, Healthcare Information and Management Systems and HL7 International.  For more information, please visit: www.healthstory.com.

About Osmosyz:

Incorporated in 2009, Osmosyz Inc. specializes in capturing documents, streamlining workflows and providing access to valuable information. The distinct products and consulting services are for the creation and exchange of interoperable healthcare documents to enhance the effectiveness of patient care.

Osmosyz is active in a broad spectrum of healthcare interoperability initiatives and standards boards including Health Level Seven (HL7), the National Health Information Network (NHIN) Direct Project, Continua Health Alliance, and the Integrated Healthcare Enterprise (IHE).  In addition, the Osmosyz founders are part of the initial members that formed the Clinical Document Architecture for Common Document Types (CDA4CDT) initiative in 2005.  Since that time, CDA4CDT has developed into a national standards consortium for interoperable healthcare documents called the Healthstory Project.  In 2010, Osmosyz was primarily responsible for developing the Unstructured CDA format that provided the missing link between simple scanned images to a fully structured XML document standard. 

Osmosyz believes that narrative healthcare documents contain rich clinical detail that remains virtually untapped. Osmosyz is passionate about providing solutions that tap the value of the data and transition health care providers from paper-based patient records to a complete electronic medical record solution in a seamless and effortless way. For more information, please visit: www.inofile.com.

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu is a leading provider of information and communication technology (ICT)-based business solutions for the global marketplace. With approximately 170,000 employees supporting customers in over 100 countries, Fujitsu combines a worldwide corps of systems and services experts with highly reliable computing and communications products and advanced microelectronics to deliver added value to customers. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.5 trillion yen (US$55 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2011. For more information, please see: www.fujitsu.com.

About Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc.

Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. is an established leader in the Document Imaging industry, delivering innovative scanning solutions and services that enable our customers to solve critical business productivity issues and streamline operations. We provide cutting-edge document capture solutions for business and personal environments, backed by a comprehensive portfolio of service and support programs.  For more information about Fujitsu Document Imaging solutions and services, visit http://us.fujitsu.com/fcpa or call us at 800-626-4686.

Copyright 2011 Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. All rights reserved. Fujitsu and the Fujitsu logo are registered trademarks. Statements herein are based on normal operating conditions and are not intended to create any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. reserves the right to modify at any time without notice these statements, our services, pricing, products, and their warranty and performance specifications.

SOURCE Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc.