Metro Imaging Achieves Meaningful Use with Digital Writing from Anoto and NextGen Healthcare

WESTBOROUGH, Mass., Jan. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Anoto, the world leader in digital writing technology, and NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, LLC today announced that Metro Imaging has deployed their joint solution, NextPen^® across its five locations throughout St. Louis to increase practice efficiencies and achieve meaningful use. 

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130102/NE35029LOGO )

Metro Imaging is a full-service imaging center, providing "open" non-claustrophobic MRI, computed tomography, ultrasonography, digital mammography, bone density, fluoroscopy and digital radiography. They have five locations in the greater St. Louis area, with offices in South County, West County, North County, St. Peters and Richmond Heights. The organization conducts upwards of 100,000 exams per year and uses more than 1,000 new patient forms per day for both health history and consent.

Metro Imaging partnered with GBS – the largest NextGen Healthcare reseller in the country. With more than a decade of experience implementing and supporting NextGen^® solutions, GBS worked closely with Metro Imaging to get the solution up and running. GBS was onsite and key throughout the process to deploy NextPen across all five locations.  Their experience and time spent on the development and training side of the project resulted in a trouble-free implementation process for Metro Imaging.

By leveraging a digital writing solution, Metro Imaging can immediately import relevant structured data directly into their NextGen^® Ambulatory EHR, resulting in increased practice efficiency and improved flexibility to handle high patient volumes and expedited administrative tasks that ultimately deliver better patient care.

Employing Anoto's digital writing technology to collect patient history, demographics and signatures directly from the waiting room without interviewing, scanning or transcribing, reduces utilization of high cost staff, thereby improving outcomes through proactive patient engagement.

"Metro Imaging is independently owned by radiologists who provide real-time results to patients, so our system has to flow really well," said Chris Keefe, chief financial officer of Metro Imaging. "Everything must run smoothly and this solution was perfect since it allows us to continue to work the way we always have and only required a small amount of user training. There is no way we could have achieved meaningful use without it."

In addition to patient history and consent forms, Metro Imaging is also using the technology to populate structured data and alerts, such as whether the patient has a pacemaker or not. Pens are provided to each patient along with the form and the handwritten information is recorded onto a chip in the digital pen. When the form is completed, the data in the pen is transferred via a computer docking station. The handwritten information then becomes digitized data that is available for immediate use.  The solution helps Metro Imaging achieve meaningful use since the forms contain important patient background details such as smoking history, race and demographic information.

"Healthcare professionals across all kinds of practices continue to struggle with EHR adoption and achieving meaningful use," said Pietro Parravicini, senior vice president area manager Americas for Anoto. "In many cases, the introduction of new processes and technologies day-to-day causes too many obstacles. Digital pen technology is simple to use and renders the writing 'live,' resulting in information that is immediately available, as well as much faster EHR adoption and attainment of meaningful use."

About Anoto Group

Anoto Group is the company behind and world leading in the unique technology for digital pen and paper, which enables fast and reliable transmission of handwritten text into a digital format. Anoto operates through a global partner network that focuses on user-friendly solutions for efficient capture, transmission and storage of data within different business segments, e.g. healthcare, bank and finance, transport and logistics and education. The Anoto Group has more than 110 employees and is headquartered in Lund (Sweden). The company also has offices in Guildford and Wetherby (UK), Boston (US) and Tokyo (Japan). The Anoto share is traded on the Small Cap list of NASDAQ OMX Stockholm under the ticker ANOT. For more information: www.anoto.com.

About NextGen Healthcare

NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc., provides integrated clinical, financial and connectivity solutions for ambulatory, inpatient and dental provider organizations. For more information, please visit www.nextgen.com and www.qsii.com. Follow NextGen Healthcare on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nextgen, Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NextGenHealthcare  or LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/company/nextgen-healthcare-information-systems.

NextGen and NextPen are registered trademarks of QSI Management, LLC, an affiliate of NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, LLC. All other names and marks are the property of their respective owners.

About GBS

GBS Corp. is headquartered in North Canton, Ohio.  Since our founding in 1971, we have understood the value of identifying and investing in technologies that change and improve the dynamics of how our customers do business. 

The Healthcare Division of GBS, founded in 1978, specializes in providing innovative services that support and provide advantages to all organizations involved in healthcare.  GBS specializes in providing maximum practice efficiency by integrating and automating all phases of clinical, financial, and administrative operations.  We have been providing Healthcare Solutions for over 30 years and are currently servicing over 20,000 healthcare professionals across the country.   For more information please visit www.gbshealthcare.com.

For more information contact:

Karen Pantinas
Davies Murphy Group
[email protected]
781-418-2413  

SOURCE Anoto