Mountain States Health Alliance selects Siemens perioperative management solution by Surgical Information Systems (SIS)

ATLANTA, Aug. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Surgical Information Systems ('SIS'), a leader in perioperative information systems, announced today that Mountain States Health Alliance (MSHA) has selected Siemens perioperative management solution by SIS to replace its legacy perioperative IT system. Mountain States Health Alliance is Northeast Tennessee's largest healthcare system with 13 hospitals in Tennessee and Virginia.

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MSHA elected to replace their current OR information system and automate their anesthesia documentation process to improve efficiency across their entire perioperative continuum. The hospital system also sought an easy-to-use, advanced analytics tool to support quality reporting and optimization initiatives.

"We are impressed with the intuitive design and rich functionality in SIS' surgery and anesthesia solution and are excited about the insight into key performance indicators that their perioperative analytics tools will give us to help achieve our cost and quality goals," said Paul Merrywell, Chief Information Officer at MSHA. "Access to actionable intelligence will help us develop highly efficient processes and support our commitment to provide patients with the best care possible."

The hospital system's Siemens perioperative management by SIS solution includes:

• Role-based analytics to assist in better understanding and managing surgical operations, including anesthesia-specific information;
• Nursing documentation and an anesthesia information management system (AIMS) designed to streamline clinical workflows;
• Patient tracking through all phases of care to improve communications and core metrics including on time case starts and room turnover times; and
• Perioperative dashboards to provide surgical teams with critical patient information such as labs, vital signs, antibiotic timers, and checklists.

Interoperability between MSHA's health information system, Siemens Soarian®, and SIS will facilitate the flow of patient information throughout the perioperative care process.

"SIS' advanced integration capabilities with our Soarian system will support our efforts to improve patient care and improve efficiencies," said Merrywell. "Having the right information in the right place at the right time is a huge asset and will help us provide quality care while keeping costs at bay."

"Hospitals continue to be challenged to find new ways to reduce costs while improving care quality," said Ed Daihl, SIS Chief Executive Officer. "The combination of SIS' deep expertise in surgery and anesthesia with Siemens' enterprise connectivity is an essential component of that strategy for MSHA -- and we are honored to have the opportunity to help support their facilities' goals."

About Mountain States Health Alliance

Mountain States Health Alliance, a not-for-profit health care organization based in Johnson City, Tenn., operates a family of hospitals serving a 29-county, four-state region (Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Southeastern Kentucky and Western North Carolina). MSHA offers a large tertiary hospital, several community hospitals, two critical access hospitals, rehabilitation, a children's hospital, a behavioral health hospital, home care and hospice services as well as a comprehensive medical management corporation. Its 13,500 team members, associated physicians and volunteers are committed to its mission of bringing loving care to health care. For more information, visit www.msha.com.

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).

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

SOURCE Surgical Information Systems