Vermont Selects JEN Associates to Provide Medicare-Medicaid Analytical Services

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- JEN Associates, Inc. (JAI) announced today that it is partnering with the Vermont Agency of Human Services (AHS) to provide the state with groundbreaking healthcare analytical services.  JAI is a pioneer in developing analytic strategies for employing large healthcare databases to design, manage and evaluate new policies.  It will support Vermont in its efforts to improve healthcare quality while reducing costs for elderly and disabled citizens.  JAI will assist this effort through its iMMRS™ data analytics and research system, creating a fully developed data warehouse for the state's Medicaid and Medicare records.  The company's contribution includes training, research consulting, customized database programming and help desk support.

iMMRS is JAI's Integrated Medical Management Research System.  The application includes an integrated medical management research and decision support system.  The product of 10 years development, iMMRS is designed specifically to identify best practices in medicine for state and national policymakers.  The system provides centralized, flexible access to health data archives that include claims records, care provider encounter documentation, surveys, disease registries, and health assessments, as well as laboratory and clinical data.  It meets the challenges of providing secure, confidential online access to medical treatment and health outcomes data.

Intuitive design coupled with a graphical interface and statistical enhancements opens iMMRS to researchers, administrators and other personnel with a wide range of interests.  "The system allows researchers to design and generate research-ready analytic records over the web with menu driven interfaces in a secure environment and without direct access to patient level information.  It eliminates the need to write, debug, and manage customized programming code in order to adapt and integrate data," explains Daniel Gilden, president and founder of JAI.  "The idea is that all staff, according to their varying ability and authorization levels, can design and generate the analytic reports they need to support policy objectives."

The project will focus on Vermont's Medicaid and Medicare dual eligible enrollees.  "Dual eligibles" are an especially vulnerable segment of the population who are indigent as well as disabled or elderly.  Their care requires special effort to coordinate the two programs' benefits.  Vermont, already a national leader in care coordination, is now formulating new programs to deliver seamless dual eligible care independent of financing source.  Within this context, JAI's iMMRS tools will create the information infrastructure needed for cost-effective, quality healthcare.

"We intend to serve as a Medicare managed care plan for Vermont dual eligibles," said Patrick Flood, Deputy Secretary, State of Vermont Agency of Human Services.  "The linked data analyses and data management system that JAI will provide the State of Vermont will be a critical part of our negotiations with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services."

About JEN Associates, Inc

JAI was founded in 1985 with the goal of harnessing the information technology revolution to enhance healthcare policymakers' overview of the medical system.  The company blends formal econometric approaches with epidemiological and clinical research methods.  Through its collaboration with scholarly institutions, JAI has become a national leader in providing analyses based on inter-disciplinary models of applied research.  It has assembled a singular team of economists, public health specialists, clinicians, and database architects that assist clients with data-driven health policy evaluations.  For more information, please visit www.jen.com.

SOURCE JEN Associates, Inc.