Nov 30, 2009 08:00 ET

Imaging e-Ordering Coalition Adds Five New Member Organizations to Promote Medically Appropriate Diagnostic Imaging Tests for All Patients

Healthcare Leaders Uphold HIT-enabled Clinical Decision-Support as the Best Solution for Ordering Appropriate Diagnostic Imaging Tests: The Right Test, at The Right Time

CHICAGO --(Business Wire)-- Nov 30, 2009 The Imaging e-Ordering Coalition (The Coalition) has added five new member organizations to its rapidly growing roster of leading healthcare providers, technology companies and diagnostic imaging organizations. The Coalition works to promote Health Information Technology (HIT) enabled decision-support (e-Ordering) as a solution to assure that all patients receive the most medically appropriate diagnostic imaging test for their specific condition. Members include: American College of Radiology (ACR), Center for Diagnostic Imaging (CDI), Connecticut State Medical Society-IPA (CSMS-IPA), GE Healthcare, Insight Imaging, lifeIMAGE, MedCurrent Corporation, Medicalis, Merge Healthcare, Nuance Communications, Inc. and SCI Solutions.

“Appropriate utilization for diagnostic imaging exams is a consistent and important healthcare reform issue. As the federal government works to identify ways in which the healthcare industry can bend the cost curve, eliminating medically unnecessary diagnostic exams remains a key area of interest. The Imaging e-Ordering Coalition will continue to educate policymakers about how e-Ordering can help to ensure that only the right exams are ordered, for the right patient, at the right time,” said David D. Thompson, Jr., MD , president of the CSMS-IPA. “We became a member of the Imaging e-Ordering Coalition because real-time guidance for physicians at the time they are ordering a patient’s diagnostic test is critical. e-Ordering simplifies the way physicians’ decisions for patient care are verified as medically appropriate and safe without compromising the physician-patient relationship.”

There are a variety of active legislative and regulatory proposals that attempt to address the utilization of imaging services for publicly subsidized programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. The Coalition is focused on the following components and has achieved measured progress within each:

• Promote existing HIT legislative concepts to inform policymakers on the value of e-Ordering to enable the appropriate use of imaging.
• Ask lawmakers to include e-Ordering in the development of healthcare system efficiency incentives.
• Act as a resource for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on its Medicare Imaging Demonstration Project established by Congress in Section 135(b) of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA).
• Work with policy makers to have the Coalition’s e-Ordering proposal for CMS scored to validate long-term value and savings for the healthcare industry.
• Work with stakeholders to establish standards to accelerate e-Ordering as a meaningful and valuable application with EHRs.

According to the Coalition, e-Ordering prevents many of the potential issues associated with radiology benefit managers (RBMs), which are organizations employed by some healthcare insurers to manage utilization and costs associated with high-tech diagnostic exams. Concerns with the RBM model, include regulatory oversight and a manually burdensome “prior authorization” system whereby physicians must receive approval before ordering an imaging service. Under prior authorization, patients are often denied the imaging studies their physicians believe are warranted, are steered towards lower-precision tests that may not provide needed clinical information, or are forced to wait days or weeks to receive vital imaging services. e-Ordering, on the other hand, provides physicians real-time, electronic access to pre-exam, case-by-case decisions that are linked to specialty society, evidenced-based clinical guidelines and are tailored to a patient’s specific circumstances.

“The genesis of the Imaging e-Ordering Coalition was in response to developing healthcare regulation that exclusively identified prior-authorization as the solution to reduce unnecessary high-tech diagnostic imaging exams. Because the value of real-time guidance for physicians at the point-of-order is becoming more broadly recognized, over the past year, the Imaging e-Ordering Coalition and its mission have grown,” said Cindy Dullea, RN, MBA, BC, senior vice president of marketing for SCI Solutions. ”e-Ordering offers consistent results and clinical guidance that is based on transparent clinical data. Beyond improved patient care and physician satisfaction, e-Ordering is a healthcare IT solution that regulators and insurers can support, knowing that the patient is receiving appropriate care without adding unnecessary time or administrative expense.”

The Imaging e-Ordering Coalition is represented by legal authority and lobbying firm, Holland & Knight. For information on membership please call +1 (202) 457-7004. Or you can meet with Coalition founders and members at the annual RSNA Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 29 – December 3, McCormick Place, Chicago.

Imaging e-Ordering Coalition

The Imaging e-Ordering Coalition has been established to proactively interact with policymakers and health care providers on certain issues related to imaging services. In particular, the Coalition proposes to advance the use of electronic decision-support technologies that provide clinicians with guidance regarding the ordering of patient-appropriate imaging services.

American College of Radiology

The 32,000 members of the American College of Radiology include radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists, interventional radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians. For over three quarters of a century, the ACR has devoted its resources to making imaging safe, effective and accessible to those who need it. The mission of the ACR is to serve patients and society by maximizing the value of radiology, radiation oncology, interventional radiology, nuclear medicine and medical physics by advancing the science of radiology, improving the quality of patient care, positively influencing the socio-economics of the practice of radiology, providing continuing education for radiology and allied health professions and conducting research for the future of radiology.

CDI

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Center for Diagnostic Imaging (CDI) has been a leader in high-quality, cost-effective, outpatient radiology imaging services since 1981, and currently owns and/or operates 51 diagnostic imaging centers in nine states, including Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Washington and Florida. CDI partners with hospitals and health systems to offer physician-led, outpatient radiology services and the expertise of sub-specialized radiologists focused on neurological, spine, musculoskeletal, body and cardiovascular imaging, in addition to advanced diagnostic injections and pain management procedures. CDI is owned by CDI physicians and management along with Onex Partners, a subsidiary of Onex Corporation in Toronto, Canada. For more information, visit CDI’s Web site at www.CDIrad.com.

The Connecticut State Medical Society - IPA

CSMS-IPA is the largest and only statewide IPA in Connecticut and one of the largest in the nation. The CSMS-IPA is comprised of approximately 7,000 physician members. The CSMS-IPA is governed by a 27-member physician Board of Directors. The CSMS-IPA mission is to promote high-quality, cost-effective medical care that is physician driven, financially sustainable and valued by health care stakeholders. www.csms-ipa.com.

GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems. Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.

Insight Imaging

Insight Imaging, headquartered in Lake Forest, California, is a provider of retail and wholesale diagnostic imaging services. Insight Imaging serves a diverse portfolio of customers, including healthcare providers, such as hospitals and physicians, and payors, such as managed care organizations, Medicare, Medicaid and insurance companies, in over 30 states, including the following targeted regional markets: California, Arizona, New England, the Carolinas, Florida and the Mid-Atlantic states. www.insighthealth.com.

lifeIMAGE

lifeIMAGE is focused on providing an Internet service for universal e-sharing of diagnostic imaging information. The service is designed to connect hospitals, radiology groups, and physicians, to their patients everywhere. lifeIMAGE makes it possible to securely deliver or receive patient imaging information wherever needed from wherever the information originates. The goal of the lifeIMAGE platform is to help avoid duplicate exams and eliminate unnecessary patient exposure to excessive radiation. In an era of concerns about rising healthcare costs, lifeIMAGE is investing in a platform that helps advance patient care, while reducing $10 to $15 B of unnecessary costs. For more information visit www.lifeimage.com.

MedCurrent Corporation

MedCurrent is a provider of web-based clinical support tools that allow physicians to easily order clinically-appropriate diagnostics and procedures. By bringing together ordering physicians, specialty physicians and payers with applications that utilize embedded clinical guidelines, appropriate care is rendered and costs are reduced. www.medcurrent.com.

Medicalis Corporation

Medicalis is a leading provider of healthcare information technology and Clinical Decision Support for diagnostic imaging. Medicalis delivers web-based clinical and integration services to physicians, providers and health plans to provide advanced diagnostic imaging solutions that improve quality and efficiency of diagnostic services. Medicalis delivers solutions that provide clinical guidelines for use at the point-of-care, point-of-service and point-of-analysis that address the issues of unnecessary testing, resource utilization and patient safety. For more information visit www.medicalis.com.

Merge Healthcare

Merge Healthcare Incorporated builds software solutions that automate healthcare data and diagnostic workflow to build a better electronic record of the patient experience. Merge products, ranging from standards-based development toolkits to fully integrated clinical applications, have been used by healthcare providers worldwide for over 20 years. Additional information can be found at www.merge.com.

Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance Communications, Inc.’s (NASDAQ: NUAN) healthcare portfolio includes closed-loop radiology management solutions to support the radiology practice from start to finish. Nuance’s solutions significantly improve the diagnostic imaging workflow by adding radiology decision support (RadPort) to enable data driven, real-time e-Ordering, speech recognition reporting (PowerScribe and RadWhere), critical test result management (Veriphy) communication, and a business intelligence solution (RadCube) for utilization management, patient and outcomes analysis, as well as clinical and operational trending.

SCI Solutions

SCI Solutions is transforming healthcare Access Management with products and services that facilitate the efficient and secure exchange of clinical and financial information between patients, physicians and healthcare facilities. SCI provides a variety of products and self-service portals that help physicians and patients interact easily and at their convenience for many of their access related needs. From a hospital’s clinical departments, to its financial executives, to its physicians SCI improves their effectiveness while making the patient’s service experience first class.

Coalition:
Holland & Knight
Robert Bradner, 202-457-7004
robert.bradner@hklaw.com
or
Media:
Nuance Communications, Inc.
Holly Dewar, 781-565-4893
holly.dewar@nuance.com