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Electronic medical records
Alberta’s orthopedic surgeons select Nightingale’s EMR
CALGARY – The Alberta Orthopaedic Society and the Alberta Bone and Joint
Health Institute announced a license agreement with Nightingale
Informatix Corp. of Markham, Ont., under which the company’s Enterprise
Practice Management and Electronic Medical Record tools will be
delivered to all OAS and Institute members province-wide, using an
Application Service Provider (ASP) model.
AOS represents over 150 orthopaedic surgeons in the province of Alberta.
The successful implementation of an EMR solution is expected to become
the foundation of data capture in orthopaedics, and will form the basis
of a computerized continuum of care with the goals of reducing wait
lists and improving patient solutions through effective use of empirical
data.
The Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute is an umbrella organization
for bone and joint research, education and healthcare in the province.
It is composed of a network of partners, including healthcare
professionals, the provincial health regions, the Alberta government and
universities throughout the province.
For its part, Nightingale Informatix Corp., of Markham, Ont., is
Canada’s largest Application Service Provider of practice management
solutions and services for outpatient clinics. Nightingale’s suite of
products offer Canadian & US physicians leading edge functionality for
patient scheduling, claims processing, work flow tools, clinical
documentation, laboratory interfaces, document management and real-time
patient services.
 “The
Alberta Orthopaedic Society and the Institute have taken a leadership
role in accelerating the adoption of technology amongst healthcare
providers on a patient centric model. It is a vision most governments
are working towards,” said Sam Chebib (pictured at
left), Nightingale’s CEO. “This partnership will increase the
efficiency of physician practices and the quality of patient care. The
AOS approached us with a bold vision to broaden the use of technology
within the practice of medicine.
“While initiated in Alberta, we are convinced that the solutions we are
implementing will have direct application to physicians and specialists
within their respective national and provincial medical associations.
Nightingale is planning to work closely with AOS and the Institute to
insure the successful implementation of this exciting project.”
After close evaluation of various EMR products certified for use in
Alberta, AOS selected Nightingale Informatix as the company with the EMR
software that best suits the needs of its members and those of the
Institute. Nightingale’s Enterprise Edition is said to be a true
Application Service Provider (ASP) solution, delivered through a highly
secure web-connection and two-factor authentication. It’s capable of
managing multiple physical locations in real time.
According to the company, the “patient centric” architecture of the
Nightingale system, combined with flexible data capture methodology,
will enable AOS and the Institute to collect valuable clinical data that
will be aggregated and analyzed for the purpose of improving the
delivery of quality care. Additional tools in the Nightingale system,
such as the automated tele-attendant, web-based patient access portal,
PC dictation tools with real time notification, will provide practice
efficiencies and add value to the solution for orthopaedic surgeons in
Alberta.
“Our objective is to provide our members with the best practice and
clinical management products to improve the efficiency of the physician
practices, and improve the quality of care, through access to real-time
information” said Dr. Don Dick, President of the Alberta Orthopaedic
Society. “The Nightingale system gives us a leading-edge EMR solution on
a central platform, while eliminating the IT burdens associated with
conventional EMR solutions. We will be working closely with Nightingale
to develop best practice and customized clinical templates and treatment
profiles.”
In the short term, the partnership will allow AOS to implement a
standard Nightingale EMR system for all orthopaedic surgeons in Alberta
within the next 12 months. Once implemented, participating physicians
will immediately increase capture rate of patient information. As this
relationship matures between AOS and Nightingale, the partners intend to
enhance the EMR solution to address the various needs of orthopaedic
surgeons in Alberta.
AOS has entered into a long-term licensing agreement with Nightingale
Informatrix. The Nightingale & AOS team will begin the roll out of the
project in the first quarter of 2005.
AOS will make the Nightingale EMR solution available to all its 150
members. The special terms available under this agreement may be made
available, at AOS discretion, to associated family physicians and
specialists participating in the continuum of care.
For further information, see
www.nightingalemd.ca
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