EPN - Electronic Prescribing News

ARCHIE represents Healthvision's second connected healthcare community in the New York region. Taconic IPA, the premier healthcare delivery network in the greater Hudson Valley, signed with Healthvision last winter.

ARCHIE is a newly formed regional health information organization (RHIO) located in upstate New York. Its initial members include Adirondack Medicine, Inc., a 200-physician independent physician organization (IPA) and Glens Falls Hospital, a 316-bed facility located in Glens Falls, New York. Glens Falls Hospital is the sole, comprehensive, acute care community hospital serving a 2,600-square-mile, predominantly rural region encompassing Warren, Washington, Hamilton, Essex and northern Saratoga counties of upstate New York.

Part of the funding for this project comes from a $250,000 grant awarded to the Health Information Exchange of New York (HIXNY), a not-for-profit advocacy group for health information technologies. Authorized by U.S. Rep. John Sweeney (R-N.Y.), this grant was announced and published in the Glens Falls Post-Star on October 11th. HIXNY and ARCHIE have been working with Congressman Sweeney to secure these funds. Sweeney also stated that he is sponsoring legislation establishing a $25 million grant to help hospitals and nursing homes nationwide to implement computer technologies.

"ARCHIE has the leadership, passion and resources to rally both the community and physicians to adopt this technology. We are pleased to partner with such a forward-thinking organization and look forward to helping them realize their goal," stated Decker.

Healthvision has a wealth of experience in planning and building similar health information networks, with more than 25 connected healthcare communities across the country.

"The time is right for parties within the healthcare industry to connect with one another so that critical patient information is not locked within each hospital or physician office," said Daniel Chernoff, M.D., Ph.D., president of Adirondack Medicine, Inc. "There are several reasons for this. Among them, chronically ill patients see several physicians and patients frequently change providers. Healthvision proved to us that they could deliver the technology, experience and commitment to make this project a success."

Glens Falls physicians wanted to create a health information exchange for several years, but didn't believe that the technology and incentives were available to ensure a successful project.

"We are now confident that our RHIO organization, ARCHIE, combined with Healthvision as our technology partner, will deliver a much needed resource to the providers and patients in our region," said Jim Connolly, executive vice president, Glens Falls Hospital.

About Healthvision

Healthvision creates Connected Healthcare Communities by helping market leaders quickly and cost-effectively plan for and deliver patient-centric information via shared information exchanges. Healthvision's capabilities cover the spectrum of needs ranging from a suite of strategic consulting services to web-based infrastructure and applications -- all designed to enhance decision-making and effectiveness. The Healthvision e-Health Interoperability Platform and applications improve access to clinical information and enhance coordination and collaboration of care.

The company's web-based infrastructure, e-healthSOURCE, is the most widely used in the industry, hosting more than 8.5 million unique patient records. Additionally, more than 350 healthcare organizations use the company's solutions to make health care easier for their key audiences -- a number that represents more than 23,000 clinicians (including 11,000 physicians), thousands of patients and millions of consumers. A privately held company, based in Irving, Texas, Healthvision was formed in July 1999. For more information, visit www.healthvision.com.