Vendors transform patient verification

Four leading healthcare technology vendors and clearing-houses have joined CAQH`s initiative working to simplify patient insurance verification in provider offices, reports EarthTimes.

Products or services offered by Availity, GE Healthcare, Health Management Systems and MedData are now certified in compliance with business rules developed by the CAQH Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange.

As a result, providers using these products and services can access, in seconds, consistent eligibility and benefits information.

The Patient SafetyNet from Masimo, designed to keep an eye on up to 40 patients, is a wireless system primarily based on the company`s successful SET pulse oximetry monitors, reports Medgaget.

Once a patient`s oxygen saturation or heart rate goes out of acceptable clinical range, the system sends a message to one or more pagers to alert a nurse or resident.

The system is not yet equipped with EKG telemetry, but Masimo plans to introduce EKG monitoring for this system soon.

The ability to measure performance will enable the newly upgraded Brampton Civic Hospital to continuously improve healthcare delivery and patient safety, according to a hospital official, reports ITWorld Canada.

The hospital`s $550 million physical and technology upgrade includes an integrated communications network and patient information system.

The upgrade enables hospital staff to do performance measurement and other metrics to gauge effectiveness in various areas of the hospital`s operation, said Judy Middleton, CIO of William Osler Health Centre, which runs the Brampton Civic Hospital.