May 2008

As you might expect from VitalHealth by now, new activities continue to develop at a rapid pace. For example, in less than three months three new integrated care networks have started with Vital for Diabetes as their solution of choice. The selection of Vital for Diabetes by region Twente after thorough evaluation by IZT was an exciting milestone. It confirms the fact that within a short timeframe, VitalHealth has grown to become the market leader in solutions for integrated care networks.

To support the continuously increasing flow of information between physician information systems and integrated care networks, VitalHealth co-initiated a collaboration agreement between several major Hospital Information System providers and Integrated Care Network system providers, with the goal to promote and streamline interoperability. Also, our partner VGA successfully adopted our platform to create web applications for improved logistics in patient care, which has brought the number of major hospitals in the Netherlands using VitalHealth solutions to four. And last but not least, to stimulate our interaction with customers and the healthcare market, VitalHealth is organizing a seminar about Integrated network care for Chronic Disease Patients. The seminar will take place on June 10th at our corporate headquarters in Ede. Consider yourself invited!

Read on for additional information about these and other developments at VitalHealth. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us.

The VitalHealth Team
May 2008 

Stichting Gezondheidscentra Enschede selects Vital for Diabetes

After a thorough evaluation process, the Stichting Gezondheidscentra Enschede (SGE) has selected Vital for Diabetes to support the integrated diabetes care network in the Enschede region.

The selection process was carried out by the IZIT, and showed that the VitalHealth software best fits the needs in terms of functionality, user friendliness and future-proof architecture. Several representatives of the physicians in the Enschede region were actively involved in the process. Part of the selection process included a thorough evaluation of the VitalHealth software by the TNO institute in the areas of security, flexibility and openness.

Vitalhealth is pleased with the result of this selection process and sees it as an important endorsement of the professional status of VitalHealth Software and its integrated diabetes care network solution. In the next few months VitalHealth, SGE and IZIT will work together towards a successful implementation, with a seamless fit into the developing regional infrastructure for data exchange.

Vital for Diabetes adopted by Accuraat and MedZZo

In the last three months, the physician practices of “Accuraat” in the regions “Gooi” and “Bijlmer” in the Netherlands adopted Vital for Diabetes as their solution of choice for their integrated diabetes care network. Vital for Diabetes offers rich functionality for diabetes care, including referrals between primary and secondary care, billing, reporting and powerful graphing capabilities.

The family medicine physicians of Accuraat already banked on solid experience with structured support of diabetes care, based on their use of the Diabetes Care Protocol of Diagnosis4Health (D4H). Together with D4H, VitalHealth has created an automatic conversion tool that enables a smooth transition from the Diabetes Care Protocol to Vital for Diabetes. This conversion is now available for Apple computers as well.

The project at MedZZo concerns a first-time implementation of an integrated care network solution. MedZZo sees it as a necessity to implement structured diabetes care in the Bijlmer region, especially given the relatively large number of diabetic patients in that region. MedZZo is a highly motivated and dedicated group of physicians that is ready to start implementing structured diabetes care using VitalHealth software (Vital for Diabetes) with the support of Diagnosis4Health.

Together with the recently released Vital for COPD-Asthma, Vital for Diabetes enables true multi-disease management within integrated care networks. In addition to that, Vital to Quit Smoking is available as another VitalHealth Platform solution. VitalHealth congratulates the Accuraat physicians with their new software solutions, en wishes them a pleasant and effective working experience with Vital for Diabetes.

Positive results with Vital for COPD-Asthma early adopter program

Starting March 2008, an initial 11 family medicine practices have started using the web based Vital for COPD-Asthma solution as part of an early adopter program. Vital for COPD-Asthma is the first and only solution in the Netherlands that completely adheres to the latest guidelines for COPD and Asthma care, supporting both individual physician practices as well as integrated care networks. Patient care covers the entire intake and diagnostics process, including pre- and post spirometry measurements. Several of the practices actively use the capability to initiate electronic referrals to e.g. physiotherapists and dieticians, creating a true multidisciplinary care network.

During April 2008, the participating practices recorded about 100 patients visits that were supported by the software, which proved to be stable and highly useful. Based on their experience, the participating physicians and other caregivers have made several excellent suggestions for further enhancements of the software. All participants were pleased and excited about the rich functionality and complete support of the care protocol.

The interest in the CODP-Asthma care protocol within the Dutch healthcare system is remarkable. The majority of physicians that hear about the product want to know more. Many of them have been waiting for a good solution to manage COPD-Asthma care in their own practice, besides having to think about how to participate in a care network.

The well structured and thorough approach of both the implementation and feature set of the product is recognized and highly appreciated by the physicians, especially when compared to their experiences with similar projects in the past.

VitalHealth co-initiates HIS-KIS agreement

The introduction of the integrated care network approach in primary care has led to new information exchanges amongst caregivers and between caregivers and the care group. On April 1st, HIS suppliers PharmaPartners B.V., Promedico ICT B.V., KIS (integrated care network systems) supplier Portavia B.V. and VitalHealth Software B.V. have signed a cooperation agreement with the purpose of creating open standards for integrations between HIS and KIS systems. This initiative is a pragmatic answer to current market demands. The HIS-KIS agreement has the goal of creating optimal IT support for integrated care networks with a complete electronic medical record solution, to avoid the need for repeated data entry.

The efforts of the parties involved will initially focus on supporting the Diabetes treatment process in primary care. The introduction of integrated care networks has resulted in two important information channels. The first concerns the exchange of relevant patient information between care givers in the network. The second concerns the exchange of non-patient specific information between care groups and care givers, such as administrative and management information. The goal of the HIS-KIS agreement is to enable a smooth transition of one channel to the other.

The IT suppliers involved will together design a blueprint and interfaces to achieve reliable and secure exchange of data between the various information systems. This project aims to create a functional standardization of (process) integration between HIS and KIS, resulting in a complete electronic medical record for the physicians. The integration design will be based on open communication standards and unified semantic interoperability, to be adopted and used by other HIS-KIS suppliers as well. To achieve this goal there will be a close cooperation with organizations focused on standardizations in healthcare.

The realization of this project will be a significant step forward in providing optimal support for integrated care networks.

VitalHealth selected by VGA, establishes partnership

On April 21 VitalHealth announced that it has been selected by VGA (www.vga.nl). As part of the agreement, VGA has licensed the VitalHealth Platform to be used as basis for its web-based software solutions that support throughput improvements in hospitals, using the Theory of Constraints (TOC).

With this methodology, combined with the underlying software solutions, VGA is able to achieve breakthrough improvements in efficiency and quality of care within a short period of time. Major hospitals in The Netherlands have already started implementations based on the VitalHealth Platform, and are achieving impressive results. Examples include St. Franciscus Gasthuis in Rotterdam, Groene Hart Ziekenhuis in Gouda and Gelderse Vallei Ziekenhuis in Ede.

VGA's software solutions were developed in close cooperation with VitalHealth development partner COAS. The network of solution providers around the VitalHealth platform is growing steadily, with COAS being an excellent example.

VitalHealth Seminar

On June 10th from 2:30pm through 6:00pm, VitalHealth is organizing a seminar at our corporate headquarters titled:

“Integrated network care for the chronically ill”

The topic will be addressed and discussed from multiple angles, with speakers including a family practice physician, a lung specialist, a representative of an IT consultancy organization and a long time specialist in the area of integrated care networks. The seminar will be chaired by Professor Dr. R. (Reinout van Schilfgaarde, chair of the Dutch Diabetes Federation. An invitation is extended to anyone interested in joining this seminar. Register for free by emailing: tmorren@vitalhealthsoftware.nl.

For additional information about this seminar, click on the banner below or visit www.vitalhealthsoftware.com.

About VitalHealth

With offices in the Netherlands, the United States and India, VitalHealth Software (www.vitalhealthsoftware.com) was established as a joint venture between the Mayo Clinic (USA) and the Noaber Foundation(NL). VitalHealth develops innovative disease management solutions for integrated healthcare networks.

For additional information about VitalHealth Software or VitalHealth solutions, please contact Geert Mol via email: gmol@vitalhealthsoftware.com, or via telephone at +31 (318) 65-7730. We also invite you to visit our download page.

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