Interface Engine integrates hospital information systems.
Press Release Summary:
OmniGate v2.0 gives hospital IT managers remote monitoring and alert functionality and facilitates development and testing of new interfaces. It manages all hospital interfaces with Omnicell, transforming and communicating data between disparate systems over various communication protocols. Using filter-based routing technique, each node determines what kind of data it will process. Software maintains interface log pointers in Microsoft® SQL Server database.
Original Press Release:
OmniGate(TM) 2.0 Interface Engine Upgrade Provides Advanced Enterprise Integration Capabilities
DALLAS, Feb. 14 -- Omnicell, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMCL), a leading provider of patient safety solutions preferred by nurses, today announced the release of OmniGate 2.0, a major upgrade to its interface engine that gives hospital IT managers remote monitoring and alert functionality and speeds up development and testing of new interfaces.
The announcement was made today at the 2005 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition being held this week in Dallas, Texas.
"The OmniGate system transforms and communicates data between disparate systems over a variety of communication protocols, improving communication from Omnicell's product line to the hospital's admissions, billing, pharmacy and materials management information systems," explained John Higham, vice president of product management. "It manages all the hospital interfaces with Omnicell, and even improves communication between Omnicell's products."
OmniGate supports HL7 version 2.x and version 3 interoperability standards, as well as a variety of other formats, including fixed-length record, delimited record, XML and X12 EDI files.
According to Robert Johns, manager of Omnicell's interface development team, "OmniGate runs as a Windows(R) service. Administration is performed over HTTP/HTTPS using a Web browser via ASP.NET (.NET Active Server Pages). Multiple instances of the engine can be installed on a single system, if desired for testing or other purposes, or all interfaces can be configured within the same instance of OmniGate."
Taking advantage of the component object model, OmniGate provides several main classes of components that can be assembled together to form a single interface. This enables new interfaces to be created at run-time by selecting and arranging components together through the user interface. New components can be developed and added later to an existing system.
Unlike many interface engines, which use rules-based processing to determine data routing, OmniGate uses a filter-based routing technique. Instead of a parent node making the decision as to where data will be routed, each node determines what kind of data it will process. OmniGate utilizes a separate Windows service for performing logging services.
OmniGate 2.0 is an upgrade in technology, functionality and supportability, Johns noted, adding that "now IT managers no longer need to walk over to the Omnicell server and log in to find out how the system is functioning. Automatically generated e-mail messages can alert them to server problems, and they can log on via the Web from any computer on the hospital's LAN to check on the system. E-mailed alerts are also visible on an upgraded status page which is configurable for each login and improves visibility to important status information. OmniGate 2.0 also has several significant reliability enhancements that make it a true enterprise integration solution for Omnicell IDN customers, including maintaining interface log pointers in a Microsoft(R) SQL Server database."
For additional information, go to: omnicell.com/solutions/professional_services/integration_services.asp .
About Omnicell
Established in 1992, Omnicell is a leading provider of patient safety solutions preferred by nurses. Improving patient care by enhancing operational efficiency, Omnicell solutions are used throughout the healthcare facility -- in the pharmacy, nursing units, surgical services, cath lab, and all the way to the patient's bedside. The company's MedGuard(TM) line of solutions for the medication-use process includes systems for physician order management, automated pharmacy retrieval, medication packaging, medication dispensing, and nursing workflow automation with bar code medication administration. For the medical-surgical supply chain, Omnicell's OptiFlex(TM) product line provides open bar code systems, cabinet-based supply management, integrated open and cabinet-based systems, and Web-based procurement. More than 1,500 healthcare facilities use Omnicell solutions to help reduce medication errors, operate more efficiently, and decrease costs--ultimately contributing to improved clinical and financial outcomes. For more information, visit www.omnicell.com.
