The George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates Goes Live with Latest Allscripts Electronic Health Record for 300 Physicians
Version 11 of TouchWorks Provides a 'Revolutionary Breakthrough' in Connectivity, Content and Ease of Use
CHICAGO and WASHINGTON, May 22 -- Allscripts (NASDAQ:MDRX), the leading provider of clinical software, connectivity and information solutions that physicians use to improve healthcare, today announced that TouchWorks(TM) version 11 (v11), the latest version of the award-winning TouchWorks Electronic Health Record (EHR), is live at its first national site, The George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates (MFA), a 300-physician multi-specialty group in Washington, D.C.
TouchWorks v11 is the first truly "transformative" Electronic Health Record, representing a third phase in EHR development. First-generation Electronic Medical Records were developed to automate the paper-based medical record. Second-generation systems went beyond simple automation to improve office efficiency, introduce point-of-care decision support and provide basic connectivity outside the four walls of the clinic. In this third phase of development, to meet a physician's most urgent requirements, Allscripts provides the ability to truly transform healthcare, with robust tools for documentation and orders, a breakthrough in connectivity and preloaded connections to a range of devices, seamless support for pay-for-performance and quality initiatives, and an advanced user experience that lets physicians easily configure the system to their own specific needs while protecting the discrete data needed for research and analysis.
"TouchWorks v11 is truly a revolutionary breakthrough in Electronic Health Record design and functionality," said Stephen Badger, Chief Executive Officer of MFA, who championed the group's participation as the first national v11 launch site. MFA is the faculty physician group of the George Washington University School of Medicine, and currently has more than 400 physician residents in training. "Allscripts clearly designed v11 with physicians in mind as it enhances the clinical work space, streamlines the order process and dramatically reduces the clicks necessary to finalize entries into the Electronic Health Record. There is real excitement around here with these very significant improvements that will make the lives of our physicians even better."
TouchWorks v11 focuses on the physician experience by delivering an order- of-magnitude improvement in the overall speed of workflow. Allscripts employed an iterative design process that gathered extensive feedback from hundreds of physician users to understand and build the process models and solutions required to support seamless workflows. The result is a combination of innovative clinical tools, technology advances and user interface enhancements that streamline and improve the clinical experience.
"Version 11 delivers not only what physicians want today but what healthcare enterprises will need tomorrow -- a truly transformative clinical experience," said Praveen Toteja, MFA's Chief Information Officer, who oversaw the medical group's v11 training for its 700 physicians and residents, and nearly 900 staff members in just 10 days. "Transformed healthcare is about putting the patient at the center of the process, with a team of providers who may work separately but who are all on the same page, with instant access to all of the information they need to manage the patient's health -- and that's what v11 gives us."
Key features of the v11 experience include:
-- Advanced health management through more than 1,200 CareGuide(TM) Templates and note forms covering the complete physical exam, several hundred symptoms and at least 100 chronic problems and health maintenance exams, provided through a $14 million investment with Wolters Kluwer Health. CareGuides help clinicians rapidly sort through complex data to understand the patient more accurately but in less time, providing seamless support for pay-for-performance and quality initiatives.
-- Plug-and-play connectivity through the Universal Application Integrator (UAI), new architecture that allows Allscripts to quickly meet client needs by enabling over 60 different third-party devices and applications to "plug-in" to TouchWorks through a standard interface.
-- Streamlined documentation with the v11 Note application, which incorporates the ease of use and intuition of forms-based solutions, while avoiding their inflexibility. The v11 Note module dynamically configures itself based on a patient's chief complaints, assessed problems and other visit attributes.
-- Unprecedented levels of ready-to-use clinical content to accelerate physician utilization, including favorites lists for problems, medications, orders, allergies, immunizations and more, for all the major specialties. TouchWorks v11 will include over 300 forms for symptoms, 100 chronic problem HPI forms and a complete set of physical exam forms, complex and brief, by sex and age.
-- Unparalleled speed and efficiency with a new, intuitive user interface that makes it possible for clinicians to move from workflow to workflow with the fewest possible clicks.
-- .NET Technology providing thick-client benefits within the shell of a browser, and sub-second speed yielding substantial time savings for physicians. TouchWorks v11, like its predecessors, is a browser-based application, making it easy to install across a large network and to access anywhere at anytime.
-- Clinical Desktop(TM) to enable physicians to design the system to meet the unique needs of primary care and specialty physicians. Because one size does not fit all, TouchWorks v11 gives the user an unprecedented level of configurability.
"For years now, the Electronic Health Record has offered significant improvements in patient safety, quality of care and efficiency over paper records, but with TouchWorks v11 the full promise of the technology can now be realized," said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts. "By providing information at the point of care, real-time connectivity, and physician-designed features and functionality, we are beginning to transform how physicians and other caregivers deliver healthcare."
About The George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates
The George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates is the largest multi-specialty physician group in Washington, DC, conveniently located under one roof one mile from the White House. MFA's more than 300 physicians in forty-one medical specialties serve over 450,000 patients each year, including many national leaders. Affiliated with George Washington University School of Medicine, MFA is a world-class physician training ground, currently with over 400 physician residents in training. Visit MFA on the Web at http://www.gwdocs.com/.
About Allscripts
Allscripts is the leading provider of clinical software, connectivity and information solutions that physicians use to improve healthcare. The Company's business units provide unique solutions that inform, connect and transform healthcare. Allscripts award-winning software applications include electronic health records, practice management, e-prescribing, document imaging, emergency department, and care management solutions, all offered through the Company's Clinical Solutions units. Additionally, Allscripts provides clinical product education and connectivity solutions for physicians and patients through its Physicians Interactive(TM) unit, and medication fulfillment services through its Medication Services unit. To learn more, visit Allscripts on the Web at http://www.allscripts.com/.
CONTACT: Dan Michelson, Chief Marketing Officer, +1-312-506-1217, dan.michelson@allscripts.com, or Todd Stein, Senior Manager-Public Relations, +1-312-506-1216, todd.stein@allscripts.com, both of Allscripts; David Garofalo, Communications Manager of George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates, +1-202-741-3381, dgarofalo@mfa.gwu.edu
