Cerner, Wellogic to Offer Anywhere, Anytime Access to Physicians

KANSAS CITY, Mo. and CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- As physicians become more comfortable and reliant on information technology, they want the same access to patient information elsewhere that they enjoy in hospitals and clinics where they exercise privileges. Wellogic's Consult application, integrated with Cerner Millennium, provides an additional solution to Cerner's existing offerings.

Under a technology and marketing agreement, Wellogic will integrate its Consult product with MillenniumObjects. Consult is a clinical workflow manager based on Web standards that allows hospitals to offer their affiliated physicians access to patient records anywhere a Web browser is available. Cerner will provide marketing support for this additional solution, which securely connects hospitals and affiliated practice clinics. As such, physicians will be able to deliver results, activate care plans and manage referrals to their respective clients. Wellogic Consult complements Cerner's existing product offerings and provides an alternative Web-based mechanism for affiliated physicians to access and act on patient records.

With almost 400 client sites running nearly 1,600 applications, many physicians are using Cerner Millennium solutions every day during their rounds. With Wellogic Consult on MillenniumObjects, physicians and their staff will be able to view their schedules and patient medical records from any place, at any time, via secure Web access. Further integration with their practice management systems will provide clinicians with a unified view of their activities and patients across practice and hospital settings. Working from the same records ensures more complete, timely and safe care.

"Physicians want access to their patients' electronic medical records and health care organizations want access to physicians," said Trace Devanny, president of Cerner. "This is one of the few solutions on the market that serve affiliated physicians by providing access to patient information anytime, anywhere."

Cerner Millennium was built as an open architecture -- through MillenniumObjects it allows quick and easy development of software by third parties that will run on and tap into the power of Cerner Millennium. In addition to integrating Wellogic Consult with Cerner Millennium, Wellogic will be certified by Cerner to develop added capabilities for Cerner clients through MillenniumObjects. These might include integrating Cerner Millennium functionality in a custom portal from Wellogic or creating unique workflows to meet a sub-specialist's needs.

"Cerner has the same singular focus on integrating clinical information for better decision-making that Wellogic does and the same reputation for commitment to its clients," said Sumit Nagpal, president and chief executive officer of Wellogic. "Our combined offering will enhance the ability of hospital-affiliated physicians to care for their patients, and promote deeper linkages between Cerner hospitals and their referring practices."

"We chose Wellogic because of the quality of their products, the common ties between our visions for health care and their strong reputation for engineering excellence in the industry," said Rick Holbrook, vice president of MillenniumObjects. "They will integrate tightly with Cerner Millennium by connecting through MillenniumObjects."

Findings is a module of Wellogic Consult, the company's clinical workflow management solution. Health care organizations that use Consult enable their providers to view and act on unified patient information across hospital, practice and payor systems. For example, they can make regional referrals and seek virtual second opinions by forwarding a complete record securely over the Web for review by specialists.

Cerner clients were able to see Wellogic Consult on MillenniumObjects at the Cerner Health Conference, October 19-23, and in the Cerner Vision Center in Kansas City, Mo., by late fall 2002. The integrated offering will be available to the outpatient and affiliated practice markets by the first quarter of 2003. Cerner will incorporate the joint solution into its catalogue of product offerings, and Wellogic will offer the joint solution and MillenniumObjects development consulting services to its own clients.

"Wellogic will assist Cerner's MillenniumObjects clients in building upon the platform's rich extensibility to meet their unique needs," said Holbrook. "The Cerner/Wellogic joint solution is yet another example of Cerner's pioneering efforts in health care information technology."

Wellogic provides advanced healthcare applications, application platforms and development consulting services to clients and partners that include the nation's leading hospitals and healthcare information technology providers. The company's flagship product, Wellogic Consult, is a clinical workflow manager for planning and coordinating clinical care in outpatient and affiliated practice settings. It securely connects hospitals and affiliated clinics to deliver results, activate care plans and manage referrals. Consult integrates with hospital, practice and payor systems to unify schedules and patient data, enabling clinicians to implement best practices and evidence-based medicine at the point of care. Wellogic builds Consult, and frequently its custom solutions, upon the Wellogic Platform for Healthcare.

Cerner Corporation is a leading supplier of clinical and management information and knowledge systems to more than 1,500 healthcare organizations worldwide. Cerner is working to transform the health care delivery system by increasing the quality of care, improving efficiencies, eliminating medical error and connecting the individual to the system with innovative information solutions.

Source: PRNewswire