Alteer Corp. Partners With Tennessee Physicians to Implement New Microsoft Technology.

Business Editors and High-Tech Writers

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 6, 2001

Tennessee-based Hermitage Family Practice Clinic has partnered with Alteer Corp. of Irvine to automate practice information flow and documentation.

The new Alteer Office system is designed to enhance patient satisfaction, eliminate the risks of paper processes in a busy medical practice and ultimately deliver better patient care.

Alteer Office is a complete practice workflow system and is built using Microsoft technologies. The many Web-based workflow management capabilities are designed to automate clinical and administrative processes.

Founded in 1999 by Dr. Steven Kinney and Dr. Katherine Jones, Hermitage Family Practice Clinic is a 14-employee medical group with two physicians and one nurse practitioner. The Family Practice Clinic is typical of many well-run primary care physician groups where the workflow to handle the 95 daily patients is based on paper records and manual tracking.

Alteer Office bridges the gap between the paper and electronic worlds, transitioning the practice to computerized processes.

Using Alteer Office, Hermitage FPC brings together many familiar technologies -- and some new ones. For example, the fax machine -- the communications hub for most practices -- is attached directly to the Alteer system so that all incoming and outgoing documents are handled from any PC workstation.

Patients' medical records are scanned into the system so they are available to the physician in the exam room, a scheduler at the front desk, or from a satellite office.

Alteer Office is provided to Hermitage FPC from Alteer's hosted central server. The software application is always available, like the dial tone from a telephone company exchange.

The Alteer system's billing, contract management and reporting capabilities provide the customer with a single system to handle patient information from appointment scheduling to sending out the bills.

The medical group is looking forward to "reducing and eliminating paper chasing," the huge amount of time spent searching for medical records and other paper documents.

"We know we can improve workflow and gain efficiencies in the office," said Kinney. "Such tasks as pharmacy call backs, handling patient messages and phone calls are all automated in the Alteer system. This is the technology we've been searching for to make our lives easier and to improve patient service."

Randy Farr, president of Alteer's Tennessee Reseller, commented, "We know from the experience of other Alteer customers that Alteer Office will provide Hermitage FPC with an improved bottom line and allow existing staff a greater focus on patient care."

"Alteer Office is as easy and intuitive to use as other Microsoft programs -- but with the significant advantage that physician groups don't have to reinvent their current processes to adapt to the system. They can have instant access to charts and financial information whenever and wherever they need it.

"It transforms the way they do business and the way they service their patients. And it has a direct positive impact on their profitability."