Bridge Medical's New InfoPoint Will Help Improve Clinical, Financial Outcomes.

Business, Health, Tech and Pharmaceutical Editors & Analysts

2002 HIMSS 

Booth No. 2508

SOLANA BEACH, Calif. & ATLANTA--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 28, 2002

Bridge Medical will introduce its new InfoPoint(TM) data-analysis software system at the HIMSS (Health Information and Management Systems Society) Conference & Exhibition today at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

InfoPoint gives healthcare providers and payors "a wealth of information" for use in improving clinical and financial outcomes, said patient safety technology expert Russell "Rusty" Lewis, senior vice president and COO of Bridge, an information technology firm known for its pioneering use of barcode technology in healthcare.

Bridge Medical Informatics Director Michael Yang, MD, MS, and other Bridge experts will join Lewis to discuss InfoPoint and other new Bridge products Wed., Jan. 30, at an 11:30 am media briefing in Room 363. InfoPoint will be demonstrated Jan. 28 to 31 in HIMSS Booth No. 2508.

"Healthcare providers are searching for ways to improve outcomes, manage cost and enhance safety," explained Lewis, editor of "The Impact of Information Technology on Patient Safety," a HIMSS book scheduled to be published shortly. "InfoPoint gives anyone with a stake in patient care -- hospitals and health systems, insurance companies and managed care organizations, government agencies, pharmaceutical firms -- a cost-effective clinical and financial decision support tool that transforms complex enterprise-and-patient-centric data into clear reports that can drive change."

InfoPoint aggregates data from a variety of sources to enable providers and payors to analyze cost and outcomes. These sources include medication, blood transfusion and specimen data collected via the Bridge MedPoint(TM) system, as well as laboratory, medical records, pharmacy, ADT and financial data.

"The system's potential in terms of helping the industry achieve better clinical and financial outcomes is immense," said Lewis.

InfoPoint gives hospitals unique views of both prospective and retrospective patient and medication use data that can be used for disease management, medication cost control and therapeutic guideline compliance monitoring.

"Medical researchers can use InfoPoint to analyze clinical outcomes related to the efficacy of variations in drug regimens," added Yang. "Hospital administrators and insurance company auditors can use it to electronically assess the cost effectiveness of specific drug therapies. For example, payors may prefer inexpensive drugs for their drug formularies, believing this to be cost-effective. InfoPoint evidence might show the more expensive drug reduces length of stay, thus reducing total cost of treatment. Simply put, InfoPoint substitutes scientific analysis for guesswork in terms of determining what's best for all concerned.

"With InfoPoint, you can review patterns of care and their resulting outcomes, then generate best practices information. For instance, you can assess the effect of the timing of a particular therapeutic treatment on the ultimate outcome. Cancer treatment is one of many areas where this is particularly important. Powerful and expensive pharmaceuticals are used to help boost cancer patients' white blood cells post-chemotherapy. With InfoPoint, clinicians can determine the quickest, most effective protocol for achieving the desired outcome."

InfoPoint also automates the collection of data required by JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) ORYX measures. "No more tedious chart reviews," said Yang. "InfoPoint helps hospitals easily collect and aggregate data needed to meet JCAHO quality indicator requirements."

About Bridge Medical and HIMSS

Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Solana Beach, Calif., Bridge Medical, Inc., has been honored for its patient safety solutions and educational initiatives. The company's MedPoint(TM) system helps healthcare providers intercept medication and other medical errors at the point of care, reduce costs and minimize risk. Its new InfoPoint system is now powering best practices through data analysis.

For information on Bridge, visit www.bridgemedical.com. For information on HIMSS, visit www.himss.org.

MedPoint is a trademark of Bridge Medical, Inc. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.