Cottage Health Care System Selects ibex PulseCheck to Improve Patient Throughput and Documentation in Its Hospitals' Emergency Departments.

Health/Medical Writers

ROSEMONT, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 10, 2004

ibex Healthdata Systems, the premier provider of innovative emergency department information solutions to the healthcare industry, announced today Cottage Health System will install its ibex PulseCheck(R) emergency department information system in its three hospital emergency departments. Cottage Health System, located in Santa Barbara, California, is comprised of Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital in Solvang, California, and Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital in Goleta, California.

"We conducted a comprehensive search for an emergency department information system, looking for an EDIS that specifically could be deployed throughout a multiple hospital system, was CCOW compliant and had the full functionality necessary including patient tracking and documentation," says Alberto Kywi, Chief Information Officer for Cottage Health System. "The Web browser-based platform and its successful track record of interfacing with hospital clinical and financial systems made ibex PulseCheck our EDIS of choice."

Cottage will be installing the ibex PulseCheck Patient Tracking and Reporting System and Nurse Documentation with interfaces to the Eclipsys ADT and Order Entry systems. Interfaces to the hospital billing and the Philips Patient Monitoring system will also be installed in the three hospital emergency departments. More than 52,000 Santa Barbara area residents annually visit the Cottage Health System hospital emergency departments.

Developed by emergency room clinicians, nurses and staff, ibex PulseCheck has been designed specifically for the emergency department with the flexibility to meet individual hospitals' and emergency departments' needs. The system's Web browser-style format is easy for clinicians to use, and the system connects seamlessly to virtually all other hospital information systems.

More than 90 hospital emergency departments nationwide representing almost 3.7 million patient visits annually have selected ibex PulseCheck for patient tracking and documentation. Cottage Health System is a member of VHA, an organization of 2,200 not-for-profit health care facilities. ibex Healthdata Systems is a preferred supplier of emergency department information systems to VHA and its member hospitals.