Product Briefs
Product Briefs
• Erisco Managed Care Technologies, a unit of IMS Health (London), has released Facets 2.8, the newest version of its client/server information system for payer managed care administration. It includes more than 100 different product enhancements, including added functionality to the system’s Claims Processing and Capitation Risk Fund Management capabilities. Additionally, a new Processing Control Agent is designed to increase the percentage of claims no longer requiring examiner intervention. Also included is functionality to support provider reimbursement methodologies through pre-paid processing and commercial percent-of-premium capitation.
• IVANS Inc. (Greenwich, CT) has introduced a new line of products to help the insurance industry in the customer service and pricing areas. The products, called Insurance Solutions, are aimed at facilitating electronic commerce among insurance companies, business partners, and agents and brokers. The products include Policy Interactions, a data warehousing solution, and Business Tracker, an electronic reports distribution system.
• IHS Environmental (Exton, PA), a publisher of environmental health and safety regulations, has partnered with NETSCAN Technology Corp. to provide subscribers of its ENFLEX environmental regulation databases with daily updates to the registers in all 50 states. The State Register tells clients about proposed and final rules, and notices. Users can search in full text, by date field, or though a table of contents. Clients also receive Weekly Update, a summary of register activity, which is now linked directly to the full text of new and proposed regulations.
• Madenta (Edmonton, Albert, CAN) has launched a new software product for people with disabilities. Called ScreenDoors 2000, it replaces the computer keyboard with a picture of a keyboard on the screen. People who are unable to use the conventional keyboard can use alternative pointing devices to point and click on letters. A "word predictor" guesses what is being typed and finishes it for the user to speed data entry.
• Medscape has launched Medscape General Medicine, an online primary source, peer-reviewed general medical journal. Modeled after The Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, and other popular journals, Medscape General Medicine is available only online and accessible free of charge. The new product reduces lengthy print cycles, and articles will be made available immediately upon availability. The premier issue is available at www.medscape.com/Medscape/General/ Medicine/ journal/1999/mgm0409.lund.htm.
• Metrocall (Alexandria, VA) has released Healthcare Alert, a new medical information service that delivers healthcare industry updates directly to subscribers’ word pager. The service delivers general industry information regarding pharmacology, Food and Drug Administration, managed care, and insurance news, as well as updates in any 11 different medical specialties.
• OCG Technology (New York) has initiated a new web site, YourOwnHealth.com, providing consumers with access to medical information. The web site hosts Internet versions of two sections of the company’s PrimeCare Patient Management System, a software program designed for physicians to electronically document patient encounters. Consumers can use a patient history questionnaire available on the site to answer complaint-specific medical questions. Based on the responses to the questions, a detailed report is created which includes possible diagnoses.
• Passport Health Communications (Brentwood, TN), which provides administrative health care data to hospitals and physicians via the Internet, is launching its product in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Florida. Through its OneSource production, providers can input up to 50 patient names at a time on a secure Internet site and verify eligibility, benefits, claims, formularies, and in some cases even make or verify referrals.
• Quintiles Transnational (Research Triangle Park, NC) has introduced four new lines of informatics products from its Quinternet technology platform. Quintiles’ database combines medical and pharmacy data to provide real-time information about pharmaceutical use, medical interventions, and outcomes.
• Salon.com (San Francisco), formerly known as Salon Magazine, has launched a health and body site covering health issues ranging from biomedical ethics to alternative medicine and fitness. The site is being sponsored by drkoop.com, the web site of former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop. The partnership will give salon.com readers access to more than 50 disease protocols and more than 1,500 health and wellness topics.
• SIMS Communications (Irvine, CA) has begun shipping a PC software version of its MedCard System for healthcare claims processing and benefits verification. The system electronically processes 100% third-party insurance billings at the healthcare provider’s office. Consumers using the company’s Internet web portal also will have access to healthcare chat rooms, healthcare content providers, electronic commerce sites, and medical research.
• Soma.com (Seattle) has become the first Internet pharmacy to sign an agreement with Medicare. The agreement allows Soma to process Medicare claims directly for prescriptions, eliminating the need for those covered by Medicare to submit claims directly to the federal insurance program. Soma.com provides 24-hour access to registered pharmacists and online resources, including information on proper dosing, potential side effects, contraindications, and possible drug interactions. The service includes an e-mail reminder notice when prescriptions need to be refilled.
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