Innovations In Heathcare 2009

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Innovations In HealthcareSM
13th Annual Awards Event | Sept. 28, 2011
Marriott Hotel - Long Beach, CA

2009 Semi-Finalists 2011 2010 2009 2008

Innovative Approach to the Delivery of Healthcare

	Wright Lassiter, III, CEO
Nomination for their: Healthy Hearts Clinic Heart failure (CHF) is the finish line in the cardiovascular continuum of diseases that conspires to inflict more deaths in the U.S. than any other cause. Five million Americans suffer from heart failure. Each year 670,000 new cases are diagnosed and heart failure accounts for 300,000 deaths. ACMC's Healthy Hearts Clinic is a multi-disciplinary specialty clinic that differs from the "new heart failure clinic model" in two ways: 1) Specially trained community volunteers (instead of clinical professionals) provide patient education in a culturally sensitive fashion; and 2) They have incorporated clinical pharmacists into our therapeutic team. Over 120 patients have been served in the clinic. These patients have generated over 600 clinic visits. An analysis of patients, who have enrolled in our heart failure program, gratifyingly indicates that readmission rates to the emergency room and inpatient service have dropped precipitously from 22% to below 1%. Quality of life scores (derived from a standardized test) have improved by 33% while biochemical measures of poor heart function have improved by 27%.
	Leeba Lessin, President
Nomination for their: PatientQuickView CareMore uses proprietary healthcare IT, PatientQuickView (PQV), to provide lab values, pharmacy refill data (including adding therapeutic classifications), member demographic and enrollment data, prior authorizations and claims data, transportation history, member conditions, prior diagnoses codes for the patient year over year, program enrollment history and clinical quality data directly to the practitioners at the point of care. In this way, practitioners are alerted to member conditions that although not causing an immediate problem, should be addressed proactively. Conditions such as history of cardiovascular disease, which could be filed into other data available within PQV such as cholesterol values and medication refill history. This tool allows for monitoring of patient refill history to assess medication compliance. 50% of patients are non-compliant with medication refills for common medical conditions such as hypertension and cholesterol. The physician only knows what he/she ordered, not what was filled. Clinical quality data takes the form of reminders for mammography, colonoscopy, diabetic retina exams, glaucoma screening, medications which could harm the patient, drug and potassium levels that should be ordered on certain drugs, to name a few. When a member comes to the emergency room, a physician or case management nurse is called, who would otherwise know very little about the patient. Now, through logging into PQV, a great deal of past medical history and current medications can be gleamed instantly. All of this has improved diagnosis coding, improved clinical quality and reduced costs.
	Kent Thiry, Chairman and CEO
Nomination for their: Kidney Education and You® According to publicly available data, dialysis patients in DaVita facilities typically achieve better clinical outcomes. In large part, this is due to DaVita’s more inclusive care delivery model. DaVita’s approach begins with pre-dialysis chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. Kidney Education and You® (KEY) classes provide structured, in-person education, while DaVita.com offers educational articles, recipes and a meal planning tool. CKD education decreases costly hospital visits and slows patients’ progression to end stage renal disease (ESRD). For new dialysis patients, DaVita offers the Incident Management of Patients, Actions Centered on Treatment™ (IMPACT) program, which closely monitors clinical outcomes during the first 90 days of treatment. A pilot study of the program demonstrated a 22% annualized mortality rate, versus the 41% industry mortality rate of incident patients. DaVita also provides services that contribute to the ongoing health of dialysis patients through affiliation with Lifeline Vascular AccessSM, the leading provider of vascular access management services. Proactive access care reduces access-related complications, reduces hospitalizations and offers significant cost savings. Patients are offered high-quality pharmacy care through DaVita RxSM, the first and largest U.S.renal pharmacy, which provides prescriptions for more than 15,000 dialysis patients. Medications are delivered at the dialysis centers, and patients have access to expert pharmacists who specialize in ESRD. Finally, VillageHealthSM, a care management program serving 6,000 kidney patients, partners with insurers to help patients maintain continued diet and health. The program provides individualized care plans, ensuring coordinated care across providers and ultimately helping patients avoid unnecessary hospitalizations.
East Kern County Integrated Technology Association "EKCITA"	Kiki C Nocella, PhD, MHA, CEO
Nomination for their: Development of their HIE for Rural Health EKCITA, a non-profit organization, is a collaborative organization guided by a board of local physicians, community members, and hospital representatives. But getting to this stage hasn’t been easy. Overcoming the deep-rooted tensions between local providers and the district hospital to create a true team-oriented process turned out to be one of the community’s greatest challenges. After building the social capital and bridging the gaps, EKCITA has implemented EHRs in community physician offices and clinics, deployed a web-based community personal health record, as well as enterprise MPI, RLS and physician registry components for their HIE. EKCITA has turned former competitive barriers into collaborative, mutually beneficial relationships in an effort to foster the proper utilization of health care resources and promote educational activities and population-based quality improvement for citizens and health care professionals. Their innovative approach to rural health has led to increased community participation and the development of an HIE that is meeting the community needs.

	Carrie Frank, Vice President, Integrated Health & Innovation
Nomination for their: Hospital Quality Improvement Program Today’s health care environment is marked by escalating costs and an increased need for improved health care quality, especially as it relates to avoidable complications that occur in hospitals. Each year, hospital-acquired infections account for 99,000 deaths nationally. In 2005, HQIP established a pilot program, Upstate New York Hospital Quality Initiative (UNYHQI), to reduce hospital-acquired infections (HAI) in seven upstate hospitals utilizing technology from Cardinal Health Inc. Solutions/MedMined. The pilot incorporated MedMined’s process-monitoring and data-mining technology to continuously analyze a hospital’s patient population for HAI. When unusual patterns are detected, the hospital’s infection control team is alerted so that it can focus intervention and education efforts where they’re needed most. The hospitals also get real-time electronic access to infection-related clinical data. The pilot was a great success. In just under two years, seven hospitals achieved a reduced number of infections, resulting in better patient outcomes, reduced lengths of stay, and lowered costs. The program also reduced patient exposure to unnecessary medical tests, complemented existing safety initiatives and supported measurable improvements, and realized a return on investment in the first year.

	Tammie McMann Brailsford, RN, COO
Nomination for their: Clinical Integration Solutions With more than 2,500 physicians admitting over 88,000 patients each year to MemorialCare’s four-hospital system, they were challenged with the critical need to transfer medical data from myriad physician Electronic Medical Records (EMR), sites and portals to the point of care. In the diverse and rapidly changing world of medical records, physicians in our community look to MemorialCare to ensure seamless clinical integration that results in effective, efficient care for every patient. Physicians need access from home, the office, travel destinations and everywhere in between. MemorialCare recognized early that there is no one-size-fits-all solution in the disparate world of clinical integration. They set out to implement a menu of solutions to meet the varying needs of physicians, resulting in reduced costs and higher quality care. Their solution options include: For Physicians on staff: Secure Remote Access to their clinical information network including Epic EMR. Their physicians are more adept at monitoring patients outside of rounds due to anytime-anywhere access. For Physicians who have a different version of Epic ambulatory EMR: Seamless transfer of medical data from physician offices with other versions of Epic, using Epic Care Everywhere. For Physicians who have a different ambulatory EMR: Easy exchange of health information between physician offices, hospitals, labs and imaging centers that use an EMR other than Epic, through the Accenx exchange platform. For Physicians not currently on staff at MemorialCare but sharing patients with their specialist network: Web-based access to medical records for physicians through MemorialCare Link, a secure interface.

	Joe Peterson, MD, CEO
Nomination for their: Specialty Physicians On-Call Nationwide 24/7 Since our inception in 2005, Specialists On-Call has performed over 5,000 emergency neurology consultations via telemedicine. Within those consultations more than 3,500 of them dealt specifically with cerebrovascular (stroke & TIA) patients, and within those cases their nationally prominent neurologists prompted and assisted with the administration of advanced therapies for stroke including the administration of the clot dissolving drug tPA to patients suffering acute strokes. This sustainable and growing consultation volume makes SOC the largest private emergency neurology practice in the country. Considering that stroke is the leading cause of disability and the third leading cause of death in the United States with an estimated $65.5 billion dollar annual cost, stroke is a significant national healthcare problem that isn’t going away on its own. Specialists On-Call provides patients immediate 24/7 access to expert emergency neurologists who can provide timely and appropriate care and in nearly every case, the consultations we perform are on patients who would otherwise not see a neurologist during their emergency care. The electronic presence of our university-based and community based neurologists enables individual hospitals to better treat patients with strokes as well as other neurologic emergencies. In their model, everyone wins – patients and families, emergency departments, in-house physicians and local physicians, hospitals and insurance companies all benefit from their professional approach to on-call support.

Innovations in Medical/Bio-Technology

	Dirk Kuyper, President and CEO
Nomination for their: VIP Bone Hydrating System VIP is a system consisting of dehydrated bone implant sealed under an extremely strong vacuum (>29in. Hg) thus evacuating the air within the pores of the implant. The vacuum is released with fluid, infusing into the pores, rapidly rehydrating the implant. Freeze-dried (lyophilized) allografts must be hydrated before being implanted -- the recommended hydration time is usually around 20 minutes of operating-room (OR) time and even still the bone is often inadequately hydrated. It has thus been noticed that due to this insufficient hydration, surgeons are tending to implant the allograft bone without hydrating it to save OR time. This poses a higher risk of fracture of allografts during implantation due to temporary brittleness resulting from the freeze-drying process. Surgeons are beginning to see that allograft bone implants seeded with bone forming cells ( e.g. Bone Marrow Aspirate) invigorate and accelerate the fusion process post surgery. An efficient delivery system to aid greater cell penetration and adhesion into the allograft was missing in the market. Vacuum infusion packaging (VIP) is a novel method of rapidly rehydrating allograft bone implants to decrease the temporary brittleness caused by inadequate rehydration. The VIP is also an effective system to efficiently deliver key cells and growth factors to the allograft implant. The advantages of VIP system are vast. Cost effective and rapid hydration of allograft implants -- decreases surgery time (less than 1minute hydration time vs. the conventional 20 minutes), the reduction of brittleness of freeze-dried bone at nominal cost. The drastic reduction of brittleness of freeze-dried allograft bone has been seen with just 1 minute of hydration through the VIP system, which reduces graft fracture during implantation. Improves mechanical properties of freeze-dried allograft bone implant by increasing yield strength and toughness, within 30 seconds of hydration and decreases chance of contamination.

	Mike Nash, Co-Founder, President and CEO
Nomination for their: iTrack 250A Microcatheter Over 3 million Americans have glaucoma, and it causes blindness in over 100,000 people annually. Traditionally, glaucoma has been treated with medications that patients must take every day. These medicines are expensive, and the prices of some medications have more than doubled in the last 10 years. iScience Interventional™ is leading the discovery and development of the product platforms used in Interventional Ophthalmology—a groundbreaking solution for sight- threatening ocular conditions. Through our interventional systems, utilizing advanced imaging and catheter technologies, interventional ophthalmologists can deliver precise, site-specific therapies for the eye. One site-specific therapy is iCath™ Canaloplasty, the first and only microcatheter-based procedure that safely reduces intraocular pressure (IOP) and dependence on medications in primary open-angle glaucoma patients. The reduction in multiple daily medications, an average of approximately 1.4 medications per day, decreases the overall costs for patients.

Center for Craniofacial Disorders	Steven R. Cohen MD, FACS, Director, Craniofacial Surgical Services
Nomination for their: Modular Internal Distraction System Center for Craniofacial Disorders' innovative work in resorbable fixation and in minimally invasive endoscopic craniofacial surgery in particular, have had strong impacts in reducing healthcare costs. Resorbable fixation has decreased the need for reoperations and other complications of metallic fixation devices in infants and young children undergoing cranio-maxillofacial surgery. Utilization of CT derived 3D models to adapt the complex resorbable shapes used in reconstructing difficult skull and orbital disorders has reduced operative time in half. Their work in endoscopic craniofacial surgery in children with premature fusion of skull sutures that lead to bazaar head shapes and facial deformities has helped revolutionized care in these children. In comparison to more invasive, open procedures, operative times are reduced from 4-6 hours to 1 hour. Patients no longer require intensive care unit admission. Patients leave the hospital the next day instead of 4-5 days later. This has translated to tremendous savings.

	Shawn McGuan, CEO and CTO
Nomination for their: Human Modeling and Simulation Software LifeModeler, in just eight years, has successfully created and applied its human modeling and simulation software to a variety of industries, with orthopaedics and the medical community being foremost. Its innovative LifeMOD family (KneeSIM, LumbarSIM, NeckSIM) of software is used by virtually all major producers of human joint replacement equipment, employing technology to benefit both the manufacturer and the end-user. Their highly sophisticated software allows its orthopaedic customers to realize productivity increases of up to 20%, while simultaneously seeing decreases in development costs that can approach 40%. The adaptability of the software family allows designers to quickly and easily integrate multiple comparisons into the development stages and reach quantifiable conclusions that are readily applied to the joint's final production characteristics. This enhanced capability allows manufacturers to build better products more efficiently and ultimately better manages the costs of joint replacements at the patient level.

	Joe Kiani, Founder and CEO
Nomination for their: Rainbow SET Pulse CO-Oximetry Traditional methods of measuring hemoglobin, methemoglobin, carboxyhemoglobin and patient fluid levels previously required an invasive and painful needle stick to draw a blood sample, which is then sent to a laboratory to process, analyze, and report results back to the physician. This method is intermittent and only offers delayed snapshots of a patient's physiological status at a particular point in time, resulting in diagnosis and treatment delays. When compared to traditional blood tests and pulse oximeters, Masimo’s noninvasive and continuous Pulse CO-Oximetry technology eliminates guesswork and facilitates faster, easier, safer, and better health decisions. Masimo Rainbow SET Pulse CO-Oximetry technology creates opportunities for increased clinical efficiencies and cost savings in a variety of care settings: In the operating room it can lower costs by $75 or more per patient, realized through blood savings, reduced invasive Hb testing, and reduced Sp02 sensor costs. In critical care it can lower costs by $95 or more per patient, realized through reduction in ICU stay enabled by earlier detection of internal bleeding, reduced invasive Hb testing, and Sp02 sensor costs. In the ED it can help to increase hospital revenues by enabling more efficient triage, diagnosis, and treatment of patients - allowing for five or more patients per day to be seen. In doctors’ offices it can help improve efficiencies by reducing the number of blood samples, eliminating the wait time for results, and not having to call patients back for their test results - allowing for up to 3 or more patients per day to be seen.

	Robert A. Nagourney, MD, Medical & Laboratory Director
Nomination for their: The Ex-Vivo Analyses Despite a half century that has spawned more innovation than the world has ever seen, success rates for the treatment of advanced cancers has not improved in four decades. As the cost of chemotherapy continues to rise, intelligent application of therapeutics becomes increasingly important. Cancer chemotherapy now constitutes 22% of drug costs in the U.S. With the introduction of targeted therapies, these costs continue to escalate. At the same time, conventional clinical trials, costing tens of millions of dollars are not significantly advancing cancer therapeutics. Only 1 out of every 7 clinical trials is positive and only 1 out of every 14 clinical trials shows improvement in survival by 50% or more, and even these improvements in survival generally translate into only weeks or months of extended survival, not years. Rational Therapeutics’ mission is to discover and market scientifically sound solutions to cancer problems. The ex-vivo analyses (EVA) are a conduit for connecting novel drugs to clinicians and patients in need. The "Functional Profiling" platform, serves the needs of cancer patients, physicians and pharmaceutical companies. Doctors and patients benefit from simpler cost-effective treatments with better outcomes. Pharmaceutical companies are provided targets for their novel agents, saving millions of dollars on too-often unsuccessful Phase II/III clinical trials, shaving years off the drug development cycle, and improving clinical therapy.

	Richard Burke, President and CEO
Nomination for their: Rx Timer Cap Studies by the World Health Organization have clearly shown that patient adherence to medication dosage instructions is a primary determinant of treatment success. Poor adherence attenuates optimum clinical benefits and therefore reduces the overall effectiveness of health systems. Noncompliance increases with the number and complexity of medications and doses a patient takes per day, and leads to unexplained treatment failures, unneeded medication changes and repeat office visits. Studies also show noncompliance is the single greatest cause for readmission to hospitals, responsible for 30-40% of the hospital admissions for people over the age of 65. Rx Timer Cap, LLC (RxTC) recently introduced the patented Rx Timer Cap™, into retail, where 90% of the more than 3.8 billion prescriptions per year are repackaged into vials. The Rx Timer Cap fits on the original prescription bottle, replacing the standard closure with one incorporating a digital LCD readout that tells patients exactly how long its been since they took their last dose. Activation is automatic and foolproof since there are no buttons to press, no instructions to read, and nothing to program. The mere act of opening and closing the container resets the hour/minute timer. Whether medications are for maintenance or symptomatic requirements, just looking at the cap tells the patient the information they need to know to make an informed medication administration decision. The Rx Timer Cap is also available with a patented convertible option that offers both the function and security of a child resistant closure (CRC) as well as the option of an easy opening non-CRC cap. Initial studies have shown a lift in patient adherence to medication dosage instructions of as much as 34% of people over the age of 65.

	Doug Ryan, Senior Director, CT Business Unit
Nomination for their: Aquilion® ONE CT System Over the years, computed tomography systems have played an integral role in the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases and health conditions. Starting with a single-detector row system, CT technology has advanced from 4-, 8-, 16-, 32- and most recently, to a 64-detector row system. Advances in CT technology have improved patient care and created new ways to diagnose and treat disease. This decade’s most important advancement in CT technology is Toshiba’s Aquilion® ONE CT system. The Aquilion ONE CT system revolutionizes CT imaging and represents a culmination of more than ten years of development of dynamic volume CT. The Aquilion ONE provides a uniquely comprehensive exam to reduce the diagnosis time from hours or days to mere minutes for patients experiencing symptoms of heart conditions, stroke and other diseases. Now physicians have access to complete, accurate information to diagnose and treat patients resulting in healthier lives while reducing medical costs. New to CT imaging, the Aquilion ONE can image an entire organ, in a single rotation or over multiple rotations, showing real-time dynamic movement. Additionally, multi-phase studies, such as perfusion of the brain, heart and other organs, are possible with the Aquilion ONE.

Innovations In Healthcare IT & Telecom Technology

	Nelson Fathollahi, CEO
Nomination for their: Modalixx Display Due to the end in manufacturing of Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors, the majority of CT and MRI machines with broken CRT displays were inoperable. These machines each have their own specific output signal, so no ordinary display can be used. With Ampronix's invention of the Modalixx display, medical institutions are able to upgrade/replace any old legacy display, increasing the life of the whole machine. Each cath lab that Ampronix is able to prolong with its displays costs approximately $1-2 million. Medical institutions with legacy MRI and CT machines can now upgrade their old CRT displays to modern, LCD display technology.

	Raymond Scott, CEO
Nomination for their: Elysium Exchange As a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the increase in EMR adoption, the need for clinicians to be able to electronically receive and access complete and current clinical information is a mandate. With Axolotl’s Elysium Exchange, clinical data, such as lab, radiology and transcribed reports, are delivered from hospitals and other data sources to affiliated physicians and organizations. As the leader in health information exchange solutions, Axolotl connects more HIEs — providing interoperability for hospitals, health systems, communities and states of all sizes — to enable the secure communication of health information, making it available when and where it is needed. Axolotl’s full suite of Elysium products and services streamline workflow, increase efficiency, cut the cost of information delivery, encourage compliance, and improve the quality of care. With Elysium deployed statewide in Nevada, Idaho, Utah and Colorado, Axolotl is the leading provider and 50% larger than their nearest competitor.

	Tyson McDowell, CEO
Nomination for their: Benchmarking Tools The long-term problem of not collecting all of revenue due is the primary reason that nearly half of the nation’s hospitals are running in the red today. The ultimate fix is an overhaul of all administrative systems within a hospital, but not only is that financially unfeasible, good replacement systems are still years away from being market-ready. Clients using Benchmark's tools, first introduced to the market in mid-2007, estimate that these solutions have accelerated over $28 million in cash, a sustainable figure, and have put more than $25 million to the bottom line. They have also found over $4 million in claims data that was caught in a "black hole" and would not have been found without Benchmark. ROI is typically less than 90 days. Benchmark's solutions have been implemented in nine hospitals, and expects to add 32 more over the next year.

	Thomas Giannulli, MD, CEO
Nomination for their: Physician Workflow iPhone App Caretools' physician workflow application for the iPhone was the first mobile clinical app to be awarded Medical Records Institute's 2009 "Hot Product" award. The app employs technology that requires little-to-no training and is as simple as using the iPhone itself, which addresses the key stumbling block to physician adoption of healthcare IT -- cost and learning curve. Patient disease management, ePrescribing, coding capture and patient documentation are all addressed with Caretools' application, an Apple iPhone and a companion website. No other infrastructure is required. This is the first EMR solution on the iPhone, and has set new price/performance levels within the healthcare IT marketplace. It significantly reduces the cost of automating care providers and exchanging clinical data with data repositories, ePrescribing and lab networks (automation of the "chart, bill and fill" workflow of the typical physician).

	Marc Willard, Founder and CEO
Nomination for their: Clinical Information Exchange Solution Medical clinics spend a significant amount of vital staff time handling and re-keying paper or portal-based results into their Electronic Medical Record systems. But the Certify Data System solution eliminates any need to handle or re-key data from faxes, mail or Web portals into an EMR. Using easy-to-deploy hardware and software with secure connectivity, Certify's solution brings together data from disparate sources and then channels this information to hospitals and physicians when and where it is needed. Certify’s solution seamlessly pushes critical information to physicians as soon it's available, versus pull technologies – such as Web portals – where someone would have to log-on and pull down information. With Certify, they don’t have to make phone verifications, or re-key information into EMRs. Staff receives information within their current workflow, streamlining operations and reducing service duplication. Also, eliminating manual re-keying of data (and charting for offices without EMRs) reduces medical errors. Physician clinics enjoy immediate productivity gains.

	James R. Wilson, President
Nomination for their: Pharmacy ChargeLink^TM Craneware's Pharmacy ChargeLink is the first – and only – company to develop an automated solution for plugging the data gaps that cause under- and non-billing for hospital-administered drugs. Many hospitals are under-reimbursed by millions of dollars for the pharmaceuticals they administer to patients. With the disparate technology systems used to manage a hospital’s pharmaceuticals, gaps occur as the data moves between purchase; dispensing; administration; charge capture; and billing for reimbursement. When the required pharmacy codes are absent, incomplete or incorrect, reimbursement will be denied, lowered, or delayed. Pharmacy ChargeLink supports compliance, improves processes, and helps clients adhere to their own pricing policies.

	Ravi Ika, CEO
Nomination for their: ikaEnterprise Healthcare is under intense scrutiny to stabilize administrative and medical expenses while increasing care quality. Payers can use ikaEnterprise's highly modular, configurable solutions to run any business line (Medicare, Medicaid, individual, employer-sponsored) on the same Web-based platform. ikaEnterprise is truly innovative because: 1) its automation and integration of processes. Payers typically focus on reducing claims processing expenses, when over 80% percent of the total healthcare premium rests with primary care physicians and can be addressed through the efficiencies of automation and integration. 2) its portal environment in which members, employers, brokers, providers and administrative staff can perform formerly “plan-only” functions and draw upon a single, shared source of information, reducing administrative costs while facilitating transparency. 3) its heightened efficiency. ikaEnterprise contains only the functionality needed to process a claim, which makes it highly efficient to set up and maintain. 4) its lowered risk of IT deployment through modular technology. Payers can easily implement individual components of ikaEnterprise to quickly solve a pressing business issue and build to an enterprise system.

	Ralph Holmes, MD, & Steven Cohen, MD, Co-Founders
Nomination for their: Cloud Computing and Web Delivery of Services LeonardoMD was one of the first medical IT companies to embrace cloud computing and web delivery of services, using a simple, inexpensive, highly personalized design that can be utilized by any physician practice. LeonardoMD permits rapid deployment without the hassles and interruptions of onsite installation. It saves clients money in many ways: The elimination of paper charts and records saves rent; The practice is streamlined and fewer clerical employees are needed to staff physician offices; IT costs are reduced and IT expertise is enhanced by using a web service company; Paper is saved; Phone calls are reduced; .Paper correspondence is markedly reduced and could be eliminated. LeonardoMD was founded by physicians who were able to successfully establish a profitable company with customers in 48 states.

	Randall Williams, CEO
Nomination for their: Tel-Assurance A significant opportunity exists to dramatically reduce chronic disease-related healthcare costs and improve quality of care and life. Tel-Assurance® is an innovative technology that unifies care coordination and remote patient monitoring (RPM) at the point of care to change healthcare delivery. Tel-Assurance’s unique device-free RPM approach eliminates the need for costly and hard to use equipment and, as such,. attracts and improves the health of hard to reach/engage individuals, such as older adults and those living in rural areas. Participants simply enter daily health data into Tel-Assurance using an available phone (land, cell, pay) or Internet and answer brief, customized survey questions. Due to the simple, scalable nature of Tel-Assurance and its history of producing dramatic, consistent and reproducible results, such as 40% - 60% reductions in hospitalizations and cost savings in the millions, Pharos has been involved in current healthcare reform discussions on Capitol Hill and has been invited to speak to and submit proposals for potential solutions.

	Ryan Howard, CEO
Nomination for their: EHR Service As a free, hosted Electronic Health Record service, Practice Fusion has created a system that can be implemented by any physician or practice in under five minutes. Over 18,000 physicians use Practice Fusion's EHR to improve their data managemen. This EHR service provides physicians access to the most current list of NDC/FDA medications, can track patient allergies, and enables physicians to consult with other physicians through the use of HIPPA-compliant, de-identified chart sharing. Practice Fusion's EHR has been covered by Wired's Chris Anderson, Information Management, Fast Company, MedGadget, ZDNet, CNET and the New York Times. Practice Fusion was named as a Red Herring 100 in 2008.

	Prasada Pyala, CEO

Nomination for their: iHelix
Sajix is a leading supplier of healthcare IT solutions to address the clinical, financial and administrative operation of healthcare organizations. Sajix's integrated, modular iHelix solution is a complete Healthcare Information System that includes an EHR, practice management, laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, human resources, materials management and an extended care solution. Each module can be purchased and implemented independently or as part of an enterprise-wide healthcare solution. Sajix's web-based and server-based enterprise healthcare information solutions promote revenue cycle improvement and enhance patient care throughout a patient's stay, transforming the way healthcare providers deliver a superior patient experience and accelerate their revenue cycle.