CHICAGO – Healthcare providers looking to marry clinical and revenue cycle management operations are finding a willing suitor in Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions.
The Chicago-based healthcare IT giant announced two new clients this week, connecting healthcare providers in dozens of locations in Indiana and Florida with revenue cycle management tools and other solutions designed to improve the quality of care and patient communications and better manage the cost of care delivery.
The news comes as Allscripts announced a 39 percent increase in fiscal third-quarter earnings, including a 12 percent increase in revenue (to $179.9 million) and a 25 percent boost in bookings to $105.5 million. For the quarter ended Feb. 28, the company posted a profit/loss of $18.5 million, or 12 cents a share, from $13.3 million (9 cents a share) for the same period a year ago.
In Florida, more than 200 physicians in 37 locations affiliated with the Pensacola-based Sacred Heart Medical Group will soon have access to Allscripts Practice Management and Payerpath solutions, designed to automate billing, scheduling, claims management and other financial functions. Sacred Heart’s network of primary care and specialty physicians is part of the Sacred Heart Health System, a three-hospital network in northwest Florida and southern Alabama that’s tied into the Ascension Health network, the nation’s largest system of not-for-profit healthcare facilities.
“Allscripts can handle provider-based billing on one computer system, which means patients will no longer receive two separate statements,” said Laura Irwin, the medical group’s chief operating officer, in a press release. “We expect that to improve patient satisfaction because they’ll be able to talk with just one person about all of their bills.”
In Indiana, meanwhile, the Fort Wayne-based Parkview Health System has selected the Allscripts Electronic Health Record, Practice Management and Revenue Cycle Management solutions, as well as the Allscripts Emergency Department Information System, for its network of six hospitals, long-term care facilities, home health and hospice settings and physicians of the 170-member Parkview Physicians’ Group.
“Parkview Health’s decision to implement Allscripts across its physician network, for affiliated physicians and in the Emergency Department, is an example of a leading healthcare system building a connected system of health to advance our national goal of delivering higher quality care at lower cost,” said Glen Tullman, Allscripts’ chief executive officer, in a separate press release. “Parkview’s physician practices can take advantage of our full suite of practice management and revenue cycle solutions for improved efficiency and lower costs while leveraging our focus on innovation to deliver new ways of accessing vital patient information at the point of care.”
Florida’s Sacred Heart Medical Group conducted an 18-month search for a new system that would be able to replace the group’s legacy practice management system and lay the groundwork for an electronic health record.
“Sacred Heart Medical Group is committed to providing quality patient care in the most effective and efficient manner possible, and the Allscripts practice management and claims management solutions make it easier for us to deliver on that promise,” said Peter Heckathorn, the medical group’s president. “This agreement cements the foundation of our vision for creating a unified electronic platform that allows us to deliver quality patient care in an innovative and meaningful way.”
Meanwhile, news of Allscripts’ strong earnings report has further buoyed analysts’ assessments of the company. “On several measures, Allscripts appears to be out-executing the competition, especially on bookings and market mind-share,” write Piper Jaffray’s Sean W. Wieland and Mohan A. Naidu. “We believe this will translate into bookings acceleration in future quarters.”
source: healthcareirnews