LOS ANGELES – A six-year-old healthcare IT company that has focused on custom-based systems software applications is turning its attention to subscription modules – and tackling two of healthcare’s more important markets.
The PortBlue Corporation, in a recently-announced agreement with Olympus, is rolling out its PracticeSense solution on a larger scale, making the business management suite of software available to ambulatory surgical centers, independent physician groups and practices and other healthcare providers. In addition, the company has recently launched a new version of its CommandAware Hospital Incident Management Software, giving hospitals more advanced tools to deploy a HICS-IV incident management system.
PortBlue CEO Paul Dimitruk says the announcements point to a busy year ahead for the company, which hopes to capitalize on the success it has had in developing systems for specific customers and now tailor programs “for the world at large.”
Dimitruk says PracticeSense was developed with hospitals in mind, since it’s in their best interest to ensure the financial well-being of affiliated physician practices. The suite of software modules provides users with a snapshot of payer contracts analysis, provider compensation and budgets and expenses, tracking each of these metrics with a dashboard tool.
“It’s a higher-order software that deals with true management of a practice,” says Dimitruk, who adds that PracticeSense “picks up where practice management
systems leave off.”
Under the agreement, Olympus will offer PracticeSense through EndoSite, the company’s GI practice and ASC consulting service.
“Our goal is to make our clients’ practices more successful, whether by increasing revenue or by meeting and improving their operational goals,” said Nancy Vacante, senior manager of business development for Olympus America. “PracticeSense enables us to create dynamic and accurate assessments of a client’s practice and make specific recommendations that will impact the efficiency and profitability of those businesses.”
Dimitruk says CommandAware was launched at the latter end of last year and allows hospitals to manage disasters of all types, from multi-vehicle accidents to natural disasters to bioterrorism incidents. The application system, he says, creates an interactive dashboard for every application in the hospital.
“It takes the place of the … conventional three-ring binder,” he says. “It’s accessible, it’s up to date, and it’s on the right person’s shelf when it’s needed.”
Dimitruk says CommandAware was created and refined through the problems faced by hospitals during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. Both instances, he said, pointed to a need for hospitals to have a quick and easy incident response and management solution for hectic and often overburdened emergency departments.
“We focus on preparation, mitigation, response and recovery,” he says.
While some may wonder if PortBlue is spreading itself thin by going in two different directions, Dimitruk disagrees. CommandAware may be operations-intensive and PracticeSense may be data-intensive, he said, but both “reside on exactly the same technology platform.”
That platform is expected to get a lot of use in the future, he said, as the company works to develop applications in other areas, like pay-for-performance, surgery centers, pharmaceutical operations in hospitals and lab operations.
“We want to become a primary provider for software for hospital management,” he says.