Royal Philips Electronics has announced that it intends to proceed with the sale of its 70 percent stake in MedQuist, Inc, a US-based medical transcription and billing services company that is part of Philips' Medical Systems business.
UnitedHealth Group, Inc of Minneapolis has announced that it will expand its benefit services portfolio through the acquisition of Brookfield, Wis-based Fiserv, Inc's health-related businesses for $775 million in cash. The transaction includes Fiserv Health, Avidyn Health and specialty service businesses J.W. Hutton and ppoONE.
Milwaukee-based Metavante Technologies, which provides banking and payment technologies, has completed its spin-off from the Marchall & Ilsley Corporation and has begun trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "MV."
Vernon Hills, Ill.-based Concuity, a healthcare division of Trintech, has released ClearContracts 7.2, a revenue cycle management tool with improvements in calculating engine modeling capabilities and system usability.
OTN, a physician services company and one of the largest distributors of products and services to the community physician market, and OnMark, a national group purchasing organization, have extended their existing partnership with Oncology Physician Resource (OPR) for another year. The agreement, worth more than $200 million, will allow OTN and OnMark, both of which are McKesson specialty companies, to provide OPR members with oncology services, including drug distribution resources, technology and practice management solutions, clinical services, educational opportunities and GPO services.
SHPS, a Louisville, Ky.-based provider of health advocacy and health benefits solutions, has been granted full accreditation for 2007 by URAC, an independent, non-profit healthcare accrediting organization. The company was the first to be accredited by URAC for its consumer education and support standards in 2005.
Visa and Pennsylvania health insurer Highmark have begun marketing a new healthcare gift card, which costs $4.95 and allows consumers to place between $25 and $5,000 on them for businesses designated by Visa as related to health, including physicians, dentists, pharmacies and gyms. Highmark will market the cards in Pennsylvania first, but hopes to market them nationwide in the future.
Secure Services Corp. of Downers Grove, Ill. has announced that it has successfully integrated its Secure Health and Privacy Environment (SHAPE) Smart Token Constructive Key Management (CKM) cards with Intercede's MyID smart card and identity credential management platform, making SSC one of the first companies to offer a complete smart card-based ID solution that enables secure online access to patient medical information, reduces insurance fraud through quick patient identification and proof of insurance, and enables doctors to collect payments more quickly.
Patient Portal Technologies, Inc. of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. has completed the acquisition of patient telecommunications services contracts for 18 hospitals in the northeastern United States from Worldnet Communications, Inc. of Syracuse, N.Y. The contracts represent approximately $4.5 million in current annualized revenue and were acquired for $2.5 million, comprised of $1.5 million in cash and 1 million shares of common stock valued at $1 per share.
Atlanta-based MedAssets Net Revenue Systems has released enhanced workflow capabilities within its CDMMaster product, which enhances hospitals' revenue integrity by enabling managers to disperse chargemaster information and assignments to revenue stakeholders organization-wide and to track status and completion.
AT&T, Inc. has announced a new two-year contract with Arcadia HealthCare, a national provider of alternate site healthcare services and products in the United States and Canada. Under terms of the new contract, AT&T will provide Arcadia with the AT&T BusinessDirect portal, streamlining the company's financial operations onto a network solution that is designed to enhance financial operating efficiency and enable real-time snapshots of expenses and other critical business data.
MED3000, Inc. of Pittsburgh has been selected by Molina Healthcare of California to provide revenue cycle management (RCM), ASP practice management technology, patient communications technology and coding services.
Health Cost Solutions, Inc., a Hendersonville, Tenn.-based TPA for self-funded group medical plans, has announced an integration with Bloodhound Technologies that will allow HCS to edit claims pre-adjudication while giving complete edit information back to providers.
Chase Paymentech, a global payment services provider, and Preferred Health Technology, Inc., a Dallas-based provider of electronic payment and transaction processing services for the healthcare industry, have announced the launch of A-Claim, billed as the first fully integrated healthcare payment solution designed to reduce accounts receivables for physicians and simplify claims payments for patients.
NEOS Healthcare, a Phoenix, Ariz.-based Health Savings Account (HSA) administrator, has announced the launch of the NEOS HSA.
AXIOM Systems, a Frederick, Md.-based provider of information system services and products to the managed healthcare industry, has announced that it will enhance its TransSend and HIPAA MAXIM applications with technology provided by the Foresight Corporation, a provider of healthcare transaction automation and analytics services.
The Wal-Mart Foundation, based in Fayetteville, Ark., has donated $2 million to Arkansas' Washington Regional Medical Center to support technology advancements and associated quality improvement initiatives in its new electronic medical records system.
Revenue Cycle, Inc., an Austin, Texas-based oncology-specific consulting company, has entered into a co-marketing partnership with IMPAC Medical Systems, Inc., a provider of oncology information technology solutions. RCI will provide IMPAC customers with training services in reimbursement, coding and billing, strategic consulting, auditing and on-site training services.
The Eclipsys Corporation of Atlanta has announced that North Mississippi Health Services of Tupelo, Miss. will deploy Eclipsys Sunrise Patient Financials.
Perceptive Software of Shawnee, Kan. has announced that Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Texas has agreed to deploy ImageNow enterprise document management, imaging and workflow software in its accounts payable department.
LMS Medical Systems of Montreal has entered into an agreement to license its CALM Shoulder Screen with Conventus Inter-Insurance Exchange. A member of the Physician Insurers Association of America, Conventus insures more than 1,000 private practice physicians in New Jersey and has chosen to provide its insured obstetricians with the LMS product free of charge and will give premium credits to those who fully implement the system in their practice.
Denver-based electronic commerce and payments provider First Data Corp. has announced that its healthcare services unit has received a contract extension from Aetna. Under the agreement, First Data will continue to provide healthcare payment processing services for members of Aetna's FSA program.
Maitland, Fla.-based Galvanon has announced that the Vanguard Urologic Institute in Houston and Medford Medical Clinic in Medford, Ore. will deploy the company's online self-service portal, which includes Online BillPay. In addition, Vanguard will deploy Galvanon's MediKiosk self-service check-in kiosk to automate the registration process.
CPU Medical Management Systems of San Diego has announced that Valley Radiology Consultants Medical Group of Escondido, Fla. and Medi-Data Services of Naperville, Ill. have both selected the company's Web MED/FM Web-enabled practice management system.