Mississippi Department of Health and University of Mississippi Medical Center to Create a Cutting-Edge Model for Public Health Surveillance

SALT LAKE CITY -- TheraDoc Inc. will implement its entire suite of expert clinical decision-support software at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC), the company announced today. TheraDoc will provide real-time connectivity to UMC's health information systems, delivering intelligent clinical alerts, individualized therapeutic recommendations, and systemwide surveillance. Once successfully installed at UMC, TheraDoc's monitoring, alerting and reporting capabilities will be utilized to create a groundbreaking, statewide public health surveillance system.

The Mississippi Department of Health has a collaborative partnership with the UMC to enhance healthcare throughout Mississippi, through which nearly $1 million was awarded to the medical center in October 2003. The partnership enabled the purchase of TheraDoc's software, which will significantly improve UMC's infection control capabilities and decrease the time it takes to identify and respond to infectious disease outbreaks within the hospital and the surrounding communities. In addition, the resulting statewide public health surveillance system will enable real-time infectious disease reporting to the Mississippi Department of Health.

"This relationship represents the nexus of the vision of an academic medical center, a state department of health, and a medical informatics company for using clinical decision support technology to improve the safety and quality of care delivered to individual patients and the citizens of a state," noted Stanley Pestotnik, TheraDoc's president and CEO.

TheraDoc's technology applies the growing volume of evidence-based medical knowledge to current and historical patient information, enabling clinicians to make better-informed, point-of-care decisions. The UMC initially plans to utilize the capabilities of TheraDoc's suite of clinical decision-support software to streamline data collection, automate surveillance and improve report generation, which will allow the medical center's clinicians more time for intervention and education.

TheraDoc's comprehensive infection control capabilities are key to achieving the partnership's goal of providing the tools hospitals need to effectively conduct epidemiology within the realities of today's infection control challenges. The technology will provide the means to address antimicrobial resistance as well as help clinicians manage infectious diseases more efficiently and expertly. The software is also expected to help UMC contain costs, by enabling decreased pharmacy spending overall through reduced non-formulary drug orders, adverse drug events, and inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.

Pestotnik stated further, "The Mississippi Department of Health and the UMC have created a partnership that is a trend-setting example for the future of healthcare; TheraDoc is honored to participate and contribute to its success."

TheraDoc's suite of expert clinical decision-support software includes the Antibiotic, Infection Control, ADE, Clinical Alerts and Rounds Assistants. Consisting of an expert system platform (ESP) and evidence-based knowledge modules, TheraDoc's software collects discreet patient data from disparate hospital information systems -- in real time. It analyzes and interprets data and seamlessly applies medical knowledge, thereby transforming data into meaningful, actionable information. The ESP and knowledge modules work collaboratively to deliver computer-generated alerts, patient information and therapeutic recommendations to clinicians -- within their daily workflow and at the point-of-care. With a wealth of information at their fingertips, clinicians can make better-informed decisions that will measurably improve clinical and financial outcomes.

The Mississippi Department of Health's mission is to promote and protect the health of all Mississippians. The state's public health agency has 109 county health department clinics throughout the state that offer public health services such as women's health, immunizations, infectious disease outbreaks, food safety, and emergency response and preparedness.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center addresses healthcare needs of the state in two ways: by providing the training of health professionals who will care for Mississippians and by direct care in the University Hospitals and Clinics. As the teaching hospitals for all Medical Center education programs and a 772-bed diagnostic and treatment referral center, the University Hospitals and Clinics serve the entire state of Mississippi. Annually, inpatients total about 27,000 with more than 418,000 outpatient and emergency room visits each year.

TheraDoc is a medical informatics company specializing in therapeutic, real-time decision support that improves the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care in large and small healthcare organizations. Integrated with disparate hospital information systems or electronic medical records, TheraDoc's technology helps clinicians manage multiple processes of care across multiple conditions and diseases. Founded in 1999, TheraDoc designs, develops, and supports a suite of clinical decision support technologies. TheraDoc's founders and core medical informatics team are internationally recognized for their pioneering work in medical expert systems. Their experience in clinical decision support design and development spans two decades.

Source: TheraDoc