Allscripts [NASDAQ:MDRX]: Moving the Needle in Patient Care

"Four million patients, 40,000 employees, and 1,300 clinics,” read the numbers when Clalit Health Services, one of the world’s largest healthcare organizations located in Israel, decided to aggregate relevant clinical information from their widely dispersed EHR systems. At that point, Clalit’s EHRs worked in isolation and failed to provide a single view of the patient record. But aggregating information from such a vast network and ensuring caregivers are supplied with data in real time while adhering to regulations was not going to be an easy feat. This colossal challenge at hand could only be handled by a vendor equally mighty in its scale and solutions approach and the only company that fit the bill was Allscripts [NASDAQ:MDRX].



Today, Israel’s state-of-the-art network Ofek, powered by Allscripts dbMotion™, is redefining care delivery. Physicians at Clalit can now view a complete patient record on one screen in less than 10 seconds and further drill down into information for rapid diagnosis. Moreover, the system’s intuitive user interface and rich features such as alerts, messaging, and log-tracking make it a breeze to use. The success of Israel-based Clalit's Ofek Network was so resounding that currently it is considered a model for clinical data integration across the country. Even the Ministry of Health is using the Ofek Network held up by Allscripts’ technology to serve the healthcare needs of Israel’s eight million residents.



A New Level of Clinical Success



Founded in 1986, and renowned for its comprehensive healthcare information technology solutions that advance clinical, financial, and operational results, Allscripts probably needs no introduction. Thousands, if not more, of the top hospitals, physician practices, and healthcare facilities around the globe reach out to Allscripts to achieve smarter patient care. Allscripts has designed its software, from the foundation up, to be “open” and interoperable—which facilitates the connectivity necessary to create actionable, comprehensive patient records. This, in turn, supports population health management across the continuum of care, sites of service, communities, regions and countries.



Particularly in the ASEAN region, Allscripts has built a long-standing and esteemed reputation. In Singapore, their EHR solution is used by more than half of the public and 70 percent of the private health organizations as well as the military. SingHealth, the largest public healthcare cluster in Singapore with a network of acute hospitals, national specialty centres, community hospitals and primary care clinics, has worked with Allscripts over the past 20 years to leverage Sunrise EHR to deliver integrated, multi-disciplinary care to patients.



"The solutions and services we provide today enable organizations worldwide to change what’s possible in healthcare"



Home to two-thirds of the world’s population, it is important to remember just how vast the Pacific region truly is. While areas like Singapore have digitally matured to a point where they can successfully adopt and use advanced healthcare innovations, many areas in Asia-Pacific are still finding their footing within the new technological evolution. As the need for comprehensive care becomes more necessary than ever, it is important for these areas to find a health IT partner that can take them to the next level.

“The solutions and services we provide today enable organizations worldwide to change what’s possible in healthcare," states Paul Black, Chief Executive Officer, Allscripts. "Our high-level strategy has put us in the top circle of global leaders in healthcare IT.”What sets Allscripts apart is their willingness to listen, adapt, and revise their strategy according to client requirements to provide unparalleled value and exceed expectations. “Typically, before a customer even commits to our software, we have already spent many months working closely with them. By the time we start, we have a deep understanding of their challenges as well as a viable solution at hand,” explains Dr. Rohan Ward, General Manager-ASEAN. To help healthcare companies keep up with changing times as well as individual goals, Allscripts offers a broad portfolio of unique solutions to help providers achieve digital maturity. To begin with, Allscripts Sunrise™ delivers a comprehensive electronic health record (EHR) platform that can be tailored to the size and needs of a specific organization. Sunrise is an open, integrated platform that connects all clinical and financial aspects of a hospital or health system for inpatient, emergency, and outpatient care. From there, Allscripts builds a foundational path toward ensuring gaps in care are mitigated (and ultimately eliminated) by offering dbMotion, a data aggregation and connectivity solution that gives healthcare organizations a chance to get a better picture of patients’ health while also helping them achieve deeper communication across the continuum of care. “To ensure that community-aware insights are at clinicians’ fingertips, we’re consistently driving connected and informed healthcare for better outcomes across every venue of care,” mentions Black. Allscripts also understands how important it is for organizations to keep their patients engaged with their own care and thus, through their patient engagement platform, FollowMyHealth®, providers can engage in face-to-face visits with patients from a mobile device.



Experience the Power of Connection



Presently, Allscripts' solutions are a mainstay in several major healthcare institutions, globally. To drop names, some of the bigwigs in Allscripts' clientele are the University Pittsburgh Medical Center in the U.S., Fraser Health in Canada, South Australia Health, and Salford Royal NHS Trust Foundation in the UK.



A major reason behind Allscripts' rising popularity is the combination of off-the-shelf solutions with customizability. "Our workflow is always 80 percent suited to customers and the remaining 20 percent we tailor while easily integrating with a client's existing architecture," says Dr. Ward. The company's strategy of having open, intelligent APIs further promote the ability to provide the smartest, most comprehensive care to every patient, regardless of the preferred EHR vendor. The Allscripts Developer Program makes it possible to connect any application, device, or healthcare solutions with Allscripts' platform, spurring the concept of connected health.



A case in point which stands out when it comes to their expertise in custom designing is Allscripts’ allegiance with military organizations. The company is developing a unique capability which enables them to use Sunrise remotely from the field. If a soldier is in a combat zone, it is impossible to expect the same kind of technology facilities found in enterprises.

But with Allscripts' EHR, a physician can monitor a soldier's medical history and record details, all offline. When the soldier returns to base, the data is synchronized seamlessly and automatically into the main system. “In heightened security environments, the ability to work disconnected raises the bar of innovation. As a result, our add-on for the military, which was initially just a bespoke solution, is currently gaining global significance," mentions Dr. Ward.



Next-gen care delivery is always on the radar for the company and their latest venture is in the field of genomics. Dr. Ward mentions genomics is a powerful discipline that can predict the effect of a particular medication or treatment on a patient, based on both their clinical condition and historical medical data. At the forefront of this development is Allscripts’ 2bPrecise, a dynamic precision medicine platform that maps genomics and empowers providers with critical data to deliver therapeutic value faster while better managing healthcare costs and improving patient safety and satisfaction.



As its next move, Allscripts wants to expand healthcare not as a spin-off but as a preventative measure. Instead of focusing on tools that help treat patients that are sick, the company is looking at ways they can prevent patients from falling sick in the first place. Allscripts has been making significant strides over the last five years into driving community care in Singapore. Dr. Ward adds, “I am excited about the prospect of improving health through treatment reminders regarding exercise and medication compliance, as well as, interactive health care interventions and treatment programs in the patient’s own home. It is a novel yet sweeping market opportunity for us and it is where we see the future of healthcare.”



Innovation at its Core



To always stay ahead of the curve, Allscripts’ Australia and New Zealand headquarters is designed to function as an Innovation Hub for collaboration with industry partners. The Innovation Hub offers an open floorplan, flexible desk arrangements, and workspaces that encourage team collaboration. Allscripts ANZ caters to the needs of several hundred healthcare sites across four Australian states, and Todd Haebich, Allscripts’ general manager for ANZ markets, remarks, "We offer local companies unprecedented opportunities to collaborate on large-scale healthcare IT projects worldwide.”



"At Allscripts, the work we do is evident of who we are,” states Dr. Ward. “We are solution seekers who work day in and day out to actualize Allscripts’ vision for the future while navigating and understanding the past and present. We are dedicated to solving problems and helping our clients succeed.” To that end, the company never quits working toward building a community and always steps up to give back and make the world healthier and change lives for the better. With over 8,000 employees operating globally, 24/7 remote monitoring, and complete help desk support, Allscripts is always manned to handle the entire lifecycle of a customer’s requirement whether it is from software or support perspective.



Moving ahead, geographical expansion will continue to be in the charts for Allscripts after their recent partnership with Alfardan Group, one of the leading family-owned conglomerates in Qatar and Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine, to provide ambulatory care services. Keeping the economic conditions of Asia in mind, the company will also be pushing low-cost web-based EMR. "More than anything, we refuse to lose sight of our mission to seize emerging opportunities. Currently, Allscripts is happy to report that it is the second largest public health IT company in the world. And from my perspective, the momentum we gained will keep us recognized as leaders across the industry for years to come," ends Black.