Health IT

Hyland Software buys medical record workflow company eWebHealth

Hyland Software Inc. has acquired eWebHealth Inc., a provider of Web-based medical record workflow software, […]

Hyland Software Inc. has acquired eWebHealth Inc., a provider of Web-based medical record workflow software, for undisclosed terms.

It was the second announcement on Monday by a Northeast Ohio organization at HIMSS10, the health information technology industry’s annual conference, which is in Atlanta this week. Earlier in the day, the Cleveland Clinic announced results of its home-monitoring pilot with Microsoft Corp.

Hyland’s OnBase software is particularly good at integrating paper-based information with electronic record systems. This is an important strength as doctors’ practices and other health care providers move to all-electronic medical records. Hyland has reinforced its health care business with acquisitions and other innovations in the last year.

“Acquisitions are accelerating our entry into key markets,” said A.J. Hyland, president and CEO of Hyland Software, in a written statement. “They’ve also allowed us to add more people with specific health care expertise. Combined with our new products and important certifications, acquisitions have helped us to take our offerings and knowledge to new levels.”

Acquiring eWebHealth in Reading, Mass., “does several key things for us,” Hyland said. “Among them, it increases our domain expertise in the areas of coding and revenue cycle workflow solutions. This acquisition also adds a customer base that has already embraced software-as-a-service (SaaS). It’s a delivery model that’s a key part of our business strategy and something we offer in the form of OnBase OnLine.”

eWebHealth delivers solutions via the Internet for clinical, administrative and financial workflow. It also automates specialty areas such as physician coding, signature completion and compliance. Nearly 100 small and mid-sized hospitals and health care facilities nationwide are eWebHealth customers.

Delivering these services online usually means less expense and time for health care providers. “For a lot of reasons, SaaS-delivered content management has become a solid, sensible option for more health care organizations than ever before,” Hyland said. “Budgets are tight, IT resources are spread thin and staffs are being forced to handle increasingly large workloads. Many providers aren’t in a position to even consider anything but SaaS products right now.”

Hyland offers electronic medical record systems online, on-premises and a hybrid of the two options, Hyland said.

As important for Hyland, eWebHealth has partnered with Iatric Systems in Boxford, Mass., to enable doctors’ offices to integrate their electronic medical record software and make their records “interoperable,” that is, usable by different systems so they can be accessed by authorized employees anywhere online.

Interoperability of electronic medical records has been an elusive goal in the U.S. health care system.

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