ALPHARETTA, Ga., Oct. 11, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Optio(r) Software, Inc. (OTCBB:OPTO) announced today that Elaine O'Bleness, a director of health information services for Banner Health, next week will present "Meeting Health Information Management Challenges in a Community Health Environment", a technical paper, at the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) 2005 Annual Conference in San Diego, Calif.
O'Bleness, director of a four-hospital HIS department serving 700 physicians, will present the paper on Tues., Oct. 18 from 3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. at the San Diego Convention Center. She will recap the highlights of Tuesday's presentation and be available for one-on-one discussions in Optio Software Booth No. 324 at 10:30 a.m. on Wed., Oct. 19.
In her session at the national AHIMA conference, O'Bleness will detail her experience with electronic health records beginning with the initial implementation of subscription-based Optio QuickRecord(r) Suite in 1998. Specifically, she will explore:
-- Challenges faced during the process of gradually moving toward
digital records
-- The importance of providing shared access to a composite patient
view across the continuum of care
-- The importance of gaining acceptance for electronic health
record initiatives from the medical community
"Since 2001, the Colorado facilities of Banner Health have been working toward implementing what is evolving into an electronic health record system serving the regional community," says O'Bleness. "QuickRecord brings together scanned documents and discrete data from our HIS and ancillary systems. We've eliminated approximately 60 percent of requests for physical medical records and wiped out HIM backlogs. Now, the distance between the information clinicians need and the information they want is measured by a single mouse-click."
For many healthcare facilities -- especially those with 100 or fewer beds -- subscription-based systems offer an affordable alternative to the multimillion-dollar health systems on the market for large facilities. Similar to an application service provider approach, these solutions require minimal capital expense, offer accelerated ROI and can be remotely installed, maintained and monitored, according to O'Bleness. As an added bonus, QuickRecord integrates smoothly with Banner's Siemens MedSeries4(r) and other leading HIS and clinical systems.
O'Bleness is a recognized authority on health information management with 25 years of experience directing medical records, information services and related services in hospital settings. Among other honors, she served as president of the Colorado Health Information Management Association from 2002 to 2003 and has been an adjunct professor with Regis University in Denver since 1999.
O'Bleness holds a master of business administration degree from the University of Texas at Tyler and a bachelor of science degree from Wichita State University in Wichita, Kan. She is also the author of "When Paper Kills," published in a June 2005 issue of ADVANCE for Health Information Professionals and "From Electronic Document Management to EHR," published in the January 2005 issue of Health Management Technology magazine. Both articles can be downloaded at http://www.optiosoftware.com/default.aspx?tabid=187. Download O'Bleness' technical paper at http://www.optiohealthcare.com/ahima.
About AHIMA
AHIMA is the premier association of health information management (HIM) professionals with 50,000 members dedicated to the effective management of personal health information needed to deliver quality healthcare. Founded in 1928 to improve the quality of medical records, AHIMA is committed to advancing the HIM profession in an increasingly electronic and global environment through advocacy, education, certification and lifelong learning. The annual convention will run from Oct. 17-19 in San Diego. For more information, visit www.ahima.org.
About Banner Health
Based in Phoenix, Banner Health is one of the largest, nonprofit health care systems in the country with 20 facilities offering hospital care, home care, hospice care, nursing registries, surgery centers, laboratories and rehabilitation services. Its Western Region facilities include: North Colorado Medical Center, with 326 beds, in Greeley; East Morgan Count Hospital, with 15 beds, in Brush; McKee Medical Center, with 126 beds, in Loveland; and Sterling Regional MedCenter, with 36 beds, in Sterling.
About Optio Healthcare Solutions
More than 700 healthcare organizations use Optio forms automation and electronic health record solutions to reduce costs, streamline document-driven processes and improve patient safety. For more information, visit www.optiohealthcare.com.
About Optio Software, Inc.
More than 5,000 companies use Optio solutions to achieve unprecedented speed, accuracy, functionality and quality in their inbound and outbound document processes and extend their enterprise resource planning (ERP) and hospital information systems (HIS) applications. Founded in 1981, Optio Software maintains world headquarters in Alpharetta, Ga., with Europe, Middle East and Africa headquarters in Paris and sales offices in Germany and the United Kingdom. More information about Optio Software (OTCBB:OPTO) is available at www.OptioSoftware.com.
(c) Copyright 2005, Optio Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Optio is a registered trademark of Optio Software, Inc. Other companies and products mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.