APP Design

From ScienceBlog

NEW YORK (March 10, 2009) — Health information technology programs implemented in New York state are active and functioning a full two years after being established, and could serve as models for new federal initiatives, according to a study by investigators at Weill Cornell Medical College.

APP Design RHIOnet customer WNYHealtheNet has been in operation since 2001.

“New York state is leading the nation in health IT,” Dr. Kaushal says. “These successes could help shape the federal government’s approach to health IT.”

Full article here.

APP Design Client HealthxNet now processes over 400,000 transactions per month for over 3,000 users, representing more than 5,000 providers. Albuquerque-based HealthxNet provides Eligibility and Benefits, Claim Status, Pre-authorization, Patient Census and Claims Processing for local payers, Molina Healthcare, Lovelace Health System, Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico, and New Mexico Medicaid, along with national payers, such as Aetna, Cigna, Humana, and Tricare.

“APP has helped us build the strong infrastructure necessary to support our 24/7 operations.” says Joseph Speroni, Vice President of HealthxNet. “Their rigorous approach to software development and depth of healthcare experience allows us to integrate new features and data feeds quickly and release confident that they’ll run perfectly first time, every time.”

In operation since 1999, HealthXnet® health information exchange seeks to encourage cooperation, improve administrative efficiencies, and enhance the ability to deliver quality care to its member organizations by streamlining the flow of information among hospitals, health plans, physicians and other healthcare organizations. More information about HealthxNet is available at http://www.healthxnet.com.

APP Design designs and develops healthcare information delivery systems. HealthxNet has been an APP Design client since 2005.

APP Design’s RHIOnet (aka Eliginet) is now processing an average of 4 million transactions per month for Western New York HealtheNet. WNY HealtheNet now has more than 15,000 unique users and transaction volume, a mix of Eligibility, Claim Status, Referral, Pre-authorization, and Reports has been growing consistently since the original roll-out in 2001. Congrats to WNY HealtheNet!

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WNYHealtheNet web application wins Healthcare Achievement Award

BUFFALO, NY –April 26, 2006 – WNYHealtheNet is the recipient of the 2006 Buffalo Niagara 2006 BETA Award in the Healthcare Achievement category. The announcement was made March 23 by InfoTech Niagara.

Each year, the Buffalo/Niagara Emerging Technology Awards (BETA) are presented to companies, organizations, and people who seek to discover, honor, and promote the efforts of those who have served as innovators, creators and advocates of new technologies, new methods of integrating technology and of economic development through technology in Western New York. The awards are sponsored by InfoTech Niagara, a coalition of companies and people involved with information and computing technologies in Western New York.

WNYHealtheNet (pronounced as “Western New York Healthy Net”) earned honors in the Healthcare Achievement category, which recognizes a local healthcare organization that best embodies the vision, most inventive ideas, and the broadest leadership in technological innovation.
“The BETA award signifies that the local technology and medical communities have recognized WNYHealtheNet as an ever-evolving, mainstream organization whose website adds value and administratively simplifies office practices through the imposition of industry standards,” said Tom Unger, Grapevine Consulting, contracted program manager for WNYHealtheNet. “The success has been a result of working with experienced technology partners, including Chicago-based APP Design Inc., and PCI of Buffalo.”

WNYHealtheNet is a database-driven software tool available via the Internet. It is a collaboration by the region’s major hospitals and all health insurance plans, and allows for on-line, real-time administrative transaction processing.

“WNYHealtheNet is an amazing success story,” said APP Design partner Rob Quinn, the company that created the WNYHealtheNet software application, and built the country’s first community health network, Wisconsin Health Information Network (WHIN). “It’s been a privilege to have contributed to WNYHealtheNet, which drives down health care costs, as it saves physicians and providers nearly $20 every time a referral is made, and $1 for every transaction. When considering that the application supports nearly two million transactions every month, the cost savings add up quickly.”

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APP Design solutions save provider organizations $2.4 million over the past year, as featured in Health Management Technology article " Transaction Portal Cuts Costs".

From the article:

One of the members, Buffalo, N.Y.-based Kaleida Health System, is recovering $120,000 a month—$1.44 million annualized—in copays that were previously not collected due to the lack of information about member eligibility and copays, reports Fran Meyer, chief information officer at Kaleida Health System. Also, Catholic Health System in western New York is recovering $82,000 a month—$984,000 annualized—in copays that were previously lost, says Jeffrey Baughan, chief information officer at Catholic Health System.

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Payer organizations also benefit from WNYHealtheNet. HealthNow, a WNYHealtheNet payer participant, realized a significant increase in transactions while reducing the amount of calls and costs associated with its call center volume for inquiries by enabling additional access to online information, according to Gary Kerl, chief information officer of HealthNow and BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York.

The improved efficiency of this new system, and the reduced volume that needed to be handled by the call centers, enabled HealthNow to avoid call center costs of nearly $20,000 a month and eliminated the need for $8,600 a month in dial-up lines. Combined, these efforts reduced annual costs to date by more than $340,000.

About Eliginet/APP Design — APP Design Group builds enterprise class systems delivering information from disparate sources using Internet technologies. APP Design’s Eliginet product is the provider information delivery platform for WNY HealtheNet.

APP Design’s Eliginet product is a secure platform for delivering information from multiple disparate sources to the desktop using Internet technologies. This proven, cost-effective system helps healthcare organizations reduce costs, address security and HIPAA compliance issues, and speed the delivery of information between partners. Eliginet’s focus is on the secure electronic exchange of information necessary to reduce administrative and clinical costs while improving the quality of health care.