September 23, 2008 | AHIC Successor, Inc., announced today that the public-private entity has established a board of directors to lead its efforts to accelerate the adoption of a nationwide, interoperable health information system. The American Health Information Community (AHIC) was established in 2005 to unite the public and private sectors in a cooperative effort to provide the HHS Secretary with recommendations to accelerate the adoption of health information technology and will complete its work by the end of the year. AHIC Successor, Inc. will build on the accomplishments of the original AHIC. The 15 members of AHIC Successor, Inc., board of directors represent a broad range of stakeholders from the health care and information technology communities, including health care providers, insurers, public health departments, employers, health care quality improvement organizations, and two consumer representatives. HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt and Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake will serve as federal liaisons to the board.  The National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Dr. Rob Kolodner, will continue to coordinate federal input into the public-private process.

Eclipsys Corporation has signed a definitive agreement to acquire MediNotes Corporation. The announcement was made on the eve of the 6th Annual MediNotes Business Partner Conference, held Saturday through Tuesday, Sept. 20-23, in Las Vegas. A significant portion of MediNotes sales are generated through these strategic partners. MediNotes, based in West Des Moines, IA, has practice management and electronic medical record (EMR) solutions in over 5,000 medical practices across the U.S. Eclipsys has traditionally focused on providing information software, clinical content and professional services for hospitals and hospital-based health systems. Eclipsys hopes the acquisition will make the company a significant player in the clinic and physician practice market.

Eclipsys will pay a total of approximately $45 million in the transaction, consisting of 39 percent cash and 61 percent Eclipsys common stock, in exchange for the acquisition of MediNotes and retirement of certain arrangements surviving from the acquisition by MediNotes of the business of Bond Technologies, LLC, and affiliates in February 2008. As a result of the transaction, MediNotes will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Eclipsys. The transaction is expected to close within approximately 30 days, following satisfaction of customary conditions.

The American Academy of Family Physicians has bestowed honorary membership on two IBM health care executives for their outstanding service to the AAFP and the medical profession. In presenting the honorary memberships, the AAFP commended the executives—Paul Grundy, director of Healthcare Technology and Strategic Initiatives, and Martin Sepulveda, vice president for Global Well-Being Services and Health Benefits—for their efforts to inspire positive change in the U.S. health care system by emphasizing the value of family medicine and primary care as the foundation of a better medical system. The AAFP represents more than 93,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. Honorary membership is the AAFP's highest honor.

MedPlus, the health-IT subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics, has announced that it has successfully demonstrated HIE-to-HIE (Health Information Exchange) patient data sharing as part of the Nationwide Health Information Network’s (NHIN) Trial Implementations Core Content Testing Event. The August 2008 event represented the largest such demonstration of NHIN capabilities to date. MedPlus is currently providing technology and support to one third of the original nine NHIN contractors across three states. Data exchange tests were performed between MedPlus’ regional HIE clients and other NHIN Trial Implementation program participants. Preliminary testing successfully demonstrated interoperability between them, proving that one HIE could identify a common patient with another HIE, and then request and receive a patient summary from the second HIE. Once the common patient had been identified, the sending HIE needed to return a continuity of care document (CCD), otherwise known as an HITSP C32 transaction. Within the NHIN, MedPlus is providing HIE infrastructure for the New York Clinical Information Exchange (NYCLIX, Inc.) under the umbrella of the NY eHealth Collaborative (NYeC); the Long Beach Network for Health (LBNH) in Southern California; and the New Mexico Health Information Collaborative (NMHIC), created, staffed and operated by the Lovelace Clinic Foundation (LCF).

AllOne Health will connect Microsoft HealthVault with AllOne Mobile, a secure mobile phone application that allows individuals to access important personal health information using their mobile phones. Provided by AllOne Health and secured by Diversinet Corp., AllOne Mobile is an application that uses mobile phones to integrate data that users collect from a broad network of sources and save in their HealthVault accounts.

MedAssurant has announced that André Hoffmann, a private investor and vice-chairman of Roche Holdings Ltd, has directed the purchase of an additional block of MedAssurant Common Stock for $175 million, increasing his position in the company to just over 15%, and making Mr. Hoffmann the largest outside shareholder of the company. Hoffmann first acquired shares in MedAssurant in 2005 and then again in 2006 when the company underwent select private investments to support several years of triple digit growth. With MedAssurant carrying no long-term debt and no longer seeking growth capital, Hoffmann’s purchase of shares was undertaken as part of a transaction involving the purchase of shares from existing shareholders of the company and was designed to preserve optimal flexibility for the company’s continued growth. Further to the transaction and as part of this stock purchase, MedAssurant announced that Hoffmann has joined the MedAssurant Board of Directors.

Roger Shindell has joined Vocantas Inc. as president of the company's U.S. operation, Vocantas Ltd. Bringing to bear his more than two decades of industry experience, Shindell will focus initially on addressing the high demand for remote care delivery in home health care agencies, where Vocantas' technologies can offer a great deal of relief. Of the over three million patients cared for by home healthcare agencies in 1998, over 50 per cent suffered from one or more major chronic diseases (National Association of Home Care and Hospice 2001). These patients require ongoing monitoring and follow up to ensure they keep on track with their treatment plans.

Health Evolution Partners, a manager of health care investment funds, will host Innovation 2009, in April. The conference will bring together the change agents who are driving the reinvention of health care over the coming decade. Innovation 2009 will be co-sponsored by Health Evolution Partners Innovation Network (HEPIN) partners—Psilos Group, Cardinal Partners, Physic Ventures and Chrysalis Ventures—along with Versant Ventures and McKinsey & Co. Innovation 2009 is an invitation-only event held for the nation’s top entrepreneurs, investors, companies and policy leaders. Participants will review areas where innovation is needed, identify how to foster favorable conditions for commercial success and plan how the health care system can take advantage of these changes. More information on the conference agenda is available at www.healthevolutionpartners.com/innovation.