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Press Releases:   7/19/2006: DisasterLink Released
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The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has recently published a report entitled "Hospital Based Emergency Care: At the Breaking Point" which examines the state of emergency care in this country. The IOM found that the capacity to manage large-scale emergency situations such as disease pandemics, naturally occurring disasters or acts of terrorism places a huge challenge on hospitals and first-responders to absorb and manage a significant surge in casualties. Such demands placed on the emergency care system can hinder its ability to respond to and provide emergent and urgent care. The IOM has defined its goals for the future of emergency care centering around coordination, regionalization and accountability to reduce vulnerabilities at multiple operational levels of the federal, state, and regional levels. Although many efforts are underway to better organize and coordinate response systems, not enough has been done to optimize communication and synchronization of individual patient information during the early stages of triage, treatment, and transport, hospitalization and inter-hospital transfer of disaster victims.

Our Technology and Experience Bridges the Communication Gap Between EMS First-responders, Hospitals, Citizens, and Government Agencies:

The PatientCentral DisasterLink^TM system for hospitals and healthcare systems and the VerdaSee Navigator^TM system for EMS first-responders are designed to eliminate fragmentation between the EMS/first-responders, hospitals, trauma centers and public health, which have traditionally worked in silos. These technologies have been designed to keep pace with managing large-scale disasters where multiple casualties must be evaluated, transported, treated and information processed to ensure proper coordination, communication, and synchronization of local, regional and national level disaster management efforts.

PatientCentral Technologies, L.L.C. and VerdaSee Solutions, Inc., as strategic partners, have designed high-performance tracking and tracing hardware and software that manages information collection and distribution in mass-casualty situations for first-responders and hospitals. These technologies optimize the ability of the disaster management system to coordinate and synchronize information more efficiently and effectively. PatientCentral Technologies team has a unique combination of backgrounds including many decades of experience in clinical care, clinical information systems, regulatory compliance and performance improvement which provide insight into meeting the needs of the healthcare community in mass-casualty disaster management.

The VerdaSee team has decades of advanced tracking and tracing experience that includes widely respected experts in solutions engineering, software engineering, label and tag development, design and manufacturing, and supply chain and logistical systems, which improves the reliability of excellent products and builds an integrated suite of healthcare products. Combined, PatientCentral Technologies and VerdaSee create a powerhouse of information management solutions designed to optimize coordination, communication, synchronization and effectiveness of mass causality disaster management. At the core, is passive and active radio frequency identification (RFID) technology that propels high performance tracking and tracing well beyond the capabilities of today's most advanced bar code applications.

Key Features of Radiofrequency Technology:

Automates data collection and reduces operator intervention by eliminating "line of sight" scanning needed with the use of traditional bar code tags and readers.
Real time or near real time inventory and asset management is achieved instantaneously and automatically.
Multiple asset scan allows groups of assets to be scanned simultaneously thereby eliminating the need for manual sorting of items.
Improved read accuracy is achieved due to enhanced durability of RFID tags versus bar code labels that can be adversely impacted by handling and environmental conditions.
Security and theft deterrence is provided through careful data management and control between the unique information on the microchip and the system software.
Read/Write Capability, or read only, can be provided to meet the data management needs of specific applications.

DisasterLink^TM and VerdaSee Navigator^TM systems enhance synchronization between local, state and federal agencies to respond in real-time, and bolster support of hospital personnel in managing the medical needs of the local community and shunting casualty victims to other towns. The historical nightmare of hurricane Katrina serves as an opportunity for providing a solution to current constraints in coordination of disaster management information.

VERDASEE NAVIGATOR^TM
DISASTER MANAGEMENT TOOLS FOR FIRST-RESPONDERS

First-responder mass-casualty management procedures rely on complex set of tasks where coordination and flow between triage, treatment and transport is critical to efficient and effective emergency management. VerdaSee Navigator^TM has the ability to bring automatic and, if needed, tracking-all-the-time capabilities to current first-responder casualty management systems affordably.

For first-responders, the VerdaSee Navigator^TM system provides a client interface tool designed to optimize the effectiveness of communication, efficiency of documentation, coordination and synchronization of triage, early treatment, communication with hospitals and transport to hospitals. VerdaSee's Navigator^TM facilitates real time information collection. It is composed of two modules: the first module is a software link between various RFID reader devices and the database where information is captured and managed; the second module is the user interface, which allows access to information via user friendly screens. Because the data collected by VerdaSee Navigator^TM has "push capability" and can be stored, as each patient is processed through triage, treatment and through transport, the accumulated data about each patient becomes an invaluable source of information, reducing the potential for human error, and eliminating redundancies. The data becomes an invaluable resource to hospitals, external agencies, and families looking to locate their loved ones.

A client interface tool offers first-responders the ability confidentially and retrospectively analyze disaster preparedness in terms of human resources, durable and non-durable equipment, coordination and communication with internal and external agencies, occurrence and management of sentinel events, and collect information about the aftermath and public perception. Having a client interface provides confidentiality of data and a means for root cause analysis and performance improvement, and strategic planning.

DisasterLink^TM
DISASTER MANAGEMENT TOOLS FOR HOSPITALS

DisasterLink^TM offers a cost-effective means for local hospitals to ensure regulatory agency compliance. DisasterLink^TM is a real-time disaster management tool which enhances the ability to care for disaster victims in communities that have been affected by any type of disaster through optimized communication, coordination and synchronization of casualty management efforts at the local level, state level, and federal level.

For hospitals, the DisasterLink^TM system provides a client interface tool which manages information collection and distribution about individual disaster victims including identity and authentication of identity, demographics, payor status, acuity level and health status, family information and disposition. DisasterLink^TM bridges disaster victim information gathered by local-level and state-level emergency medical systems on the one hand, and on the other hand, the existing hospital information technology (IT) systems in hospitals to which victims are transported. DisasterLink^TM has the "pull" capacity to extract data from a centralized Incident Command server, while simultaneously having the capacity to "push" disaster victim data into the centralized Incident Commander server so that there is a real-time recognition of the status of casualties, ability to plan for coordination of additional medical care, supplies and commodities, as well as ability to connect to disaster victims and their families. DisaterLink^TM is designed to fit with VerdaSee Navigator^TM and is also flexible enough to interface with other types of tagging systems.

DisasterLink^TM also provides each hospital a client interface which can be used as an analytical tool to assess disaster preparedness in terms of the adequacy and availability of human resources, durable and non-durable medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, blood products, beds, care by acuity level, and staples such as food, water, etc. DisasterLink^TM also provides data for analysis of communication and coordination of care with external agencies, occurrence and sentinel events, patient demographics including costs and clinical outcomes, and aftermath assessment tools. This client database for hospitals is an invaluable tool designed as a means for performance improvement, root cause analysis, and prospective strategic planning, all required to comply with tougher JCAHO standards to ensure patient safety and more effective horizontal management of casualties in effective communities.

Our Technology and Experience Bridges Critical Clinical Information for Patients and Healthcare Providers

MyHealthArchive^TM

MyHealthArchive^TM is a healthcare data repository which allows citizens to electively and confidentially register their health information for a nominal subscription fee as a means to make healthcare information available to healthcare providers in the event of unforeseen disasters. MyHealthArchive^TM safely and securely maintains patients' longitudinal healthcare history across inpatient and outpatient visits and events, and also stores information regarding current prescriptions, chronic health concerns, and emergency contacts. MyHealthArchive^TM is a web-based tool that is invaluable to patients with chronic diseases for whom knowledge of prior medical treatment may mean the difference between life and death. This resource will be made available to hospitals that implement DisasterLink^TM to improve patient safety.

Recognizing that DisasterLink^TM is dependent upon electricity and back-up generator systems required to run hospital information systems, there is capability to run DisasterLink^TM in the absence of electricity with a battery powered laptop as a web-based communication tool to provide valuable up-to-date information about casualties, the status of these casualties, as well as the capacity for the healthcare community to manage logistics by responding to and managing additional casualties.

Design Capabilities of the VerdaSee Navigator^TM and DisasterLink^TM Systems-Tools for the Continuum of Disaster Management

VerdaSee Navigator^TM Design Capabilities

• Automates data collection and reduces operator intervention by eliminating "line of sight" scanning needed with the use of traditional bar code tags and readers.
• Improved read accuracy is achieved due to enhanced durability of RFID tags versus bar code labels that can be adversely impacted by handling and environmental conditions.
• Security and theft deterrence is provided through careful data management and control between the unique information on the microchip and the system software.
• Read/write capability, or read only, can be provided to meet the data management needs of specific applications.
• Allows user customization.
• Maintains a secure log of what person performs data input and screen viewing. User-customization will allow this to become part of the medical record, as desired.
• Provides a robust functionality regarding patient condition, demographics and disposition. This functionality will be user-customizable and will integrate with admission/discharge/transfer and clinical information systems to optimize patient tracking and patient flow.
• Provides patient specific information about medications and other therapeutic interventions.
• Quality and compliance data can be customized, collected, integrated, and analyzed according to specifications of the local, state and federal EMS level compliance and performance improvement programs. User access to data will be based on need to know status to support the hospital's patient care and performance improvement initiatives.
• Remains compliant with HIPAA standards.
• Supports data entry and data capture both through the functionalities of proprietary data capture tools including RFID readers, bar code scanners, manual entry and others.
• User customizable to define unacceptable, erroneous, or risky data entry, and will provide understandable error messages and contextual troubleshooting capabilities.
• Uses a familiar web-like graphical user interface, and incorporates a Microsoft Windows compatible interface.
• Microsoft Windows compatible interface.

DisasterLink^TM Design Capabilities

• When fully customized to a client hospital or clinic, DiasterLink.
• Adopts the styles used by the hospital, including font and formatting preferences, patient header and screen style.
• Interfaces EMS/state/regional/federal levels of emergency management.
• Interfaces with the hospital's clinical information system, and through it, with other information systems and medical devices; HL-7 transfer of data to hospital information system.
• Interfaces with the search capabilities of the hospital's admission/discharge/transfer system and clinical information system as well as the Internet.
• Maintains a secure log of what person performs data input and screen viewing. User-customization will allow this to become part of the medical record, as desired.
• Provides a robust functionality regarding patient condition, demographics and disposition. This functionality will be user-customizable and will integrate with admission/discharge/transfer and clinical information systems to optimize tracking and patient flow.
• Interface with MyHealthArchive^TM provides patient specific information about medications and other therapeutic interventions. User-defined alerts can be entered to notify physician or hospital personnel or patient of possible drug-drug interactions, food-drug interactions and treatment hazards.
• Quality and compliance data will be customized, collected, integrated, and analyzed according to specifications of the hospital's compliance and performance improvement programs including initiatives supported through Quality Management, Care Management, and Utilization Management committees. User access to data will be based on need to know status to support the hospital's patient care and performance improvement initiatives.
• Remains compliant with standards, including HL-7, HIPAA, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), The Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Quality and compliance data will be collected, analyzed and transmitted according to the hospital's Quality Management, Care Management, Process Improvement and Compliance programs.
• Supports data entry and data capture both through the functionalities of the hospital's CIS and the proprietary data capture tools including RFID readers, bar code scanners, manual entry and others.
• User customizable to define unacceptable, erroneous, or risky data entry, and will provide understandable error messages and contextual troubleshooting capabilities.
• Uses a familiar web-like graphical user interface, and incorporates a Microsoft Windows compatible interface;
• Uses the enterprise wide master patient index.
• Microsoft Windows compatible interface.

We Impact The Big Picture

PatientCentral's DisasterLink^TM for hospitals and healthcare systems and the VerdaSee Navigator^TM system for EMS first-responders optimizes communication and synchronization of individual patient information during the early stages of triage, treatment, and transport, hospitalization and inter-hospital transfer of disaster victims. Because fragmented communication is eliminated between the EMS/first-responders, hospitals, trauma centers and public health, traditional silos are virtually eliminated. These technologies provide massive insight into management of large-scale disasters where multiple casualties must be evaluated, transported, treated and information processed; to ensure proper coordination, communication, and synchronization of local, regional and national level efforts. Our technology answers the call to improve casualty management in disasters.

For More Information,

     PatientCentral Technologies, L.L.C.
     1177 West Loop South
     Suite 1100
     Houston, Texas 77027

     (Phone) 866.436.6110
     (Fax) 832.565.9006
     vpurcell@patientcentral.com
     adavies@patientcentral.com