Medicity's agent-grid technology for health information exchange awarded U.S. patent

Feb 5 2010

Medicity—the leading provider of health information exchange (HIE) solutions that empower physicians, hospitals and communities to improve care coordination, collaboration and achieve meaningful use of health information technology—today announced the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded the company Patent No. 7,653,634 for its agent-grid technology for health information exchange. This patented technology, which is at the core of Medicity’s Novo Grid, has become the industry standard for seamless electronic health record (EHR) integration and community-wide health information exchange.

“The Novo Grid is rapidly deployable and is changing the way healthcare is delivered by a wide range of healthcare organizations—from health systems that are fully automated across the enterprise to practices using paper-based systems.”

The patent defines an innovative approach to achieving the secure exchange of health information between disparate computing systems across acute care and ambulatory care locations, which is essential to achieving meaningful use. It offers a secure, scalable and rapidly deployable solution that enables information exchange among healthcare providers—ultimately creating a healthcare social network among participating providers as they exchange information to improve patient care and operating efficiency.

The patented technology in Medicity’s Novo Grid leverages agents—intelligent software programs installed in physician offices, hospitals, and other allied healthcare organizations—that communicate over the Internet and eliminate the need to establish and support point-to-point interfaces. Performing workflow and integration tasks, these agents seamlessly enable health information exchange that adapts to the technology level of each practice—distributing data electronically to EHRs and making information available via the Web for paper-based practices.

The Grid is a key technology for improving patient care quality and delivery, providing healthcare organizations with “last mile connectivity” into physician practices, connecting all systems across a community and making patient health information securely available.

“This patent is a reflection of the advancements we have made in improving the exchange of health information,” explained James K. Lassetter, M.D., Chairman and CEO of Medicity. “The Novo Grid is rapidly deployable and is changing the way healthcare is delivered by a wide range of healthcare organizations—from health systems that are fully automated across the enterprise to practices using paper-based systems.”

The patent was awarded on the heels of a banner 2009 for the company that recently reported strong revenues and anticipates the momentum to keep pace in 2010 as healthcare organizations engage in HIE to achieve meaningful use.

“The innovation doesn’t stop here,” continued Lassetter. “Our next-generation platform, called iNexx, is designed to take the Novo Grid technology to the next level—to inspire advancements in application development that will enable physicians to download modular applications and create a customized software suite to help them achieve meaningful use and gain workflow efficiencies where they need them.”

Medicity will demonstrate the Novo Grid and its next-generation iNexx technology at HIMSS10, March 1-4, 2010 in Atlanta, GA.

SOURCE Medicity