RelayHealth News

RelayHealth offers services for patients, providers, hospitals, pharmacies, health plans and emplyers. For Patients, RelayHealth is a secure, private way to communicate with your doctor online.  Take care of non-urgent healthcare matters—quickly and easily.

You can even save money by doing an online consultation. As a provider, discover how you can free up phone lines and increase your patient satisfaction.  For hospitals, learn how to manage your online business office and revenue cycles.  Pharmacies can enjoy the benefit from Intelligent Network services.  When looking at health plans, learn how to increase member satisfaction and boost sales.  For employers, enhance your consumer strategy and reduce costs.

For more information about RelayHealth call 800-778-6711.  Also, look at the RelayHealth newsfeed for the latest updates.

AnswerStat magazine is pleased to announce that RelayHealth is now a Silver Sponsor of AnswerStat magazine. RelayHealth joins the five other official sponsors of AnswerStat magazine, who as industry-leading organizations have put their stamp of approval on the mission and work of AnswerStat.

The six AnswerStat sponsors for 2012 (listed alphabetically) are:

• 1 Call, a division of Amtelco

• Carenet Healthcare Services

• HealthLine Systems, Inc.

• LVM Systems

• RelayHealth

• Startel

AnswerStat salutes these esteemed companies for their support and leadership in the healthcare contact center and telehealth industry. 

RelayHealth, a provider of healthcare connectivity services, announced the introduction of Connected Orders, a front-end workflow solution that connects ambulatory care physicians with hospital and freestanding reference laboratories, imaging centers, and patients to automate the test ordering process.  Connected Orders' smooth transmission process will help physicians strengthen their care coordination with community providers by bridging the information gaps that can exist between inpatient and outpatient care.

Saint Luke's Health System (SLHS) in Kansas City, Mo., collaborated with its clinical integration and health information exchange (HIE) partner, RelayHealth, on the initiative.  More than 15 other organizations across the nation are currently using RelayHealth Connected Orders.

Within SLHS’s 11-hospital network, Connected Orders is known as the “closed loop service” feature of the health system's HIE.  Doctors at Midwest Pulmonary Consultants, PC and Saint Luke’s Multispecialty Clinic are entering orders online via this service, which initiates a succession of automated actions.  Connected Orders is part of RelayHealth’s expanding portfolio of clinical integration connectivity solutions that support HIE capabilities at more than 50 health systems and hospitals.

RelayHealth has achieved full accreditation with the e-Prescribing Accreditation Program (ePAP) from the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC).  This accreditation demonstrates the operational integrity of companies that use e-prescribing by ensuring compliance with HIPAA regulations, accommodation of industry standards, and proper use of relevant formats.

Through the consultative review process, EHNAC evaluated RelayHealth’s electronic prescribing and fax-based prescribing transactions in the areas of confidentiality enforcement, level-of-service and escalation procedures, outcome-related metrics, security infrastructures, and the ability to comply with industry-standard data formats.  “We are pleased that our electronic and fax-based prescribing transactions have passed EHNAC’s rigorous ePAP accreditation process,” said Jeff Felton, president of RelayHealth’s Pharmacy Solutions.

RelayHealth provides network and claims processing connectivity services that add value and efficiency to more than 90 percent of the nation's retail pharmacies.  The company processes more than 70 percent of all retail pharmacy prescriptions, including Medicare Part D claims equivalent to nearly 11 billion pharmacy transactions annually.  RelayHealth’s claims editing services are performed before and after adjudication and have saved retail pharmacies more than $2.3 billion in 2008. 

RelayHealth, a provider of healthcare connectivity services, announced the introduction of Connected Orders, a front-end workflow solution that connects ambulatory-care physicians with hospital and freestanding reference laboratories, imaging centers, and patients to automate the test ordering process.  Connected Orders' smooth transmission process will help physicians strengthen their care coordination with community providers by bridging the information gaps that can exist between inpatient and outpatient care.  Saint Luke’s Health System (SLHS) in Kansas City, Mo., collaborated with its clinical integration and health information exchange (HIE) partner, RelayHealth, on the initiative.  More than 15 other organizations across the nation are currently using RelayHealth Connected Orders.

RelayHealth is helping healthcare providers cope with the recent outbreak of  H1N1 flu and is aiding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), monitoring of influenza antiviral prescribing activity nationwide via an authorized prescription data feed.  "Our hope is that the H1N1 threat continues to moderate," said Jim Bodenbender, RelayHealth's senior vice president and general manager.  "But whatever the threat level, our secure online interactive tools are available to assist physicians enrolled on the RelayHealth network to keep their patients informed of the latest credible health information at any time."

Physicians are using RelayHealth's HIPAA-compliant interactive service to broadcast messages securely over the Internet to their patients about the symptoms of H1N1 influenza and what to do if they think they have the disease.  RelayHealth has also made available H1N1 flu educational content on its network, which doctors can transmit to their patients.  In addition, a new webVisit® questionnaire is available for patients to complete online, enabling their doctors to conduct quick assessments of flu-like symptoms.

RelayHealth's Extend Services to Create Patient-Centric Care Management (Oct 08)

RelayHealth announced the general availability of its CareEnhance® Call Center (CECC) release 5.0.  CECC's newest release incorporates new workflow automation to extend beyond traditional call center services to track and monitor patients and analyze that captured data to create a patient-centric care management plan.  Healthcare professionals can use the care plans to better manage the ongoing needs of patients diagnosed with chronic conditions who require continuous care and provide health and wellness management to community and health plan members.

"CECC empowers care managers, wellness coaches, and nurses to establish a care plan integrated with call center encounters that guides them step-by-step through the delivery of care for various health conditions, including a personalized plan of action for each individual," said Kim Flores, vice president and general manager, RelayHealth Medical Management Systems.

RelayHealth, a provider of healthcare connectivity services, has been re-accredited by the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC) for compliance with industry standards and best practices.  After an extensive evaluation of business practices and performing an onsite review, the EHNAC steering committee accredited RelayHealth with exceptional scores.

 To achieve EHNAC recertification, RelayHealth demonstrated a high-quality work environment in compliance with industry standards and best practices, which include organizational structure, staff qualifications, training and management, quality management, capacity management, and data protection.  The bi-annual accreditation process was completed in February, and full accreditation was given to all RelayHealth clearinghouse locations around the country.

RelayHealth operates as a neutral partner in an open network environment, offering connectivity solutions that work transparently with a variety of vendor partners.  "EHNAC accreditation is the hallmark of industry recognition," said Dave Mason, vice president and general manager of provider solutions, RelayHealth.  "We're proud to receive our seventh EHNAC recognition."

McKesson's RelayHealth Acquires HTP (Aug 08)

McKesson Corporation's RelayHealth has acquired HTP Inc., a provider of revenue cycle management technology.  HTP, a privately held company in Columbus, Ohio, provides connectivity solutions that address the growing burden of uncompensated healthcare.  Designed to connect providers, health plans, and financial institutions, HTP's solutions promote timely reimbursement for patient services, ranging from verification of insurance eligibility to maintaining payment plans that aid in the collection of self-pay balances.  With this acquisition, RelayHealth provides a comprehensive set of services to automate and simplify a healthcare organization's financial management activities with patients and payors. 

"The healthcare revenue cycle market model is shifting from collecting payments after the visit to a more retail-oriented approach, beginning before the patient actually arrives to receive care," said Pamela Pure, president, McKesson Technology Solutions.  "We can now provide the tools and financial information needed to support patients and their care providers as they plan, receive, and manage the financing of their care.  Providers are pleased with HTP's subscription approach that enables them to take full advantage of financial services as often as necessary without fear of exceeding their operational budgets."

CollaborateMD, a provider of Internet-based medical billing and practice management software, announced it will private-label RelayHealth's physician-patient connectivity solution under the name of CollaborateP2P+ to its customer base of 2,800 acute care and outpatient doctors.  RelayHealth is the provider of healthcare connectivity solutions that allows physicians to communicate with their patients efficiently, affordably, and securely.

As part of the agreement, CollaborateMD's physician customers will have access to RelayHealth's  reimbursable webVisit® consultations and other physician-patient communications services such as prescription refills and renewals, results delivery, requests for appointment scheduling and referrals, health education information, and more. 

"RelayHealth bolsters the demand we are seeing with expanding reimbursable webVisit consultations to payors and physicians wanting secure online interactions with patients," said Douglas Kegler, president, CollaborateMD. 

"This allows us to build our network and reach out and educate more physicians about the convenience and efficiency benefits of using easy RelayHealth online messaging," said Jim Bodenbender, senior vice president and general manager, RelayHealth.  "Moreover, studies show patients, too, want an online relationship with physicians, and RelayHealth offers doctors that opportunity."

RelayHealth announced its new Results Distribution Service (RDS) to meet market demand for the electronic distribution of clinical results and other patient care documentation from hospitals to participating physician practices in real time.  The secure RDS transmission gives physicians actionable access to the most current data for making informed decisions, sharing with referring doctors to promote collaboration, and communicating with patients to enhance interaction and self-care. 

RDS replaces outmoded and time-consuming fax, phone, and paper delivery methods by using a standards-based electronic data exchange to aggregate and transmit laboratory results, radiology studies, discharge summaries, and other text results from hospital systems to affiliated physician offices.

"Healthcare will eventually evolve to a consumer/retail model.  Patients increasingly want data access, personalized information, and convenient follow up," said Jim Bodenbender, senior vice president and general manager, RelayHealth.  "Our newest connectivity offering, RDS, extends that critical capability by empowering providers with a tool that guarantees infallible delivery of ‘time to data,' promotes health and wellness, and facilitates the engagement of patients."

CIGNA HealthCare will expand its four-state pilot program nationally in 2008 to provide increased access to secure online messaging that enables "virtual house calls" with physicians.  These services include reimbursable webVisit® consultations that use an online, structured interview format to communicate member symptoms to the physician, who can respond online, by phone, or if necessary, request an in-office visit.  "Virtual house calls" benefit members by offering a more convenient and affordable way to contact physicians for non-urgent, routine health issues.

CIGNA HealthCare is offering the expanded RelayHealth program to employers with self-insured health plans.  In addition to webVisit consultations, other services will be available, including prescription refills and renewals, results delivery, and requests for appointment scheduling and referrals. 

"Patients are tiring of voicemail, telephone tag, and long waits in the physician's office.  They are finding that online communications can offer a convenient option to address their medical needs in less time," stated Andrew Siskind, M.D., .F.A.C.P., of Irvine Internal Medical Group.  "The RelayHealth online service is having a positive impact, making our medical practice more efficient while augmenting our patients' healthcare experience."