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Five Hospitals to Share Patient Data: ICW Connects Regional Medical Centers and University Facility

Posted on: Monday, 26 November 2007, 12:01 CST

MALVERN, Pa., Nov. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Medical staff at Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany, and the hospitals of the Health Centers Rhine-Neckar will soon routinely exchange comprehensive patient data. Driving the seamless exchange of information between facilities and care providers is the hospital connectivity solution Professional Exchange Server (PXS), from the eHealth specialist InterComponentWare AG (ICW).

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071126/NEM090LOGO )

The scope of the Rhine-Neckar project is similar to Health Information Exchange (HIE) initiatives being launched in the United States. In total, the undertaking involves five hospitals, including Heidelberg, which is one of Germany's largest comprehensive care facilities. Information is fed to the new inter-facility electronic patient record from existing IT and imaging systems in the facilities. A high-performance Master Patient Index (MPI) is utilized to reliably and safely identify patients and enable access to medical information.

Prof. Bjorn Bergh, MD, Director of Information and Medical Technology at Heidelberg University Hospital, comments: "We are pursuing two main goals with this project: Facilitating the access to relevant information of mutual patients and actively including patient participation in the treatment process. In both instances, we have found the ideal partner in ICW and have jointly developed a pragmatic concept to help us achieve these goals without interfering with existing systems."

Phase two of the project will network office-based physicians with patients via LifeSensor(R), ICW's Web-based, patient-centric personal health record that collects and communicates patient information. Use of LifeSensor is intended to improve the quality of care and support disease management programs. It will also enable the citizens to improve their personal health and wellness efforts.

Rudiger Burger, CEO of the Health Centers Rhine-Neckar, explains the value local residents experience: "The connectivity solution Professional Exchange Server enables us to establish highly efficient and integrated care processes. The data exchange between our hospitals and Heidelberg University Hospital will continue to improve medical care in the metropolis region Rhine-Neckar."

ICW has established a subsidiary in the United States to deliver its eHealth solutions to healthcare providers, payers and consumers in this country.

For additional information, please contact: ICW America Anne Marie Heil 5 Great Valley Parkway, Suite 200 Malvern, PA 19355 Tel: +1-610-933-8065 Fax: +1-480-247-5402 E-Mail: Anne.Marie.Heil@icw-global.com http://www.icw-global.com/ http://www.lifesensor.com/ InterComponentWare AG (ICW) Dirk Schuhmann Industriestrasse 41 69190 Walldorf, Germany Tel: +49 (0) 6227-385-133 Fax: +49 (0) 6227-385-199 E-Mail: Dirk.Schuhmann@icw-global.com http://www.icw-global.com/ http://www.lifesensor.com/ About Health Centers Rhine-Neckar

The Health Centers Rhine-Neckar is an association of four hospitals, two nursing schools, three senior citizens' and nursing homes, three geriatric rehabilitation clinics, two health and nursing schools as well as one pharmacy in Sinsheim, Weinheim, Schwetzingen, and Eberbach, Germany.

About InterComponentWare

InterComponentWare AG (ICW) is a leading international eHealth specialist with networking solutions for creating a longitudinal view of patient information available at the point of care. Among other things, ICW develops and distributes software and hardware components for networking solutions for hospitals and resident physicians, the personal electronic health record LifeSensor, and the health care IT infrastructure of the electronic health card. ICW is a major participant in the national electronic health card initiatives underway in Germany, Austria and Bulgaria. ICW has locations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the USA and Bulgaria.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071126/NEM090LOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

ICW

CONTACT: Anne Marie Heil of ICW America, +1-610-933-8065, Fax:+1-480-247-5402, Anne.Marie.Heil@icw-global.com; or Dirk Schuhmann ofInterComponentWare AG (ICW), +49 (0) 6227-385-133, Fax:+49 (0) 6227-385-199, Dirk.Schuhmann@icw-global.com

Web site: http://www.icw-global.com/http://www.lifesensor.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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