PtCT and MEDITECH Host Home Care Strategic Direction Webcast
(10/6/2008)

Last month, MEDITECH and Patient Care Technologies, Inc. (PtCT) joined forces to host the first ever on-line Strategic Direction Conference for our home care customer community. Delivered via Webcast, the conference featured a packed agenda of informative sessions from both PtCT and MEDITECH executives, as well as a presentation from the first LIVE Maestro site, Union Hospital Home Health Care (Dover, OH). Throughout the half-day event, presenters discussed the future of PtCT as a whole, as well as our development philosophy for Maestro, well@home, and hospice, and our latest Client Services initiatives.

Executives Look Toward a Shared Future
PtCT Director of Home Care Sales Brian Doyle opened the conference with a look at the history of the MEDITECH and PtCT relationship. "MEDITECH and PtCT have been working together for a long time," said Doyle. "Over the past 17 years, we have developed cutting-edge solutions to help home care agencies meet the complexities of the home care environment. With an aging population and the dramatic increase in chronic diseases, it is a natural next step for MEDITECH and PtCT to more tightly integrate our solution and help clinicians overcome the challenges faced with managing and proactively treating those chronic diseases."

Echoing Doyle's sentiments, Lawrence A. Polimeno, president and CEO of PtCT (and vice chairman for MEDITECH) then shared MEDITECH's vision and goals for the future of home care technology, as well as our impressive track record in the health care technology industry. In addition, Polimeno explained what PtCT customers can expect from the MEDITECH relationship.

"The acquisition of PtCT demonstrates MEDITECH's ongoing commitment to providing technology solutions, not just for hospitals, but for the entire health care delivery spectrum," said Polimeno. "For the past year and a half, I have been tirelessly working with MEDITECH's Development team to bring MEDITECH's proven methodologies as a leading health care technology vendor to PtCT so we can achieve even more in home health and hospice care delivery."

Hoda Sayed-Friel, vice president of marketing for MEDITECH, talked about the shared future of MEDITECH and PtCT, and our strategic direction going forward. She walked the audience through the short-, medium-, and long-term steps MEDITECH is taking to increase integration between our software systems, ensure the efficiency of PtCT's products through the quality initiatives process, and develop useful enhancements and applications for the near-term future.

One major initiative Sayed-Friel shared is our goal of increasing data flow between the MEDITECH system to PtCT, and pooling this information into a centralized place. Through reports and real-time tracking, home care agencies can monitor patient outcomes as they are unfolding and gauge their performance and protocols accordingly. In addition, patient data constantly flows from the acute care, ambulatory, and home care environment so all caregivers are up-to-date on a patient's status.

"We are bringing home care to the next level with our integration between the MEDITECH system and Maestro," Sayed-Friel explained. "As we look toward the future, PtCT and MEDITECH are committed to developing innovative solutions to stay ahead of the curve in both the health care industry, and home and hospice care community."

Maestro: The Secret of Union's Success
After a comprehensive demonstration of the Maestro system, the audience heard a real-life success story from PtCT's first LIVE Maestro site, Union Hospital Home Health Care. Deborah Albaugh, home care director for Union, shared her teams' experiences implementing Maestro. She explained how going from a paper-based process to point-of-care automation was a daunting task for Union, but through careful preparation, intensive group and individual training, a strong core team, and a slow-but-steady pace of implementation, Union is now a completely paperless organization. The site has realized dramatic cost savings while also experiencing benefits in interdisciplinary communication, improved legibility of their documentation, and 24/7 access to the patient's complete record.

"In addition to the clinical benefits of Maestro, our staff satisfaction has also improved since implementing Maestro," added Albaugh. "The system's functionality, such as the ability to synchronize data from home and case management scheduling, means nurses and other staff no longer need to come in to the office on a daily basis. They have more control over their schedules and can choose which calls they take thanks to the flexibility of the system."

The last session of the day was a Client Services initiatives and well@home update from Eben Hollingsworth, vice president of client services for PtCT. Hollingsworth updated the audience on PtCT's efforts, including establishing a customer liaison program, creating a go-LIVE team to support customers while they are transitioning from implementation to LIVE, and building a knowledge base like that of inSync for Maestro. He also gave a snapshot of the various migration plans and Release updates needed to ensure complete integration of MEDITECH and Maestro. The latter part of his presentation focused on well@home, with an explanation of its history, and a LIVE demonstration of its capabilities today as an integrated function within Maestro.

Doyle is convinced the PtCT Strategic Direction Conference was a success, as customers began inquiring about upgrading to the Maestro product shortly after the event ended. "We were happy to address our customers through this Webcast, and give them an update on the latest initiatives underway at PtCT," says Doyle. "We're excited about the future, and we hope to see everyone at our next event, the PtCT National User Group meeting in March."

MEDITECH
Medical Information Technology, Inc.
MEDITECH Circle
Westwood, MA 02090
781-821-3000
www.meditech.com