TheraDoc Demonstrates How Decision Support Software Measurably Improves Infection Control at APIC 2005

SALT LAKE CITY, June 21, 2005 – TheraDoc^®, Inc. (www.theradoc.com), a medical informatics company specializing in expert clinical decision support, is demonstrating the comprehensive and real-time monitoring, intervention and reporting capabilities of its software, the Infection Control Assistant^®, at Booth #120 during the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology's (APIC) 2005 Conference, June 19-21 at the Baltimore Convention Center.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has now placed increased emphasis on the prevention of hospital-associated infections versus treatment once they have occurred. TheraDoc's real-time connectivity to a hospital's health information systems and consistent, hospital-wide surveillance enables faster detection, tracking, intervention and documentation, resulting in the prevention of hospital-associated infections. TheraDoc's Infection Control Assistant provides the tools clinicians need in their frontline struggle to prevent, identify and control infections, while increasing efficiency and lowering healthcare costs.

Julie Jefferson, R.N., M.P.H., C.I.C., director of epidemiology and infection control at Rhode Island Hospital, comments, "TheraDoc's software provides somewhere between 20 to 40 hours a week for our infection control staff to be better involved in education and clinical intervention instead of gathering critical information from the hospital's different information systems," she stated. "This software is significantly increasing our efficiency by managing surveillance data and decreasing the amount of time we spend manually reviewing source documents, such as micro reports and charts."

TheraDoc's president and CEO, Stan Pestotnik, notes that healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) challenge hospitals at both the patient population and institutional level. "The harm to patients, the environment and the economy associated with these types of infections places a tremendous burden of illness on the whole healthcare system," he stated. "The resulting compromises in patient safety are staggering." The following statistic is no less shocking for its frequency in today's healthcare news: "According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 6 percent of admissions — or 2 million patients each year — will develop an infection in the hospital and 90,000 die as a result of the infection."

States across the country are moving to address this growing concern. Six now require mandatory reporting of all hospital-associated infections, including Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In addition, legislation related to this issue is pending in 30 states, most of which are expected to pass pertinent bills in the next 12 to 18 months.

Also taking action, APIC released its position on mandatory public reporting of healthcare-associated infections on March 14, 2005. The first of its recommendations for what is needed if hospital infection data are to be publicly reported is as follows: "standardized infection surveillance measures that address both healthcare associated infections (outcomes) and healthcare practices that have been shown to reduce the risk of infection (processes).

However, the reporting of healthcare-associated infections will impact funding, reimbursement and recruiting potential for healthcare organizations large and small. Technology may provide the only means for hospitals to meet the increasing time and cost burden of complying with mandatory public reporting, APIC recommendations, as well as CDC and JCAHO guidelines.

TheraDoc's expert clinical decision support software helps hospitals, clinicians and infection control practitioners implement and execute best practice guidelines in a standardized manner, resulting in consistently better clinical and financial outcomes.

About TheraDoc
TheraDoc is a clinical informatics company dedicated to improving the quality, efficiency and safety of patient care through enhanced clinical decision making. It provides innovative, best-in-class solutions that improve clinical and financial outcomes at a range of provider and payer organizations, including some of the most-respected healthcare institutions in the country. With clinical transparency, TheraDoc's technologies seamlessly place mission-critical knowledge at the clinician's fingertips, helping them to confidently manage multiple processes of care across multiple conditions and diseases. The company's strict adherence to medical informatics standards enables connectivity and interoperability with any hospital's disparate health information systems.

Founded in 1999, TheraDoc designs, develops and supports a suite of clinical decisions support technologies utilizing inference engines that enable its real-time solutions. TheraDoc's founders and core medical informatics team are internationally recognized for their pioneering and continuing work in medical expert systems. Their experience in clinical decision support design and development spans two decades. On the Net: www.theradoc.com.