TheraDoc^® Enables Automated Real-Time Notification of Notifiable Diseases in Nebraska Health & Human Services System

SALT LAKE CITY, May 27, 2004 – In a groundbreaking move to accelerate and improve the quality and delivery of notifiable disease reports to a public health department, TheraDoc, Inc.^®, the Nebraska Health and Human Services System (NHHS), and Great Plains Regional Medical Center (GPRMC) in North Platte, Nebraska have collaborated to utilize the extensive real-time surveillance capabilities of TheraDoc's expert system technology. Through this collaboration, GPRMC is helping Nebraska document occurrences of notifiable diseases by electronically transmitting pertinent laboratory data to the Department of Health and Human Services via TheraDoc's Public Health Network Assistant (PHNA) solution as they occur.

Jonathan B. Olson, B.S., TheraDoc's chief technology officer, stated, TheraDoc's standards-based expert system infrastructure fostered the rapid deployment of a real-time system where notifiable disease alerts can now be sent from GPRMC directly to the Nebraska State Health Department. The automated notification process is a breakthrough for public health surveillance and happens as a byproduct of the natural workflow of GPRMC's clinical professionals.

In January 2003, GPRMC contracted with TheraDoc, a medical informatics company, to implement its expert clinical decision-support system to enhance the hospital's infection control, quality of care and patient safety initiatives. Linked with GPRMC's multiple information systems, TheraDoc's knowledge-based technology continually surveys patient population data to detect instances of naturally occurring infectious diseases, chemical exposures, and the targeted introduction of biological agents.

Nebraska's Quest to Monitor Infectious Diseases
Proven successful within the first three months of implementation at GPRMC, TheraDoc's real-time public health surveillance capabilities came to the attention of Nebraska state epidemiologist, Tom Safranek, M.D., who was investigating how the NHHS could receive electronically-transmitted notifiable disease reports from individual hospitals across the state. Since that time, TheraDoc has worked closely with Dr. Safranek and his team to enable the automated, electronic transmission of GPRMC's laboratory data to the Nebraska Health and Human Services system.

Automated Reporting System Meets National Public Health IT Standards
Nebraska is a leading state in deploying the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS) Base System, and in implementing an electronic lab reporting (ELR) system that is capable of receiving data from local and national laboratories. These systems demand strict compliance with national public health data and information system standards as stipulated in NEDSS, PHIN and the PHIN Messaging System (PHIN MS).

TheraDoc went to great lengths to ensure that the PHNA complies with regulatory standards, including those outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's integrated surveillance technology and real-time messaging infrastructure provides a solution that enables laboratories to comply with these stringent standards while providing an advanced analysis and notification system to healthcare organizations across the country. Today, the PHNA¿s automatic transmission of laboratory information for notifiable diseases from GPRMC to the NHHS testifies to the overall success of the collaborative effort.

Olson noted, "There is immense value in the timely identification of public health events. Receiving lab data electronically—and in real-time—allows state health departments to respond more quickly to infectious disease outbreaks." He stated further, "We believe that TheraDoc's system could serve as a national model of an automated surveillance, messaging and ELR system that expedites the transmission of critical data from healthcare institutions to public health agencies.

The PHNA's targeted functionality provides an opportunity for other states, regions and federal groups to follow Nebraska¿s lead in real-time public health surveillance and early intervention. Hospitals can now quickly identify notifiable diseases and fulfill their reporting requirements to state or local health departments at the same time.

About Public Health Network Assistant
To enable early intervention and documentation of infections and other notifiable diseases, TheraDoc's PHNA translates raw lab data and presents it to clinicians and public health officials in standardized medical nomenclature. The infrastructure utilizes a standard HL7 message format to enable real-time transmission of notifiable disease occurrences. Critical patient data is automatically delivered to infectious disease professionals as context-specific, actionable information. In addition, this unique solution monitors several targeted hospital-acquired pathogens to aid clinicians in initiating early treatment and preventing the spread of drug resistant pathogens. As a result, the PHNA can significantly contribute to the management and reduction of hospital-acquired infection rates.

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.