ICW News Feed

World of Health IT

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:21:00 +0000

Exhibition and Conference

The programm and further information see here...

Press Releases: GE HC and ICW Present eHealth Applications

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:17:00 +0000

For the first time since announcing their worldwide cooperation agreement in the summer of 2009, partners GE Healthcare and InterComponentWare (CW) present their integrated products in Europe at a joint booth at the World of Healthcare IT (WoHIT) in Barcelona.

The two companies cooperate in the development of standards-based networking solutions. "We are taking an important step towards establishing communications compatibility worldwide in the area of medical care. Together with GE Healthcare, this enables us to create new standard products for the eHealth market that are based on profiles defined by the initiative "Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise" (IHE). These will be able to connect between hospitals, convalescent and rehabilitation facilities, office-based physicians and others who provide medical or health services in regional, national and international projects, says the CEO of ICW, Peter Kirschbauer.

IHE's XDS profile is the foundation upon which the new products from ICW and GE Healthcare were built. This profile is already in use in many European countries, the USA and Canada as a baseline for the specification of eHealth projects.

At WoHIT, ICW and GE present the centerpiece of their cooperative efforts: With a combination of eHealth Master Patient Index, eHealth Information Exchange, eHealth Clinical Portal, and Centricity Enterprise Archive, the two partners offer a complete solution to integrate regional and national-level projects that integrate both medical documentation and digital imagery. At the center of interest is compatibility with IHE profiles (XDS, XDS-I, PIX/PDQ, ATNA, etc.), but also flexible connectivity with information systems in hospitals, radiological facilities and picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) that are not compatible with IHE profiles.
These solutions will ensure that medical information is comprehensively available wherever medical treatment is being given. They enable faster, better informed decision making, simplify processes, and lead to a high level of quality in medical care.

According "This is our response to the biggest challenges confronting us in modern patient care. The primary goal of our eHealth strategy is to improve the quality and accessibility of health-related data while at the same time reducing costs," states Jürgen Reyinger, GE Healthcare IT's general manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Martin Fuchs, ICW general manager for EMEA, adds, "The solutions we developed together with GE Healthcare set completely new standards. Until now doctors working in different facilities haven't been able to share medical information about their shared patients so completely or directly, and so to have use of it in support of timely diagnosis and treatment."

FutureCare

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:36:00 +0000

FutureCare 2010 will demonstrate the vital role of IT in optimizing healthcare delivery on the basis of real practical examples.

The FutureCare 2010 tour embraces seven different areas ranging from home care situations and general practice through to casualty and emergency hospital admissions. One of the highlights will be the ADAC air ambulance, complete with telemedical equipment. Following the successful approach adopted for FutureCare 2009, this year will again see experts accompanying a tour of best-practice cases of IT applications in healthcare. The themed tours will showcase applications of telemedicine in different scenarios - for example, from primary prevention aimed at a health-conscious person to tertiary prevention in the case of a chronically ill person.

FutureCare 2010 offers solutions and ideas for IT experts and decision-makers in hospitals, medical insurance companies, medical associations, etc., and also affords a meeting-place facilitating dialogue between the health care community, politicians and science.

For further information see here...

Press Releases: ICW Names Peter Kirschbauer to be new CEO

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:00:00 +0000

During his 27 years at SAP, Peter Kirschbauer proved himself in several leadership positions within the company. Among other positions he had worldwide responsibility for leading the SAP division that provides specialized solutions for the services sector (commerce, telecommunications, government including health care, banking and insurance, retailers, logistics and other service branches). Most recently, Kirschbauer had worldwide responsibility for SAP’s Custom Development division, which is responsible for the development of the customer-specific software solutions.

With the appointment of Peter Kirschbauer, ICW will be enhancing its competency as a specialized software house for the continually growing health market. Peter Kirschbauer will be taking up his new responsibilities on January 1, 2010 and will be assisted by Jörg Stadler, who will be the Board member responsible for development.

Through dedication and hard work, Dr. Lutz Kleinholz and Dr. Georg Ralle succeeded in gaining ICW a place in the market - as a partner, supplier and consultant. They fulfilled this mission in just four months, as shown convincingly by the turnaround of the business development trend. Now, Lutz Kleinholz and Georg Ralle have been relieved of their Board responsibilities and will be supporting ICW in future in a consulting role: Lutz Kleinholz with his company healthpartner consulting and its important contacts in the health care community and Georg Ralle with his years of strategic experience in the scientific and policy sectors.

“We are convinced we have in Peter Kirschbauer the right man at the top for a successful future for our company. At the same time, our thanks go to Lutz Kleinholz and Georg Ralle for their first-rate work in repositioning the company and laying the firm foundation upon which Peter Kirschbauer will be able to build,” said Prof. Dr. Christof Hettich, President of the ICW Supervisory Board.

Press Releases: ICW to Supply NextGen Network Adapters in Austria

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Forward-looking technology

“This new hardware replaces not only existing devices, it also forms the basis for modern, 21st century eHealth solutions“,” said Christoph Hugl, ICW General Manager for Austria. “We are gratified that our product was chosen for the new GINA generation, and that ICW can play a role in implementing forward-looking health telematics in Austria.”

The decision in favor of InterComponentWare came as no surprise to the national association of Austrian social insurance providers: “We have come to know ICW as a supremely competent provider of services in the area of health telematics. ICW had already made a fundamental contribution to the software of the first-generation GINA. So we view the future of GINA as standing on a solid foundation,” said association spokesman Volker Schörghofer.

Demand for highest quality throughout the Network

Over GINAng, private medical offices connect to the Health Information Network. This is a closed network, accessible only to users from the health care sector, whose difference from other networks lies in its high standard of security, availability and quality. For that reason, GINAng places high value on cryptography and data protection.

The GINAng is intended for use by end users through 2015, which is why long-range concepts were key. The ICW solution provided the technical hardware basis for existing and future applications and programs. “The result is not just that the current programs run more simply and quickly, it is also a good basis upon which the ‘e-Card’ success story can continue,” said Hugl.

ICW business fields

ICW offers intelligent IT solutions for the comprehensive networking for all parts of the health system. The company works hard to simplify and optimize data exchange and communication between the providers of medical services in hospitals and medical practices on the one hand and patients and cost bearers on the other. The two principal goals are to further improve the quality of medical care while unleashing potentials for added efficiency.

As a part of its ongoing process of reorientation, ICW is concentrating its efforts in the four core areas of intersectoral communication, care management, integrated health care, and personal health management. The objective is to improve the flow and exchange of information in and between these four areas. Strategic partnerships to develop and integrate health information exchange services, notably the one with GE Healthcare, are an additional goal.

Press Releases: ICW and d.velop AG Form Partnership

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:00:00 +0000

The ICW solutions LifeSensor personal health record, ICW Professional Suite, Connector, and ICW eHealth Framework make an exact fit with the document management services of d.velop AG zusammen. These technologies complement each other to form a comprehensive suite suitable for both stand-alone use and for integration with the other suppliers of IT solutions for hospitals or medical practices. The partnership will involve the onward development of existing solutions for digital records. This will enable both partners in the area of management software for medical practices and hospitals as well as end users to be provided with standards-based, forward-looking solutions.
Medical records demand clear and comprehensive medical specifics and standards, such as those ICW provides. At the same time, records in the medical sector that do not also have professional DMS are no longer conceivable – this is where d.velop AG can provide the technology of choice. Aside from the technological synergies, the partnership will also create competent joint implementation teams that will be available both nationally and internationally.
“By combining technologies with an expanded portfolio of solutions, along with close collaboration between the teams of both companies, we are reacting to positive market trends. In ICW, we have gained an innovative and reliable partner that is undergoing a process of reorientation and personal and technological reinvention. This partnership will also allow us to expand our personnel potential,” said Christoph Pliete, President and CEO of d.velop AG.
Dr. Lutz Kleinholz, new President and CEO of InterComponentWare AG underlined the technological and business aspects of the cooperation with d.velop: “Document and workflow management and archiving represent important components and solutions for future health IT – the open platform, solutions and services of d.velop AG fit ICW’s architecture very well. The market strategies and teams complement each other in the sense of users and business partners.”

“The partnership has the effect of a leap in technological progress that will quickly benefit d.velop’s customers as a result of technological improvements and a common competency team,” says Heino Kuhlemann, head of healthcare at d.velop AG. He will be coordinating the partnership for both companies and will be available to answer questions at MEDICA.

The company:

d.velop AG, founded in 1992 and headquartered in Gescher, Germany, develops and markets software for the optimizaton of document-based business and decision process in businesses and organizations. The technical basis is provided by the d.3 strategic platform, a modular Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution. It fulfills all of the requirements of a process chain and can be integrated seamlessly into existing infrastructures. Core functionalities include an automated incoming mail processor with self-learning document classification function, an efficient document manager and archivial functions, and a complete suite of process controls. In this way, d.3 accelerates processes, simplifies decision-making, and improves competitiveness significantly.

The high quality of the project results from the competence of the more than 300 people working at the d.velop Group (d.velop AG and d.velop competence center) and the around 100 partner companies in the d.velop competence network worldwide. The proof is the more than 610,000 users and more than 2,000 customers to date. Aside from the many users from industry, commerce, health insurance, medical associations, and government institutions, numerous medical institutions (university hospitals, church and private foundations, etc.) as well as well-known producers of primary systems and IT systems for hospitals have decided to choose d.velop.CEO of d.velop AG is Christoph Pliete.The company maintains a close partnership with the Digital Art Museum [DAM] in Berlin and endowed the ddaa (d.velop digital art award), which has been awarded since 2005.

Press Releases: Dr. Lutz Kleinholz New ICW CEO

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:41:00 +0000

Under Kleinholz's leadership, the company will be continuing its national and international growth strategy both organically and through acquisitions. Modern and secure software solutions for the healthcare sector will form the basis upon which this strategy will be built. Dietmar Hopp, ICW's principal investor, commented, "ICW has taken a leading role, especially in the area of networking for doctors using connectors and the services that use them. One example is electronic communication between physicians under the Hausarzt+ model in Baden-Württemberg. With its technologies, ICW will be working to provide the full spectrum of the online, health-telematic processes for statutory health funds, doctors and hospitals. The nomination of Lutz Kleinholz as CEO puts ICW in the best possible position to achieve these and other challenging goals both nationally and internationally." The ICW Board now includes Lutz Kleinholz as CEO, Dr. Georg Ralle as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the areas of operations and medicine, and Jörg Stadler as Chief Product Officer (CPO), responsible for ICW's products.

Kleinholz received his doctorate in Information Science, specializing in security technologies. For the last some 20 years he has held leadership positions in healthcare sector in the areas of IT and health telematics. In 2002, Kleinholz founded healthpartner consulting GmbH, of which he was executive director. He laid the operational groundwork for gematik and, under the auspices of gematik and the Federal Ministry of Health, his healthpartner consulting concluded the first successful series of online tests with all of the major statutory health funds and the German Association of Statutory Healthcare Physicians in the summer of this year. Between 1998 and 2001 Kleinholz took over as manager of the very successful Gesellschaft für Medizinische Datenverarbeitung (GMD), now in Italy under the name Noemalife. Here the first successful electronic medical record for hospitals was successfully developed. Before that, Kleinholz gathered extensive experience in the operation of information technologies and the introduction of SAP solutions in major hospitals as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the Virchow Clinic, which was later incorporated into the Charité Berlin.

ICW founder, leading thinker and long-time CEO Peter Reuschel leaves the Board at his own wish and was nominated by the shareholders to take a seat on the Supervisory Board. Dietmar Hopp, ICW's principal shareholder, commented, "For years, Peter Reuschel lead ICW with skill and vision. We are glad he will continue to be available as advisor and as member on the Supervisory Board and can contribute his ideas on the future development of the company free of operational cares."

Download press release Dr. Lutz Kleinholz New ICW CEO.

Press Releases: Martin Fuchs in Charge of ICW Business in Germany

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:18:00 +0000

Fuchs will be taking over Dirk Albers' responsibility for the German subsidiary. He will be orienting business activity more towards added value for the users of eHealth products while initiating new partnerships and building on existing ones. His goal is to expand the market position in the eHealth sector.

His achievements at ICW include the creation of the subsidiary in Switzerland and the successful implementation of the system for cross-institutional unique patient identification (Master Patient Index – MPI) at Hirslanden, Switzerland's leading private hospital group, and at the hospital groups of the Swiss canton of St. Gall.

Fuchs holds degrees in information sciences as well as in economics and social sciences. For 15 years he has been working actively in the IT and eHealth sectors. His years of management experience bear the stamp of the creation of two businesses for providing IT solutions and training he later merged together under the Fuchsgroup AG, and of the time spent in a sales-related position with SAP (Schweiz) AG.

Fuchs will be in charge of the ICW business ventures in Germany together with Head of Officer Matthias Glück (32). Glück began his career at ICW in 2004. He was named Head of Finance in 2005 and Commercial Director of InterComponentWare AG in 2006. Glück studied economics at the universities of Mannheim and North Carolina. From 1995 to 2003 he was Managing Director of a consulting firm for IT solutions in mid-sized businesses.

Albers was responsible for setting up the German subsidiary. In the future, he will be adding his experience to the task of expanding the international orientation of the company. A key role will be the strategic partnership with GE Healthcare, a business division of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE). Along with long years of experience in the eHealth market, Albers will also draw on his professional experience abroad with a major international company.

Download press release about Martin Fuchs
Picture: Matthias Glück (on the left) and Martin Fuchs (on the right), available for download

Press Releases: gematik Certifies ICW Healthcare Connector

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:57:00 +0000

The ProOnline VSDD scenario describes the practice-oriented testing and online checking and updating of policy holder data in the test regions. Now that gematik has granted approval, the Versichertenstammdatendienst [Policy Holder Data Service] (VSDD) – a central part of the telematics infrastructure – can be implemented into the field test. The policy holders use their Policy Holder Data Sets (VSD) to show that they are entitled to statutory medical care services. The physician uses the VSD as a basis for their invoices to the German Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (kassenärztliche Vereinigungen) and statutory health insurers. As part of the AOK family doctor program in Baden-Württemberg, almost half of the 3,000 participating physicians are already using an ICW Healthcare Connector and the underlying infrastructure to securely invoice their services online and to be able to prescribe daily medications according to the latest standard.

The ICW Healthcare Connector can be managed and updated remotely. This eliminates the need for expensive and intrusive on-site maintenance. The connection to value-added services also enables it to securely communicate with other eHealth online services.

The ICW Healthcare Connector based on SINA combines highest security standards with energy-saving technology and attractive design. It does not require active cooling, which is why it generates absolutely no noise. It has been developed on the basis of SINA technology from secunet, which has been serving to provide highly secure connections over public networks: For example, numerous national and international government agencies use it for their data traffic. ICW developed the hardware, which is solely manufactured in Germany.

Press Releases: GE Healthcare Joins Forces With Global eHealth Leader

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:01:00 +0000

GE Healthcare, a division of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), and global eHealth specialist InterComponentWare, Inc. (ICW), today announced that the companies have signed a strategic agreement to integrate and co-develop their health information exchange (HIE) solutions.

Through this relationship, GE Healthcare and ICW will leverage their existing solutions and co-develop new offerings for the health information exchange and global eHealth marketplace. Using ICW’s expertise in eHealth and patient connectivity, GE Healthcare will enhance Centricity® Health Information Exchange service’s existing technology, patient connectivity and communications tools while further bolstering their security and interoperability capabilities.

“Connectivity is one of the biggest challenges in healthcare today and it directly impacts the quality and cost of patient care,” said Vishal Wanchoo, President and Chief Executive Officer of GE Healthcare IT. “Our strategic relationship with ICW enables GE Healthcare to accelerate our Centricity connectivity solutions and further extend our global capabilities. With our Centricity portfolio of electronic medical records, enterprise systems, clinical repositories and patient solutions, GE Healthcare is now one of the only companies to offer the full range of technology needs for global healthcare IT.”

Centricity® Health Information Exchange services connects, stores and shares clinical data from hospitals, physician offices, pharmacies, labs and other sources to help improve communication flow between care providers and patients and clinicians. The resulting network enables state, government or healthcare delivery organizations to create a secure exchange to share patient conditions, allergies, medication history and other appropriate clinical data across the continuum of care.

By improving the connection of disparate healthcare technology systems, GE is building on its healthymagination commitment to increase quality of care and access while lowering costs. Easier access to patient information helps clinicians make better more informed decisions that can help improve care. Additionally, GE Healthcare’s integrated electronic medical record helps reduce repetitive tests and the risk of medical errors.

ICW brings more than ten years of intensive research and development of state-of-the-art solutions for electronic health information interoperability. The company’s eHealth Infrastructure is in use globally with the Austrian National Health System, the German Federal Ministry for Health and Social Security’s bIT4health consortium, the eHC in Bulgaria and others. This global breadth complements GE Healthcare’s HIE solutions that are installed at customer sites in Massachusetts, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Oregon.

GE Healthcare and ICW share a technology philosophy and commitment to developing standards-based healthcare technology. “Standards are essential to enable scaling of solutions to meet the demands of a global marketplace and to integrate third-party solutions to ensure the information exchanged is complete and timely,” said Peter Reuschel, CEO of ICW. “We are pleased to work with GE Healthcare on a vision to jointly evolve the connectivity solutions that we have each developed.”

About GE Healthcare:

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.

Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com

Download this press release

Media Contact GE Healthcare (Global)

Corey Miller
Tel.: 414 469 54 99
corey.miller@ge.com

Media Contact ICW (USA/Canada)

Anne Marie Heil
Tel.: 610 933 80 65
Fax: 480 247 54 02
anne.marie.heil@icw-global.com

Media Contact ICW (Europe)

Ulrike Martin
Tel.: +49 (0) 6227 385 39 79
ulrike.martin@icw.de