Covisint Announces Direct System For Secure Electronic Healthcare Messaging
DETROIT -- Covisint, the secure collaboration subsidiary of Compuware Corp.(Nasdaq:CPWR), announced the release of its "Direct" system that addresses the Direct Project's goals of enabling secure, scalable point-to-point email-like messaging in health care.
The system is available as an out-of-the-box, ready to use offering or via a comprehensive set of Web services that allow organizations, including electronic medical records vendors, to implement Direct Project capabilities within their native environments.
Covisint offers the only Direct system with a comprehensive set of Web services for third-party development, called application programming interfaces, or APIs. With Covisint, healthcare providers can now further eliminate paper-based systems and accelerate their movement toward achieving Meaningful Use Stage 2. ("Meaningful use" is the use of certified electronic health records technology to achieve health and efficiency goals.)
As much of healthcare communication historically has been transacted via mail and fax, the Direct Project (formerly NHIN Direct) has standardized the technology and service requirements for simple and secure electronic communication among healthcare stakeholders, replacing mail and fax. Direct's primary goal is to boost participation in electronic healthcare information exchange by speeding up implementation and enabling Meaningful Use.
Traditional electronic healthcare messaging did not enable a clinician to electronically send information about a patient from one clinician to another. Enabling secure information sharing between clinicians supports continuity and continuation of care without the technical barriers traditionally experienced.
The Office of the National Coordinator positioned Direct as a simple and familiar way to communicate securely. Covisint, a member of DirectTrust, the new governing body for Direct, has written its solution to the specifications of the Direct Project.
Covisint's secure, encrypted Direct solution goes beyond the Direct Project requirement and provides:
* a healthcare provider directory (HPD) compliancy for easy look-up and identification;
* a local provider directory load (LDAP) for synchronization with existing directories;
* flexible provider search by zip-code, geography, specialty and gender;
* integrated APIs to implement Direct capabilities within existing environments.
Covisint offers the secure management routing/administration and secure inbox required for both parts of any Direct-enabled system. With Covisint, a user could also leverage their own, native in-box, relying on the Covisint-powered health information service provider or the secure, central routing and administration functionality.
"Covisint Direct is the answer for states, hospitals, regional extension centers and others seeking to quickly stand-up a Direct solution," said Steve McDonald, Covisint vice president of healthcare. "Finally, there is a low cost, pragmatic way to send CCDs, care gaps and alerts to members of a care team that may not be on the same EMR. Covisint also offers EMR vendors without a Direct component a way to quickly enhance their competitiveness and customer affinity."
Learn more at www.covisint.com.
