KANSAS CITY, Mo. and MILWAUKEE — Nov. 10, 2006 — Healthcare information technology leader Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ: CERN) and Mortara Instrument, Inc., a non-invasive cardiology healthcare technology company, announced today a joint engineering effort that will utilize the mature open standard, DICOM, to provide full-featured diagnostic capabilities within an electronic medical record (EMR).
This is a major step in advancing healthcare by optimizing the Electrocardiogram ECG workflow and eliminating the need for ECG Management Systems. The use of the DICOM ECG standard allows the EMR to receive and present raw ECG data seconds after it has been acquired. Combining the diagnostic ECG with the EMR now opens the door for more advances in ECG, as greater EMR data can be properly utilized.
The two companies have signed an agreement which allows for Cerner to provide the E-Scribe ECG feature and functionality within the Millennium® platform as part of PowerChart® ECG. PowerChart ECG will improve ECG workflow in other Cerner solutions including PowerChart electronic medical record, iNet® for the ICU, FirstNet® for the emergency room and CVNet® for cardiology.
“This breakthrough provides a less expensive and simpler solution that better suits physicians who depend on ECGs for treating their patients. What once took hours now only takes seconds,” said J.P. Fingado, Cerner vice president and general manager. “Ultimately, patients will receive better care because now the ECG is included in the EMR, providing the physician with more complete information to make better clinical decisions."
“We are very pleased to partner with Cerner on the advancement of the ECG DICOM Standard. This standard is a logical progression to continue the integration of the non-invasive cardiology products from Mortara into the information management systems of the office and hospital,” said Joe Austin, Mortara Instrument vice president. “PowerChart ECG will provide more information for the physician during ECG analysis including allergies, medications, labs and previous cardiology and non-cardiology tests for a more informed medical decision.”
The 12-lead ECG is one of the most commonly performed diagnostic tests in both the physician office and hospital care environments. Leveraging the DICOM standard allows for movement, reporting and viewing of data from this ubiquitous diagnostic test regardless of which ECG manufacturer’s equipment was used to acquire the data. Traditionally, the electronic management of 12-lead ECGs has been realized within proprietary platforms provided by the manufacturer of the ECG acquisition device. These proprietary systems add additional IT infrastructure and hardware specifically to manipulate the workflow for acquisition and management of the 12-lead ECG. Adoption of the DICOM standard for Diagnostic ECG eliminates the need for these proprietary systems and enables clinicians to choose best in class solutions for specific modalities. The widely implemented DICOM standard has been in use within the healthcare community since the mid 1990’s for diagnostic imaging in Radiology and Cardiology, including CT, MRI, Echocardiography and Nuclear Medicine.
Mortara and Cerner will demonstrate this technology innovation at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2006 in Chicago (Nov. 12 – 14) at booth #2029 and at the RSNA Scientific Assembly in Chicago (Nov. 26 – Dec. 1) at booth #8513.
Cerner Media Contact: Lindsay Shannon, (816) 201-7342, lindsay.shannon @ cerner.com
Mortara Media Contact: Aimee Kops, (414) 354-1600, Aimee.Kops @ mortara.com
Investors contact: Allan Kells, (816) 201-2445, akells @ cerner.com
About Cerner
Cerner Corp. is taking the paper chart out of healthcare, eliminating error, variance and waste in the care process. With more than 1,500 clients worldwide, Cerner is the leading supplier of healthcare information technology. The following are trademarks of Cerner: Cerner Millennium, PowerChart, iNet, FirstNet, CVNet. NASDAQ: CERN. www.cerner.com.
About Mortara
Mortara Instrument, Inc, based in Milwaukee, is distinguished in the field of non-invasive cardiology for innovations that are the core of the company’s complete line of ECG products including electrocardiographs, stress exercise systems, Holter systems and data warehousing solutions, and cardiology monitoring systems. The company’s Web site is www.mortara.com.
