Driscoll Children’s Health Plan Successfully Implements TCS Healthcare Technologies’ ACUITY Advanced Care™ System

Auburn, CA / Corpus Christi, TX (Vocus/PRWEB) January 04, 2011

Driscoll Children’s Health Plan, a Texas-licensed HMO that provides care for underserved children and adults for the past 10 years through the State of Texas Access Reform (STAR) and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Programs, has successfully deployed TCS Healthcare Technologies’ (TCS) Acuity Advanced Care (ACUITY) software for performing medical management services.

“Implementation of the ACUITY software system has allowed us to integrate our utilization management, case management, disease management and quality management services,” says Heather Johnson, RN, Director of Health Services, at Driscoll Children's Health Plan.

According to Ernest Buck, MD, the Medical Director for Driscoll Children’s Health Plan, “TCS’ software permits the Health Plan to significantly decrease the processing time when a referral request is received and then returned with a decision to the physician’s office, thus providing timelier scheduling of surgeries and other procedures. Also, as Medical Director, I am able to function more effectively off-site, because I can review a complete record and all of the related attachments via the application.”

Driscoll Children’s Health Plan is a unit of Driscoll Children's Hospital, a non-profit, vertically-integrated pediatric healthcare system comprised of a nationally-recognized children's hospital, physician network, and the Health Plan. The Health Plan is a not-for-profit, managed care organization licensed under the laws of Texas, and maintains a contract with the state to serve the medical needs of those eligible for Medicaid STAR and CHIP Programs in a 9 and 14-county area of south Texas respectively.

Ms. Johnson elaborates further that “Driscoll Children’s Health Plan’s need for a member-centric care coordination system is achieved through the new ACUITY software application by supporting:

   •      Interdisciplinary teamwork
   •     Connections to community partners
   •     Automated workflows
   •     A provider portal with auto-authorization capabilities
   •     Flexibility of configurations
   •     Identification and stratification of population data
   •     Flexible user-defined reporting tools
   •     Central and remote access
   •     Connectivity to broad-based clinically integrated systems
   •     Robust communication tools
   •     Centralized records
   •     Interoperability with third parties
   •     An interface with InterQual’s CareEnhance Review Manager Enterprise (CERMe)
   •     An interface with Milliman Care guidelines for care plans

According to Miguel Perez, Chief Information Officer for Driscoll Children’s Health Plan, “We are very pleased with the accessibility to and experience of TCS’ technical support team, who assisted us with meeting our short implementation timeframe.”

“From my perspective, it is very rewarding to support the mission of Driscoll Children’s Health Plan and see how TCS’ ACUITY has made a positive contribution,” observes Rob Pock, TCS CEO and Founder. “In addition to our dynamic technology platform, TCS’ experienced staff helps solve problems and coordinate key implementation activities. Client satisfaction remains a key TCS value, and we strive to share best practices with our clients throughout each engagement. Many of TCS clients have been working with us for over a decade.”

For more information about TCS Healthcare Technologies, please contact John Sekerak at (530)
886-1700, ext. 211 or [email protected]. For more information about Driscoll Children’s Hospital, please contact Shane Casady at (361) 694-6523.    

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About TCS Healthcare Technologies (http://www.tcshealthcare.com).

TCS is a leading provider of software and clinical solutions that support and improve population health management strategies for health plans, insurers, providers, third party administrators, medical management companies, and others.

TCS is recognized as one of the premier health care software companies in the United States designing, offering, and hosting a number of products and services. The following TCS applications support a wide range of care management transactions:

   •     Acuity Advanced Care™, a comprehensive and integrated care management software system for Utilization Management (UM), Case Management (CM), Disease Management (DM), and Prevention/Wellness (PW) services;
   •     AcuCare™, evidenced-based care programs, which includes clinical assessments and outcome-based care plans;
   •     AcuStrat™, a population stratification and automation tool that turns patient healthcare information into automated, actionable events;
   •     AcuExchange™, a provider portal that allows providers to submit authorization requests over the Internet and collaborate with the payer;
   •     AcuPort Advanced™, a middleware software (Extraction, Transformation, & Loading) solution to link disparate information, from multiple applications into one useful system; and
   •     AcuTab™, a seamless data-viewing system that allows users of ACUITY to view, search, sort, and report on data from other systems without having to log in to other applications or rely on third- party interfaces.

About Driscoll Children’s Health Plan (http://www.dchpkids.com).

Driscoll Children’s Health Plan (DCHP) is owned by Driscoll Children’s Hospital and is a licensed HMO in the state of Texas. DCHP has provided services to underserved populations through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in the Coastal Bend Region of Texas including the Nueces and surrounding counties since 2000. DCHP expanded its managed care programs to include STAR (Medicaid Managed Care) members in 2006. Through CHIP, the Health Plan provides low-cost insurance for children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but cannot afford other health insurance. Children are covered from birth through age 18. The DCHP provider network is the premier health care network in South Texas for primary and specialty care physicians that are devoted to the care and treatment of women and children.

About Driscoll Children’s Hospital (http://www.driscollchildrens.org).

Opened in 1953, Driscoll Children's Hospital is a tertiary care regional referral center offering complex and comprehensive medical and surgical care for children. The hospital's medical staff is comprised of pediatric specialists in more than 32 medical and 13 surgical specialties. Working with the Medical Staff is more than 1,800 employees including more than 450 nurses. Every year approximately 6,500 children are admitted for inpatient care, more than 3,500 patients for day surgery, and 132,000 children for outpatient care. Driscoll was the first hospital in South Texas to provide emergency services exclusively for children and today we provide emergency care to approximately 40,000 children a year. Driscoll was also the first hospital in south Texas to perform an organ transplant.

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