Microsoft debuts Amalga

Microsoft introduced its Microsoft Amalga Family of Health Enterprise Systems, a portfolio of health information system solutions spanning clinical, operational and financial functions, at the 2008 HIMSS conference in Orlando, Fla.

The Amalga line includes the following products:

Microsoft Amalga --The new version of the product formerly known as Azyxxi, Amalga is part of a software category the firm calls “Unified Intelligence Systems,” which allows hospital enterprises to utilize data in isolated clinical, financial and administrative systems. Without replacing current systems, it offers the means to capture, consolidate, store, access and quickly present data in meaningful ways for use by clinicians and healthcare executives. Amalga is designed for hospitals and health systems that have invested in a diverse set of IT solutions, Microsoft said.

Microsoft Amalga Hospital Information System (HIS)--Amalga HIS is a fully integrated HIS designed for developing and emerging markets. The product is built around an EMR with complete patient and bed management, laboratory, pharmacy, RIS/PACS, pathology, financial accounting, materials management and human resource systems.

Microsoft Amalga RIS/PACS--The new version of the product, formerly known as GCS Amalga, is now available as a standalone system as well as an integrated component of Amalga HIS. The workstation interface is optimized for radiologist workflow, including support for predefined templates, an intuitive report editor and voice recognition capabilities, Microsoft said.

According to the firm, Amalga is now live at MedStar Health, a community-based network of eight hospitals and other healthcare services in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area. As part of the early adopter program, the beta of the new version is in the hands of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Johns Hopkins Health System, Novant Health, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, St. Joseph Health System and the Wisconsin Health Information Exchange.

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