Springfield-based health care technology firm EDCO Health Information Solutions Inc. has picked up an international patent on its medical record scanning and indexing product, Solarity.
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office recently issued a patent number for Solarity, which is designed to improve the scanning process by not requiring the manual separation of documents or use of labels such as bar codes or form templates, according to a company news release.
“It’s very encouraging that the Canadian Intellectual Property Office has acknowledged that the Solarity technology provides hospitals a unique opportunity to index 100 percent of their paper medical records in an efficient and cost-effective manner,” EDCO Chairman and CEO Bill Glassman said in the release.
The Solarity technology and process, which received a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2013, enables the classification and separation of documents based on content as opposed to the appearance of the document, the release said. Unlike systems that utilize uniquely designed forms or bar code labels on individual documents, Solarity uses content to assign a document classification, such as a progress note or radiology report.
Classification of each individual document is completed based on continually evolving character recognition models. These automated steps in the scanning and indexing process are said to help reduce costs, improve quality and speed up the process.
“Solarity allows health care facilities to update their (electronic medical records) quickly, with higher quality,” said Marv Addink, vice president of innovation and co-inventor of the patented technology and process, in the release. “In addition, less implementation stress is placed on (information technology) departments because no bar code or form redesign is necessary, and (health information management) departments can easily manage the chart recognition models.”
More than 100 hospitals and clinics throughout North America are currently using Solarity. The product also is responsible for scanning and indexing 1.8 million images per month for eight hospitals in Ontario, Canada, according to the release.
In February, Springfield Business Journal reported Lynne Jones was named president of the newly formed EDCO Health Information Solutions Inc. The health care technology company previously operated as a division of St. Louis-based EDCO Group Inc., which was formed in 2001 after investors purchased a majority interest in the 40-year-old Springfield firm that transferred paper medical records to microfilm. EDCO was founded in 1961 by Drury University alumni Ron Elkins and Perry Davis.
In an
interview with Jones at the time, she said the company manages 215 employees in Springfield and was hiring another 30 workers as new clients have come on board.[[In-content Ad]]
