CommonWell Branches Into Acute Care, Eyes Apple Users

Moving toward  post-acute care and Apple users, the CommonWell Health Alliance added two new members.  Lawrenceville, Ga.-based Brightree is CommonWell's first exclusively post-acute vendor, with a sizable footprint in fast-growing home health sector. Officials said its addition will offer new opportunities to extend nteroperability to in-home care.

MacPractice, meanwhile, based in Lincoln, Neb., is targeted toward the Apple community, with OSX-and iOS-native electronic health record and practice management technology. Its 30,000 users -- including some 15,000 providers -- will help expand CommonWell's reach to Apple-friendly docs, dentists, chiropractors, ophthalmologists and more.  Brightree CEO Dave Cormack, said in a prepared statement that membership in CommonWell will help "ensure the unique workflows and needs of home health, long-term care and hospice providers are considered in setting new data-sharing standards across the complete continuum of care."  "MacPractice is excited to collaborate with other top HIT vendors to make interoperability a practical reality that benefits US patients and doctors," Mark Hollis, CEO of MacPractice, added.

The two firms join members Allscripts, athenahealth, Cerner, CPSI, Greenway, McKesson and Sunquest, contributing members CVS Caremark and MEDHOST, and service provider RelayHealth. "When CommonWell was created in 2013, we wanted to ensure our members and their clients received value quickly and comprehensively," said Nick Knowlton, senior director at Greenway Health and CommonWell board member, in a press statment. "In that spirit, each of our initial member companies brought a unique aspect to allow us to stay focused, yet visionary."...