Outsourcing is an emerging phenomenon in the healthcare information technology market. It is a screening process wherein an organization selects the most efficient third-party service provider to effectively operate its management and administrative unit. Outsourcing of IT solutions in the healthcare industry has emerged as an efficient solution to mitigate rising healthcare costs and to meet the growing demand for quality care. Over the years, the trend of healthcare IT outsourcing  solutions has grown significantly among large organizations and has also attracted mid-sized organizations. In some cases, the entire information management system is outsourced, while in others, only key application services such as implementation of EMR, CRM, and billing systems are outsourced.

Brightree LLC, the leading provider of cloud-based clinical, billing and business management software solutions for the post-acute care industry, announced today a strategic agreement with athenahealth, Inc.(Nasdaq: ATHN), a leading provider of cloud-based services for electronic health records (EHR), practice management and care coordination. Under the terms of the agreement, Brightree’s home health, hospice and home medical equipment (HME) customers will have the opportunity to improve their access to the more than 15,000 providers who are currently using the athenaClinicals® and athenaCoordinator® services. athenahealth physicians will reduce post-acute care order processing time with direct and instant access to Brightree’s network of 2,700 providers.

Lincor Solutions Inc. today announced the launch of a new portfolio of products for delivering its industry-leading patient engagement technology to hospitals and health systems. Powered by next-generation technology that provides access to clinical, administrative and entertainment systems within a single platform, Lincor's LINC product portfolio offers a range of easy-to-implement solutions for increasing patient satisfaction scores, improving clinical outcomes, reducing unnecessary readmissions and facilitating electronic health record (EHR) adoption.

CareFusion (NYSE:CFN), a leading global medical technology company, today announced multiple new technologies across its device and software platforms to help improve the safety, efficiency and cost of intravenous (IV) medications to enhance enterprise-wide medication management.

At a recent event sponsored by the White House, the National Science Foundation and the Networking and Information Technology R&D program, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) was recognized for its collaborative efforts to enable real-time personalized medicine through innovation with Stanford University and the National Center for Tumor Diseases Germany. The Washington, DC-based event, Data to Knowledge to Action, featured public and private organizations that enhance scientific discovery and biomedical research and derive greater value for consumers by innovating Big Data tools and technologies.

DrFirst, a pioneer of innovative healthcare software solutions and services, announced today the launch of the Patient Advisor Report Card, a medication adherence alert system accessible through the company’s Patient Advisor℠ Toolbar. Physicians access the Patient Advisor Toolbar via DrFirst’s Rcopia® e-prescribing software, as well as through any EMR/EHR/HIS systems in which Patient Advisor is embedded.

Syncsort, a global leader in high-performance Big Data integration software, today announced the availability of Syncsort Ironcluster (formerly DMX-h) Hadoop ETL -- the first data integration engine for Amazon Elastic MapReduce (Amazon EMR). The new offering from Syncsort on Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides elastic Hadoop ETL as-a-service running on Amazon EMR, combining blazing speed, virtually infinite scalability, and ease of use.

Kootenai Health, a recent recipient of the "Most Wired Innovator" award, is progressive in its IT strategy and its approach to integration. Beginning in early 2012, Kootenai Health worked with Summit Healthcare to streamline its current integration strategy and future interoperability goals. The Summit Interoperability Platform featuring theSummit Express Connect interface engine and Summit Provider Exchange solution provided Kootenai's interface foundation for achieving these goals.