SPOKANE, Wash., Aug. 27, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Discus Analytics, Inc., a healthcare company translating clinical data into insights and information that can be used to improve the standard of patient care, today announced that The United States Patent Office has awarded Patent No. 8,458,610 for its flagship product, JointMan ® . JointMan is an innovative software platform tool that enables rheumatologists in academic, private and institutional settings to clinically follow patients with rheumatic disease through both standard and new measurements, as well as track biologic and DMARD therapy effectiveness via a point-and-click, color-coded scale model of the human body.
"With this patent decision, JointMan ® software may become the new standard of care for tracking patient outcomes and quality metrics in real time. There is a significant need in rheumatoid arthritis for accurate, scalable, precise, and cost- effective methods of capturing quality outcome measures of treat-to-target disease activity," stated Sergio Schwartzman, MD, Chief Medical and Research Officer for Discus Analytics. "JointMan allows rheumatologists to capture and trend joint counts at each visit while aggregating, analyzing and presenting data in a concise and actionable format. This is a defining moment for rheumatologists---together, we can bring about significant change in patient care through successful collaboration at the local, regional, and national level."
The broad application of this technology applies to not only patient care, but can also help sustain the financial health of many rheumatology practices. New legislation proposes to dramatically shift how physicians are reimbursed. The JointMan ® platform can build the bridge between Electronic Health Records (EHR) and practice management systems that may lack the versatility needed to comply with the upcoming shift to outcome/value-based reimbursement.
"Physicians today need an aligned measurement system capable of capturing data at three major levels: individual clinician, group/institution, and population/community," stated Dr. Howard M. Kenney, MD, senior board member of Discus Analytics. "Such measurements can be utilized to calculate performance results that are then fed back to each of these entities. Measured RA outcomes need to be constructed into a portfolio that meets the needs of payers, policy makers, and the public."
About JointMan
From diagnosis to treatment plan selection, physician reimbursement, and administrative simplification, the JointMan ® Product Suite supports best practices in rheumatologic care, and provides excellence across five distinct platforms:
JointMan ® Clinical Decision Support
JointMan ® Reimbursement & Patient Access Support
JointMan ® Clinical Trials & Patient Recruiting Tools
JointMan ® Reputation Management
JointMan ® Population Health Registry and Practice Dashboards
Rheumatoid arthritis is a debilitating, lifelong disease that can lead to severe joint deformity and disability that can interfere with a patient's ability to perform daily living activities, and can ultimately lead to the permanent loss of gainful employment and social functioning. By utilizing a tool such as the JointMan ® platform to track disease activity, rheumatologists are empowered to work more closely with their patients and to improve overall health outcomes.
About Discus Analytics, Inc.
Discus Analytics, Inc., is a healthcare company specializing in the capture, analysis, and application of actionable clinical data. Our mission is to transform clinical data into insights and intelligence, deliver this information where and when it is needed, and thereby establish a new standard of care that will ultimately improve patient outcomes.
The company's flagship product, JointMan ® gives rheumatologists a decided advantage in the changing landscape of healthcare reform by implementing a data collection portal capable of tracking rheumatoid arthritis patient outcomes and quality metrics in real-time.
Collecting a standardized clinical data set is a requirement for high practice performance. Analyzed data helps identify trends, predict outcomes, influence therapy choices, and improve care as both physician and patient work toward a low disease activity state. Aggregated data within the portal can be applied to health management profiles and is pivotal to predictive analysis research.
To learn more, go to www.t3jointman.com .
Media Contact: Terri Clevenger Continuum Health Communications 203-856-4326 Discus Analytics Contact: Karen Ferguson Discus Analytics 509-462-2818
