RESTON, VA -- 02/20/08 --
Language and Computing, Inc., providing the most
advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) and knowledge management
solutions to the healthcare industry, announced today that Ochsner Health
System has selected Language and Computing's NLP technology product suite,
TeSSI® for Medicare Risk Adjustment reporting.
Ochsner Health System employs 600 physicians and has 33 facilities located
throughout southeast Louisiana. Language and Computing's solutions combine
the world's largest and most comprehensive biomedical knowledgebase,
LinkBase®, with healthcare's most advanced NLP technology, TeSSI®.
Ochsner will leverage TeSSI® to identify ICD-9-CM codes for Medicare Risk
Adjustment (MRA) code reporting. MRA is designed to improve reporting of
information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which
in turn is used to determine proper funding of Medicare healthcare
organizations. The precision and accuracy of TeSSI®'s automated ICD-9-CM
code reporting allows Ochsner to streamline the entire reporting process,
therefore greatly reducing the time and cost of MRA reporting.
TeSSI® automatically determines which documents contain Medicare Risk
Adjustment content for coding, eliminating a tedious and labor intensive
effort and increasing overall productivity. When the appropriate
documents have been identified, Language and Computing's LinkCode(TM)
accurately codes the selected documents based upon MRA standards and
displays the results to the human coder. Combining the TeSSI® and
LinkCode(TM) products has created a cost effective, automated process that
has had a substantial impact on Ochsner's MRA code reporting process.
"Ochsner is enthusiastic about using Language and Computing's technology
for the MRA project. TeSSI® is the first NLP product we have seen that
provides intelligent extraction of discrete data from clinical text. Their
medical ontology is the real difference maker. We were delighted with how
quickly L&C delivered the MRA customizations of TeSSI®. We are confident
that we will realize an excellent return on our investment," said Kent
Boyer, Director of Medical Systems at Ochsner.
"Despite the implementation of an EMR system, as much as 80 percent of a
healthcare organization's information is still stored as free-text. Ochsner
can now extract and reuse discrete data elements that otherwise sit within
those free-text clinical documents; the result is unstructured medical
documents that become functional databases and the driving force behind
core programs such as coding, billing and quality of care initiatives. The
application of L&C's LinkBase® and TeSSI® NLP technology for Ochsner's
MRA coding project demonstrates the great value of the L&C technology to
help solve the management issues faced by healthcare delivery organizations
in a dynamic regulatory environment," stated Peter Huisman, CEO of Language
and Computing.
About Ochsner Health System
Ochsner Health System (www.ochsner.org) is a non-profit, academic,
multi-specialty, healthcare delivery system dedicated to patient care,
research and education. The system includes seven hospitals, a sub-acute
facility, and 33 health centers located throughout Southeast Louisiana.
Ochsner employs over 600 physicians in 80 medical specialties and
subspecialties and 450 clinical research trials annually. Ochsner was
ranked one of the "Best Places to Work" by New Orleans CityBusiness in
2005, 2006 and 2007 and received the Consumer Choice for Healthcare in New
Orleans for 12 consecutive years. Ochsner was ranked as "Best" Hospital by
U.S. News and World Report in July 2007. Ochsner has over 10,000 employees
system-wide.
About Language and Computing, Inc.
Language and Computing provides the most advanced Natural Language
Processing (NLP) solutions to the healthcare industry. Language and
Computing's NLP technology is built upon the world's largest and most
comprehensive biomedical knowledge base allowing for unstructured and
structured data to be turned into meaningful information. Today their
solutions are being leveraged to map medical vocabularies, improve patient
safety and decision support, streamline patient data processes, and
automate coding and reimbursement. Language and Computing is building
solutions to improve the business of healthcare, life sciences and the
management of knowledge through their advanced NLP technology. Language
and Computing is a privately held company headquartered in Reston,
Virginia. For more information about Language and Computing call
888.579.0682 or visit their website at www.landcglobal.com.
Contact:
Karen Kniffin
Language and Computing
Tel: 858.564.8769
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