Health Alliance Meets Challenges of Healthcare Business With ImageNow

SHAWNEE, KANSAS '' Perceptive Software, Inc., announced that The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati selected ImageNow® document imaging, management and workflow software to energize business processes. Health Alliance, the largest healthcare system in the Cincinnati area, is composed of more than 13,000 employees and 2,000 affiliated physicians. The group operates six hospitals and a large primary care group that receives more than 360,000 invoices annually.

Health Alliance's existing paper processes were not keeping up with increased document volume. Realizing a change was needed, the organization began to search for an electronic document management application. After seeing demonstrations of several products, Health Alliance chose ImageNow, a cost-effective solution that offers dynamic yet intuitive functionality.

"It is simple for us to manage ImageNow at the user level," said Mary Brungs, accounts payable department supervisor. "The product does a lot for us, and it is so easy to use."

Health Alliance also recognized that ImageNow from Perceptive Software, a Lawson business partner, was best suited to leverage the organization's Lawson Accounts Payable software. ImageNow's unique methodology facilitates rapid integration with Lawson and all other existing and future applications.

"Our IT staff said it was the easiest installation they've ever had," said Brungs. "No outside support was needed for Lawson integration. We have built and modified ImageNow to meet our growing needs without any back-end programming."

Using ImageNow and Lawson technology, Health Alliance creates reports (virtual images) of all electronic invoices, allowing financial directors at the organization's six hospitals to quickly review invoice details. ImageNow compares index values on checks and invoices, linking the appropriate electronic documents and showing users which bills have been paid. Remote access through WebNowâ„¢, ImageNow's browser-based complement, allows users to monitor the status of all transactions.

"ImageNow makes our end-of-month reconciliations faster and more efficient," said Brungs. "Before implementation, answering inquiries involved searching for an individual file and sending the information manually. With ImageNow, we have data access at our fingertips."

ImageNow's integrated workflow features also simplify daily operations for Health Alliance's accounts payable department. Electronic routing speeds the approval process by instantly sending documentation to the relevant user, and a single mouse click retrieves any document from workflow queues.

"ImageNow has had a tremendous impact and creates so many efficiencies on the back end," Brungs said. "Users often tell me, 'We could never go back.' "

Soon after the initial deployment in accounts payable, Health Alliance realized that ImageNow's flexible functionality could boost performance in other accounting areas by eliminating the constraints of paper processes. The organization will expand the solution in the near future.

"People from other departments have seen ImageNow's capabilities in accounts payable and want access to it in their areas, too," said Brungs.

About Perceptive Software
Founded in 1988, Perceptive Software, Inc., develops document imaging, management and workflow software solutions that simplify document management processes by delivering secure, digitized versions of paper and other electronic documents while leveraging existing applications. Customers in a broad range of industries worldwide have taken advantage of ImageNow, Perceptive Software's flagship software offering.

###

ImageNow is a registered trademark of Perceptive Software, Inc. Other product or company names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Product Information
To request product information, send an e-mail to info@imagenow.com.

Discover the ImageNow difference at http://www.imagenow.com