Starting in 2011 practices will be required to electronically exchange medical information in order to satisfy the principles of "interoperability" and "meaningful use" as defined in HITECH. Unfortunately most practices currently rely on the fax machine as the primary tool to exchange medical information with other practices. As a result EMR and other software vendors are going to have to support the electronic exchange of information in addition to faxing as part of their software. MedUnity understands the pressure that EMR vendors are under to make sure they meet the HITECH requirements fo 2011. As part of HITECH vendors are being asked to design and implement an electronic exchange of information that will be compatible with their competitor's products. Enter MedUnity, who has recently combined SMREx (Simple Medical Record Exchange), its HIPAA-compliant, pure electronic, point-to-point National medical record exchange service, with current e-faxing technology. SMREx is the solution that meets the principles of the HITECH "electronic information exchange" requirement while allowing backward compatibility with the common fax. Software vendors that integrate SMREx, via a simple API, into their products or make SMREx available to their customers will immediately comply with the HITECH requirements for electronic exchange of information. This eliminates the pain and cost of having to develop their own electronic exchange software.

SMREx is a web based, simple to use, low cost, and complete National "HIE as-a-Service". SMREx practices are able to get up and running the same day. SMREx incorporates both pure electronic and fax based exchange all into one product. Since all recipients are identified by their existing fax number, there is no "new" numbering system for users to learn. Practices can send and receive multiple electronic medical documents instantly and securely for about the same monthly cost as a single fax line. SMREx effectively levels the playing field for all medical practices so they can easily and affordably participate in the secure electronic sharing of sensitive medical information irrespective of their affiliation with larger networks or organizations.

SMREx, first offered in 2005, is the only truly National Public Health Information Exchange that allows all medical practices in all 50 states to join as equals. There are no state boundaries to the SMREx service. Every practice from Maine to Hawaii can join the SMREx HIE and securely exchange electronic medical information with one another. Unlike other exchanges SMREx is not an "off-the-shelf" product with "some assembly" required. SMREx offers a complete set of software and training to get the job done. SMREx is a point-to-point exchange of information and therefore requires "No Consent" for information being exchanged. MedUnity authenticates every customer using the SMREx service and each practice maintains its own information. The service includes audit tracking, administration tools for checking document status, an address book for recipient clients' contact information, and is HIPAA-compliant unlike many email-based solutions.

With SMREx, MedUnity has eliminated the need for expensive private or regional HIEs and Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) networks that not only have significant up front costs and can take years to implement, but also have substantial on-going maintenance costs. SMREx will soon allow groups of practices to create their own Virtual Regional Health Information Organizations (VRHIO's) at a fraction of the cost of the more traditional community-based models. This VRHIO concept allows the virtualized secure sharing of SMREx based information among one or more groups of practices to take place at a fraction of the cost of traditional communitybased models.

We are not an EMR vendor and do not compete in that space. Instead, our solution offers the hundreds of different EMR vendors the opportunity to incorporate the SMREx HIE solution into their products. Where vendors may choose SureScripts for their e-prescribing needs, MedUnity provides the same result for electronic information exchange. In addition SMREx eliminates fax server integration woes and support issues that most EMR vendors are experiencing today. MedUnity also is working with State HIE/HIN projects and RHIOs to allow SMREx customers to seamlessly send data to those repositories by "carbon-copying" SMREx messages to those organizations. Vendors will not have to worry about writing and maintaining hundreds of state interfaces and can instead use their resources to improve their core products and services.

Pricing is simple, for $65 a month customers can send and receive up to 2500 SMREx messages including up to 1000 faxed pages with non-SMREx customers. There are additional fees for messaging overage and other SMREx services. There is no additional hardware to purchase or install. Plus we offer a 30 day free trial!

Call us to discuss how MedUnity's SMREx service can help you.

About The SMREx Process

SMREx allows users to send any document regardless of its origin or format (i.e. documents from an EMR system, a scanned paper document, an MS Word document, a PDF document, etc.). At its most basic level documents are sent securely by simply clicking the print button, selecting the SMREx "virtual printer", choosing the recipient from a shared address book or entering in a fax number and clicking send. The SMREx service then looks at the recipient fax number and if the recipient is a SMREx customer the information is routed electronically. If not the document is sent via our high volume efaxing gateway. Either way the sender only needs to know the recipients fax number, SMREx handles the rest. Once a document is sent, users never have to wait for a fax line to clear, but can immediately send another document. SMREx also features an Instant Pickup feature that allows the recipient to pickup a document online at SMREx.com.

The SMREx service also includes an Automated Send Client that allows documents (PDF, TIFF, XML, CCR, HL7, etc..) loaded into pre-designated folders to be sent using SMREx. For software vendors MedUnity also features a Web Services API allowing developers to easily incorporate SMREx in their applications.

Documents sent to a SMREx practice by another SMREx practice use the practice's existing fax number(s) as the recipient ID and are received electronically. SMREx customers can opt to receive information from non-SMREx practices using the SMREx fax gateway and their existing fax numbers. Information that is received can be picked up via several methods including online and via the SMREx Automated Receive Client (ARC). SMREx ARC runs on a schedule and files the incoming documents directly onto the receiver's system where they may be printed automatically, stored on a server, or imported into an EMR. If both the sender and receiver are SMREx customers, the whole transaction will be electronic and bypass the fax machine entirely. Customers may also choose to be only receive documents. All faxed SMREx information is available for online pickup by a secure ID sent with the fax.

A key component of the SMREx service is the web services API that allows software vendors and developers to easily incorporate the core "send" and "receive" SMREx components into their existing applications. Incorporating SMREx reduces development costs and eliminates the need for customers to purchase additional hardware, software, and pay for ongoing support costs of a fax server. The web services API will also allow EMR vendors to immediately meet the requirements for electronic information exchange as defined for "meaningful use" within the HITECH Act of the ARRA.

Why MedUnity?

1. With MedUnity there is no waiting for one fax to complete before another one can be sent. Several staff members can be sending at the same time. In a practice that sends out large files, this represents a great time savings. One of our customer's faxing time was reduced from 13 hours to 3 daily!

2. With MedUnity there is no waiting for incoming faxes. All inbound transmissions are available to the staff members as soon as they hit the system.

3. Instead of being held hostage to incoming paper printouts, staff members can view data transmissions and decide how they will be handled i.e. printed, attached to an email, saved to a folder, etc.

4. Since inbound data transmissions are not automatically printed, there is a tremendous cost saving in paper costs. At $.6-$.10 per page, this can represent a considerable amount!

5. In spite of multiple staff members using the service, there is no lag time in sending data transmissions because behind the scenes MedUnity is sending outbound data transmissions in batches that scale as the needs of the practice increase.

6. Since staff members are cued to incoming data transmissions productivity is raised because no one has to check the machine to "find" incoming data transmissions.

7. The need to refax data transmissions from one part of the practice to another is also eliminated because all authorized staff members in the practice can access the MedUnity service no matter where they are located.

8. Since data transmissions are available at any computer in the practice that is loaded with the MedUnity service, staff members can even work remotely. This is of particular interest to physicians because MedUnity does not lock them into a set work schedule or location.

9. No data in or outbound is ever "lost" because MedUnity has a document tracking tool that automatically date and time stamps them allowing the practice to audit the process. This also allows you to keep track of how many data transmissions are being sent and received.

10. If you have entities that you frequently send large files to such as your billing service, MedUnity is also willing to supply a complimentary "receive only" service to them to help reduce costs further.

11. MedUnity connects you to other practices, hospitals, insurance companies, and regulatory agencies

12. MedUnity satisfies your need to meet the ARRA Meaningful Use requirement for Interoperability

13. MedUnity's use is limited to user password access to meet HIPAA requirements regarding patient data access

14. MedUnity provides free installation and training assistance

15. MedUnity provides free post live support

16. As a Praxis customer, you will also receive the added benefits of integrating your faxing service with your EMR product.