"As a leading provider of government healthcare solutions, ACS is pleased to add this end-to-end pandemic management solution to its wide variety of government offerings," said Chris Deelsnyder, managing director and senior vice president of ACS' Government Healthcare Solutions. "ACS' mature global infrastructure and extensive customer care capabilities serve as the perfect complement for Clinical Solutions' Web-based products. Together, we can equip local governments with the necessary tools to better prepare for and manage possible public health outbreaks."
Under the partnership agreement, ACS will provide the infrastructure, telephony and call centre services to complement the Clinical Solutions IntefleCS Health Watch tools and software. With nearly 30,000 customer service representatives and 118 call centers that offer support in 20 different languages, ACS can provide an instant pool of operators that can help assess symptoms, provide further information and direct citizens to the most appropriate level of care.
Richard Craven, director at Clinical Solutions adds, "This partnership provides local governments with the combined expertise of specialists in telecoms and call centre services with Web-tools and software. The Clinical Solutions and ACS technologies offer effective tools for assessing symptoms and planning for public health incidents, pandemics and bio-threats; giving governments confidence and peace of mind that they're fully prepared."
IntefleCS Health Watch is a suite of Web-based tools used to detect, assess, contain, communicate, manage and report during a public health incident. The software was piloted in 2006 in Exercise Cumpston, Australias largest ever health simulation exercise, which tested the country's preparations for a pandemic flu outbreak.
In the United Kingdom, Clinical Solutions is helping to deliver a multi-channel National Pandemic Flu Line Service ensuring the country is one of the most prepared in world. In partnership with Department of Health, NHS Direct and BT the service will provide rapid Web- and telephony-based assessment, direction of care, advice, guidance and, where appropriate, authorisation of antiviral medicine treatment to the public.
About ACS
ACS is a national leader in state healthcare program administration, offering a full spectrum of systems and complementary services through an integrated solution; from care management solutions and child health programs to pharmacy benefits management and traditional Medicaid fiscal agent services. ACS supports more than 23 million program recipients and processes nearly 550 million Medicaid healthcare claims annually, representing close to $50 billion in provider payments. As the nation's largest government program pharmacy benefits administrator, ACS serves 28 states, the District of Columbia and the Department of Labor with drug expenditures totaling more than $13 billion.
ACS, a global FORTUNE 500 company with 74,000 people supporting client operations reaching more than 100 countries, provides business process outsourcing and information technology solutions to world-class commercial and government clients. The company's Class A common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ACS." Learn more about ACS at www.acs-inc.com.
About Clinical Solutions
Clinical Solutions is a leading supplier of flexible evidence-based decision support and clinical software solutions to the healthcare industry that help healthcare professionals and citizens safely and consistently assess a patient's symptoms and direct them to the most appropriate level of care. This results in more efficient management of resources and alleviates pressure on emergency and primary healthcare services. This means lower costs, lower risks and a higher degree of patient satisfaction.
Clinical Solutions is a market focused organisation that works with its customers, to establish a close working partnership through the sharing of ideas, knowledge and expertise. Its scalable solutions have been proven to guide clinicians to deliver best practice in providing leading healthcare advice.
The company also provides knowledge management and case management solutions, used for long term conditions management, web-based health assistants, face to face decision support and out-of-hours solutions for urgent care to both public and private healthcare providers. With each implementation, Clinical Solutions provides project management, IT consultancy and customization, training and 24/7 support. Clinical Solutions has offices in UK, USA and Australia. Its customers include; NHS Direct in England and Wales; NHS 24 in Scotland; and many walk-in centres across England, as well as customers in North America, Portugal, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and India. Its solutions are used to serve over 100 million people across the world. With a mission to change the way the world accesses quality health and social care services, Clinical Solutions continues to invest in developing software solutions for health and social care organizations around the world. For further information visit: www.csdss.com.