DENVER – Health Language, Inc. (HLI), a maker of medical terminology management software, and HCL Technologies, a global IT services provider based in India, have joined forces to put HLI's Language Engine to work as part of HCL's end-to-end ICD-10 conversion solution.
The combined service offering – which encompasses gap assessment, conversion roadmap, remediation, testing, deployment and training – will enable hospitals and health systems, payers and independent software vendors to meet the Oct. 1, 2013, deadline for conversion of legacy coding systems from ICD-9 to ICD-10, as required by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
HLI's scalable Language Engine integrates and manages the latest medical terminologies within healthcare applications to enable effective and interoperable use of accurate clinical information, administrative codes and consumer friendly terminology. It also provides access to current versions of more than 100 clinical and administrative code sets including SNOMED CT, ICD-9 and ICD-10, LOINC, CPT, RxNorm, HCPCS and others, and allows incorporation and mapping of local content to standards.
HCL, which is currently working with hospital systems, payers and healthcare product vendors to facilitate transition to the new standard, will employ the HLI Language Engine in the remediation phase of its complete ICD-10 conversion solution.
"We selected HLI as the language engine because Health Language is the world leader in nomenclature, with a decade of vast experience servicing hospitals and payers," said Pradep Nair, senior vice president, healthcare at HCL Technologies. "The synergy of our expertise in service and Health Language's comprehensive medical terminology management tool is a powerful combination. We believe joining forces will facilitate an easier transition to the new ICD-10 nomenclature for the segments of the healthcare marketplace that we mutually serve."
The companies expect the partnership to benefit mutual customers by laying the groundwork for future clinical and administrative technology initiatives that go beyond the government mandate. "We are building a competitive advantage for our customers by enhancing the value of data and lowering the cost of the transaction," said Nair. "HCL believes in true transformation directed at core processes and HLI shares that vision."
"Health Language is proud to partner with a global leader in IT services to help healthcare entities lower the cost and simplify the ICD-10 conversion across the provider-payer continuum," said Health Language CEO George Schwend. "Our combined strengths will enhance the value of the data that will enable hospitals, payers and ISVs to run their business more efficiently. We look forward to joining forces to reduce the burden of this critical transition and urge healthcare entities to start the migration process now."
