The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus – commonly called the swine flu – raised fears to near-panic levels all across the globe, resulting in closed schools, postponed sports events and travel alerts. The pandemic also allowed healthcare IT vendors to showcase their wares or highlight new functionalities.

RelayHealth, McKesson’s healthcare connectivity services subsidiary, is helping the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) monitor influenza antiviral prescriptions throughout the country through an authorized prescription data feed to track any signs of outbreak. In addition, company officials say doctors are using the webVisits interactive service to communicate online with patients, helping to answer questions and take appropriate measures if they think they have the flu.

“RelayHealth’s messaging, webVisit and patient education online tools give doctors the ability to quickly communicate critical information about the H1N1 flu as well as day-to-day routine health issues to their patients,” said Jim Bodenbender, RelayHealth’s senior vice president and general manager. “As more physicians connect online with their patients, they will be better prepared for future emergencies, and better able to engage their patients in a timely manner.”

Among the other vendors:

•    PCTS, based in Charlotte, N.C., added a swine flu clinical workflow algorithm to its Amelior ED emergency department documentation system that allows triage nurses to identify possible cases in the emergency department and take appropriate steps.

•    Axolotl, of San Jose, Calif., says its Elysium Exchange solutions are helping HealthLINC, a southern Indiana-based healthcare information exchange, post regular swine flu updates to keep the medical community informed.

•    T-System, Inc., of Dallas, added three free downloadable charting templates to its ED clinical documentation solutions (physician, nurse and order sets) and launched development of a fourth set for pediatrics.
•    Eclipsys, based in Atlanta, launched an influenza A H1N1 (swine flu) Outcomes Toolkit, designed to help hospitals contain the spread of flu in waiting areas.

•    The Nashville-based Informatics Corporation of America, meanwhile, pointed to its CareAlign solution, which allows healthcare providers to mine data from existing clinical information systems to identify trends, such as an outbreak.

•    EBSCO Publishing, the editors of the DynaMed point-of-care resource made the DynaMed Swine Influenza clinical summary available free of charge to healthcare providers.

•    Dallas-based TelaDoc Medical Services announced a partnership with Quinnian Health to provide medical consults through telephone medical consults. The consults access Quinnian’s Rapid Influenza Response Module, offering access to the company’s Qhealth Platform.

Among the international vendors keeping close tabs on the swine flu epidemic is Australia’s iSoft, which recently announced a plan to become an IT force in the North American market. The company currently has a contract to supply an IT system to 10 hospitals and 470 health centers in Mexico through the Nuevo Leon State Healthcare Department, and is sending data to Mexican authorities and the World Health Organization.

“When we have the IT infrastructure and software to automatically manage medical records we can begin to cross-check a patient’s lab results with their diagnostic imaging results,” Andrea Fiumicelli, iSoft’s CIO, recently told The Australian. “We can do data mining against historical research into infection types, or cross-reference what is happening to a specific patient against medical protocols defined by the World Health Organization.”

“CareAlign exemplifies the important role of information technology in helping our country to address pandemics and other healthcare challenges occurring after natural disasters such as hurricanes or floods,” said Gary Zegiestowsky, ICA’s CEO. “With CareAlign in place, the aggregation of clinical data across a community allows for quick identification of trends. Today, one ICA installation is graphing emergency room visit discharge data to determine if there is a higher incidence of high fever and flu-like incidences throughout the community. As a result, they can determine if their community may be seeing an increase in flu-related incidences. This information could be vital to the identification, treatment and control of the spread of diseases such as swine flu within the community.”