Orion Health has joined The Alliance for Clinical Excellence (ACE), a global industry alliance launched at the regional HIMSS Healthcare IT Conference in Kuala Lumpur designed to address the global demand for predictive, evidence-based metrics to determine the cost-benefit equation that helps evaluate the deployment of IT systems.

GE Healthcare has released its suite of Centricity solutions for hospitals and outpatient imaging centers, including the Centricity PACS Web Diagnostic (WebDX) viewer, in Asia. In addition, the company has announced that the Virtua Medical Group, a division of Virtua Health of Marlton, N.J., has expended its relationship with the company to include GE Centricity Business Advantage to host core revenue cycle management functions for their employed physician practices. Also, Springfield, Mo.-based CoxHealth has implemented the company's Medical Quality Improvement Consortium (MQIC) quality data system to align its Centricity EMR and practice management solutions with Medicare's Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI).

The Compuware Corporation of Detroit has announced that Boston-based Partners HealthCare has selected the Compuware Vantage business service directory solution to boost the effectiveness of its electronic medical records (EMR) system.

The Eclipsys Corporation of Atlanta has announced that Wheeling Hospital in Wheeling, W. Va., has selected the company's Sunrise Enterprise suite of solutions.

API Software, Inc., a Hartford, Wis.-based provider of healthcare-based human capital management tools, has changed its corporate name to the API Healthcare Corporation.

MEDHOST, an Addison, Texas-based provider of Emergency Department Information Systems (EDIS), has announced that the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville, Va., has updated its ED with the company's software.

Picis, Inc., of Wakefield, Mass., has announced the availability of two new products, InSight ED Charge Rules and LYNX E/Point, designed to drive more accurate charging for infusions and injections in hospital emergency departments.

Merge Healthcare of Milwaukee has announced the release of eFilm Workstation 3.1, which adds Windows Vista support, faster load times and accelerated workflow communication to its diagnostic review software.

Ingenix, an Eden Prairie, Minn.-based provider of health information technology and consulting services, has achieved full accreditation with the Healthcare Network Accreditation Program (HNAP) from the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC).

Beckman Coulter, Inc., an Orange County, Calif.-based developer of biomedical testing products, has agreed to acquire the diagnostic systems portion of Tokyo-based Olympus Corp. for approximately $800 million.

ZeOmega, based in Seattle, has announced that the Washington state-based Community Health Plan has deployed the company's JIVA care management software to integrate Community Health Plan's utilization management, case management, disease management and population management programs.

Innovative Card Scanning, an Allen, Texas-based developer of insurance care and ID scanning solutions tailored for physician offices, hospitals, medical billers, pharmacies and retail clinics, has released ScanSharp ActiveX, a new solution that allows non-.Net or Web-based clients to use the Express Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software development kit to enable their practice management systems to integrate with scanning and OCR technology.

Versus Technology, Inc., of Traverse City, Mich., has announced that Virginia Mason Medical Center has selected the company's Enterprise VISion: Clinic hybrid infrared and RFID real-time locating system for the Virginia Mason Kirkland clinic in Kirkland, Wash.