Fourth Quarter of 2009

Fusion ePCR First-Hand Report

Ortivus appreciates the dedicated work of its beta testers who have been using the new electronic patient care reporting program in the field for several months now. You can read about a first-hand report on how this product works in the field by checking out this Jems.com article on Montcalm County Emergency Services’ experience (beta tester for the new product in 2009 and a former user of Sweet-Field Data).

The latest technological advances have been designed into Fusion ePCR to create a teamwork approach for both the field and the office.

Fusion ePCR was designed to do the following:

• Complete Incident Reports in Less Time
• Easy To Use - Minimal Training
• Touch Screen User Interface with Large Buttons
• Configurable Layout and User Interface
• Pertinent Treatment Protocol Information at Caregiver's Finger Tips
• Encrypted Patient Database
• Access to Patient's Past Medical History
• Provides Billing with Accurate and Timely Information for Faster Collections
• Customize Patient Care Reports, Medicare Signature Forms, Patient Refusal Statements, and More
• Perform QA Reviews of Responses Based on User-Defined Criteria and Provide Feedback to the Crews
• Decision Support for Protocol
• Ability to Start Response in Field and Move to a LAN to Finish
• Attach Files to Response and Patient Records

Contact your Ortivus account manager at 800-537-3927 or email sales@ortivusna.com for a personal demo of this new application that has been developed from the ground up from input from medics, billers and administration.

Version 5.5 Release Imminent
by Dan Voss, Product Manager

“The release of Sweet-Billing/ Sweet-Field Data Version 5.5 is imminent. Denial Codes are introduced in Version 5.5. The Denial Code feature allows you to track reasons for adjustments and denials on a per payment and/or payment per charge level. Denial code filters have been added to key reports and EZ-Review to facilitate easy analysis and review of adjustments and denials.

Version 5.5 also comes with updated installers providing support for SQL Server 2008.

While SQL 2008 is now supported – support for SQL 7 has now been completely removed. Version 5.5 will not install on a SQL 7 based server. When the installer detects SQL 7, the installation stops.
IMPORTANT: Once Version 5.5 is released, there will be no updates to the Industry Service Pack for Version 5.4, so to get the latest updates, customers will need to install Version 5.5.

With the release of Version 5.5, we are also announcing that support for SQL 2000 will be dropped December 31, 2010. During the installation of the Version 5.5 update, the Update will alert customers to the presence of SQL 2000 and the need to upgrade by the end of 2010.

Supported Operating Systems and SQL Versions
With the elimination of support/compatibility with SQL 7 and the recent availability of Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, it is a good time to review the status of Ortivus products, Windows operating systems, and SQL versions.
Note that only versions of Windows operating systems that are designed for business implementation are supported. This means that no ‘Home’ editions of operating systems are supported.

Ortivus Product/Supported Operating System Matrix
(Click on table below for larger view or click here)

Ortivus Product/Supported SQL Version Matrix
(Click on table below for larger view or click here)

Importance of Upgrading
While many may subscribe to the notion ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,’ in the world of software, this can result in unplanned technology expenditures. In 2006, Ortivus began announcing that support for SQL 7 would end December 31, 2007. However, nearly 4 years later, some customers continue to use SQL 7. As a result, these customers will now be forced to upgrade to a supported version in order to install the new version of Sweet-Billing. This will likely be an unplanned expense for these customers. This example highlights the need for continuous budgeting for information technology upgrades.

Now is a good time to evaluate your technology spending habits. Do you have a plan/budget to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7? The timeframe of when Microsoft ends mainstream support for a product typically correlates to the timeframe that Ortivus stops supporting applications on the platform. This also roughly equates to supporting the ‘current’ offering from Microsoft and the product that the current offering replaced. Attempting to maintain compatibility and to complete testing across more than two versions is a significant drain on resources and limits innovation in our products. Microsoft mainstream support for Windows XP ended on April 14, 2009. Windows XP was replaced by Windows Vista, and Vista is now replaced with Windows 7. Under either of the previously mentioned measures, the days of support for Windows XP are numbered.

---

Efficient Handling of Non-Emergency Calls with Sweet-CAD

Details: Presenters Dan Voss, Ortivus Product Manager and Karla Hageman, Ortivus Account Manager address strategies to decrease the workload of non-emergency calls with the Sweet-CAD system. In this recording, you will learn:

• How to identify 'unaccountable' time and causes
• How to efficiently manage and track your transports, staff and patients
• View tools to assist your care facilities in managing patient transports

---

National Academy of Ambulance Coding - Ortivus 2009 Webinars

Ortivus offers educational webinars to the EMS industry as a part of their business-partner approach to working with customers. Ortivus provides information and education on EMS industry issues, practices and processes which help their customers succeed, beyond simply the use of Ortivus software.

Ortivus has worked with a variety of EMS industry experts to make their materials available in a webinar format. Six educational webinars from the 2009 webinar series are approved for CEU credit for the National Academy of Ambulance Coding (NAAC ®) (listing below).

The NAAC represents the industry’s “Gold Standard of Excellence” in compliance, ethics and integrity in all facets of ambulance billing and coding. The Certified Ambulance Coder (CAC™) certification provides the industry with a unique program to meet the demand for highly educated billers and coders in billing offices throughout the ambulance industry. The CAC program helps ensure that ambulance billing professionals possess the critical knowledge and commitment to excellence necessary to assure the nation’s ambulance services of continued accurate, thorough and compliant billing.

For more information on the National Academy of Ambulance Coding and the
Certified Ambulance Coder program, visit:
www.AmbulanceCoding.com
or contact Steve Johnson, Executive Director at s.johnson@AmbulanceCoding.com or by phone at (877) 765-6222.

For a full listing of the Ortivus 2009 webinar series, go to: http://www.ortivusna.com/TriTech-University/Webinars.asp. Contact OrtivusWebinars@ortivusna.com or 800-537-3927 for questions or NAAC CEU certificates.

ICD10 Codes: A New Alphabet Soup with Dan Voss
On-Demand Recording - Complimentary

Surviving Medicare Audit with David Werfel
On-Demand Recording – Complimentary

Pricing and Discounts with Doug Wolfberg
On-Demand Recording - Included in 4-part Package for $450

Managed Care: New Future of Ambulance Reimbursement, with Maggie Adams
On-Demand Recording - Included in 4-part Package for $450

The Link Between Dispatch and Billing, with Doug Wolfberg
On-Demand Recording - Included in 4-part Package for $450

Documentation and Reimbursement: Critical Support for the Level of Service You Bill, with Steve Wirth
November 18, 2009 at 2:00 pm ET - Included in 4-part Package for $450

Ortivus will continue to offer more educational webinars in 2010 and are receptive to hearing what the industry would like to hear. If you have a suggestion for an EMS educational- or industry-related topic, please email your suggestions to OrtivusWebinars@ortivusna.com.