WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The Wall Street Journal
has awarded CONNECT, the open-source software that allows for the
secure and private sharing of electronic health information, its
coveted 2010 "Innovation Award" in the category of Health-Care IT.
Since 2008, Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS), an international
communications and information technology company, has been the
prime developer of CONNECT. CONNECT, an open source
implementation of the Nationwide Health Information Network
Specifications, enables federal agencies and healthcare providers
to quickly and securely exchange patient information, improving the
quality of care while reducing costs.
"It is a great honor for the Wall Street Journal to recognize
the importance of the CONNECT system," said Jim Traficant, vice president and general
manager, Harris Healthcare Solutions. "Harris is committed to
establishing CONNECT as the foundation for healthcare
interoperability. Giving care providers access to health
records while protecting patient information is the first step
toward a more cohesive healthcare system, lowering costs and
improving quality of treatment."
As the Wall Street Journal notes, CONNECT spurs adoption by
putting proven and easily adoptable technology in the hands of
medical providers. CONNECT meets all requirements for
maintaining the security and privacy of health records, and as an
open source software, government agencies are able to use CONNECT
free of charge. In addition, Harris offers commercially
available support for the CONNECT solution outside of their
contract with the Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS).
"Harris Corporation's execution of the CONNECT program and on
time, on budget deliveries to the HHS has certainly driven the
success of CONNECT," said Dave
Riley, Office of the National Coordinator's CONNECT
Initiative Lead. "In addition to many Federal Agencies, more
than 2,000 private sector organizations are using the open source
software, and that level of adoption within that time frame, I
think, really points to how well the technology works. This
is the best team I have ever assembled in all of the years I have
been doing government projects."
The latest version, CONNECT 3.1, released in September,
represents the ninth consecutive on-time release of the software by
Harris and offers significant modifications, including features to
support federal initiatives. Federal agencies leveraging
CONNECT for health information exchange include the Department of
Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security
Administration, the Indian Health Service, the Centers for Disease
Control, and the National Cancer Institute.
Wall Street Journal technology awards have been given for a
decade and this year received 597 applications from companies,
organizations and individuals in 30 countries. Wall Street
Journal staff narrowed the initial entry pool to 275 applications
which were forwarded to a panel of judges from research
institutions, venture-capital firms and other companies. In
the end, 49 technologies were selected to receive awards.
Harris Healthcare Solutions provides secure enterprise
intelligence solutions and services for government and commercial
customers — including systems integration, intelligent
infrastructure, advanced visualization and display, enterprise
digital content management and IT solutions. A leader in
federal healthcare IT integration, Harris products, systems and
services improve healthcare outcomes by assuring that critical
medical and benefits information is delivered with security and
privacy to the right person, on the right device, at the point of
care.
About Harris Corporation
Harris is an international communications and information
technology company serving government and commercial markets
worldwide. Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, the company has
approximately $5 billion of annual
revenue and more than 16,000 employees — including nearly 7,000
engineers and scientists. Harris is dedicated to developing
best-in-class assured communications® products, systems, and
services. Additional information about Harris Corporation is
available at www.harris.com.
SOURCE Harris Corporation
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