Misys Leads Industry with Bold Open Source Move

RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In a ground-breaking move today (24 October 2007), Misys plc, the global application software and services company, took the lead in innovation by announcing that it will make the Misys Connect healthcare solution available to the open source development community. Working with open source developers is a pioneering first step towards establishing open standards in healthcare, which will benefit all Americans. Misys Open Source Solutions, a division of Misys plc, was established to create and drive innovation in the marketplace; using open source to move toward open standards is a great step forward.

Gartner estimates that by 2015 20% of GDP in the United States will be spent on healthcare, yet the system is in need of radical action to deliver improved care for future generations. Today the availability and sharing of patient information is a fragmented and labor-intensive, paper-based process. Manual processes can cause delays in treatment, increased costs and errors. Automating the process and using open standards for interoperability is a major step forward and a precursor to truly connected healthcare communities.

Mike Lawrie, Misys plc Chief Executive said: “This is a bold step. Misys is taking a leadership position in order to enable improved patient care, deliver results for our customers and make our vision of connecting all venues of care in a local community a reality. Making Misys Connect available to the open source community is an innovative way to connect healthcare communities and advance the improvement of patient outcomes, which is critical to addressing some of the systemic issues in the U.S. healthcare market today.”

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and founder of the Center for Health Transformation (CHT) commented: “Misys is showing remarkable leadership with their commitment to connecting healthcare communities across America. Moving towards open standards is a vital step in creating a modernized, interconnected system that saves lives and saves money for all Americans – and Misys’ bold leadership in using open source is a significant step to realize that future.”

Adam Gale, Chief Operating Officer, KLAS added: “This is an innovative move by Misys and we at KLAS are supportive of a new approach to providing physicians with the information they need. Using Misys Connect as the basis of open standards which the open source community can develop is a positive for doctors and care givers. Ultimately it will be the patients that benefit from real data sharing, and from vendors collaborating to connect communities.”

Misys Open Source Solutions is also announcing that it has joined the Eclipse Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to open source development. Misys will work with the Foundation to advance the development of their Open Healthcare Framework (OHF) project, formed for the purpose of expediting healthcare information technology. Misys will also explore contributions to the Eclipse community that will enable the connection of key medical information throughout the entire healthcare continuum, making it accessible by care providers to increase the quality of care and decrease its cost at the same time.

ENDORSEMENTS FROM KEY STAKEHOLDERS:

Ronald W. Hovsepian, President and CEO of Novell Inc. commented: "Novell has long been a participant in the open source world and we are pleased to see an application software company take the lead and start to make some of these innovative technologies available. Misys is taking a leadership position here and we look forward to continuing to work with them."

Richard Hutsell, Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Daughters of Charity Health System, commented: “The open source decision that Misys had made will benefit the local communities that the Daughters of Charity Health System serves. Many of our communities are poor, and we work to deliver the same level of care that those more fortunate can access across America. Misys has made it easier for us to accomplish that mission by enabling faster, less expensive access to accurate patient data at points of care across our community. This is a bold, smart step.”

Randy Cox, Chief Information Officer, Riverview Hospital, said: “Healthcare communities have been trying to connect and share data for quite some time. One of the biggest challenges we face is that multiple vendors compete to establish unique systems. The bureaucracy associated with trying to reconcile these multiple systems is a real challenge. Finally, Misys has offered a solution that lets everyone win. They are replacing bureaucracy with technology and creating a non-competitive environment. Additionally, as hospitals face the pressures of funding as much as 85% of the cost of electronic medical records in the community, Misys has helped tremendously by offering Misys Connect free of charge.”

About Misys plc

Misys plc (FTSE: MSY.L), provides integrated, comprehensive solutions that deliver significant results to organizations in the financial services and healthcare industries. We maximize value for our customers by combining our deep knowledge of their business with our commitment to their success.

In banking and treasury & capital markets, Misys is the market leader, with over 1,200 customers, including all of the world’s top 50 banks. In healthcare, Misys is the market leader, serving more than 110,000 physicians in 18,000 practice locations and 600 home care providers. Misys employs 4,500 people who serve customers in more than 120 countries.

We aspire to be the world’s best application software and services company, delivering results for the most important industries in the world.

Misys: Experience, Solutions, Results

About the Center for Health Transformation

Founded by Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, The Center for Health Transformation is a high-impact collaboration of private and public sector leaders committed to creating a 21st Century Intelligent Health System that saves lives and saves money for all Americans.

About KLAS

KLAS is the only research firm that specializes in monitoring and reporting the performance of healthcare’s information technology (HIT) vendors. KLAS’ mission is to improve HIT delivery, by independently measuring vendor performance for the benefit of our healthcare provider partners, consultants, investors, and vendors. Working together with executives from over 4500 hospitals and over 2500 clinics, KLAS delivers timely reports, trends, and statistics, which provide a solid overview of vendor performance in the HIT industry. KLAS measures performance of software, professional services, and medical equipment vendors. For more information, go to www.healthcomputing.com, email marketing@healthcomputing.com, or call 1-800-920-4109 to speak with a KLAS representative.