Infosys Partners With Device Company In Healthcare Push

Infosys, known for its business consulting and IT services, recently partnered with NovaSom, a maker of sleep apnea diagnostic tools, as part of its push to get more U.S. healthcare business. NovaSom is using Infosys' cloud-based portal MediTrack to diagnose patients with sleep apnea at home, process data more quickly and help manage insurance claims.

For India-based outsourcer Infosys, this is yet another attempt to tap into the U.S. healthcare market, after recent reports tell of the company's slowing growth and slow entry into the healthcare space. Through the use of Infosys' cloud-based portal, NovaSom has seen a 66% reduction in time for processing test results, a 60% reduction for pending order backlog, and 43% reduction of test interpretation cost thanks to better efficiency using the cloud, according to the company.

NovaSom offers sleep apnea home testing as well as service programs used by payers, employers, primary care and sleep specialist physicians. The company partners with sleep centers and helps specialists offer patients an alternative, at-home testing option, expanding access to diagnosis and treatment.

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With the use of the MediTrack portal, NovaSom's physician partners have access to a single interface that helps deliver services, process diagnostic data and manage insurance claims. The portal provides Web interfaces with third-party applications to access and analyze patient data immediately upon wireless receipt of the completed home sleep test.

The Ruth Group has been using MediTrack, and the biggest improvement has been the faster diagnosis times. Test result processing has been reduced by two days, Lisa Cook, Ruth Group assistant VP, told InformationWeek Healthcare. More timely diagnoses are particularly valuable for patients who are about to undergo surgery because they help anesthesiologists better minimize respiratory risk.

The portal also links orders to the patient's insurer and medical equipment provider. A physician ordering a test is prompted to input information required by the patient's insurance company. With the use of the portal, Cook said, "they get what they need and nothing extraneous," allowing the order to be processed more quickly. If the patient has a positive test result, the physician can also use the portal to order the appropriate therapy.

Dheeshjith V.G., senior VP and global head of life sciences at Infosys, said in an interview with InformationWeek Healthcare that the portal is also helping sleep specialists, surgeons and anesthesiologists develop patient management plans that reduce the risk of respiratory problems and other OSA-related complications during and after surgery.

Infosys is looking to expand in the healthcare market to tap into a growth market and lessen dependency on its traditional markets such as financial services. A recent Bloomberg article credits Obamacare for giving Infosys some momentum; the company has won four state contracts and is vying for business in four more before the 2014 deadline to build online exchanges that link customers to insurance plans, according to the article.

This demand for exchanges is helping Infosys and its rivals counter slowing business from banks and manufacturers. However, "Infosys just hasn't been fast enough to tap the healthcare industry, which is why their share of revenue is so low," said Harit Shah, an analyst with Mumbai-based Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities in the article.

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