By Healthcare Facilities Today

MINNEAPOLIS- ABILITY Network Inc, a leading healthcare technology company, announced today that the New England Healthcare Exchange Network (NEHEN) has agreed to implement the ABILITY Secure Exchange Platform across all its member hospitals and provider sites.

NEHEN members will be upgraded to the ABILITY Secure Exchange Platform, supporting secure seamless connectivity to Medicare powered by NEHEN's administrative eligibility applications. The ABILITY Secure Exchange Platform also provides a central hub that allows NEHEN to deploy additional revenue cycle management and clinical tools available from ABILITY.

"ABILITY is thrilled to expand our partnership with NEHEN, leveraging our advanced infrastructure to improve the way care is delivered in hospitals and other healthcare providers in New England," said Bud Meadows, Executive Vice President of ABILITY. "Using the ABILITY Secure Exchange Platform, NEHEN members will be able to better facilitate their administrative and management exchanges. We're very pleased to contribute to NEHEN's mission of transforming healthcare."

"ABILITY Network shares a common vision with NEHEN of leveraging technology to improve the way healthcare is delivered in the U.S.," said Dave Delano, Executive Director at NEHEN. "We are excited by the potential of this new agreement, and look forward to working with ABILITY to implement the next generation of technology on behalf of our members and the patients they serve."

NEHEN is widely regarded as a successful example of health information exchange for its self-sustaining financial model, having operated continuously without governmental support since 1998. With connectivity to over a dozen payers, serving more than 20 hospitals and hundreds of physician practices in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, NEHEN is a collaborative, payer- and provider-directed solution for connectivity, administrative simplification, and workflow improvement.

"The NEHEN consortium is a national model for simplifying and reducing the costs of healthcare delivery," stated Meadows. "We look at what they've achieved as an innovative leader in this field, and are very proud that they've selected ABILITY as their partner."

ABILITY(R) Network Inc is a leading healthcare technology company trusted by thousands of hospitals, home health care agencies, hospices, skilled nursing facilities, DME and other healthcare providers throughout the U.S. ABILITY provides a broad suite of innovative workflow tools to help manage the administrative complexities of healthcare. ABILITY is headquartered in Minneapolis, with anchor offices in Boston and Tampa, and satellite offices across the country.

NEHEN is a consortium of regional health plans and healthcare providers who have designed and implemented a secure and innovative health information exchange for reducing administrative costs and improving the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care. NEHEN technology has changed the way administrative and clinical processes are performed in member organizations.