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Chicago Department of Public Health Implements Cities Readiness Initiative
with Help of Electronic Knowledge Interchange (EKI) and Datacap
Tarrytown, NY and Chicago, Ill. – (September 4, 2007) - Datacap
Inc., the leading document capture and forms processing software developer,
and Electronic Knowledge Interchange (EKI), Chicago's premier technology
solutions provider, today announced that the Chicago Department of Public
Health (CDPH) has implemented Datacap Taskmaster software as part
of its Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI), an important new element in urban
disaster preparedness.
CRI is a federally-funded pilot program to aid cities in increasing their
capacity to deliver medicines and medical supplies during a large-scale
public health emergency. Such emergencies include bioterrorism attack,
pan-flu epidemic or nuclear accident. The program is overseen by the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention. In a worst case scenario, CDPH would
have to dispense medications citywide to the approximately three million
people in Chicago within 48 hours.
In order to capture and track the identity of individual recipients and
their associated dispensed medications, CDPH needed a reliable, automated
solution. The solution had to provide efficient and accurate analysis of
medicine distribution and recipient coverage. It also needed a search capability
for specific individuals to view an electronic copy of their CRI Information
Form.
Steve Shimkus, Solution Advisor/Project Manager at EKI, recommended Datacap’s
Taskmaster automated information capture technology.
The full solution developed includes Datacap Taskmaster,
Kodak and Bowe Bell & Howell scanners and an IBM/FileNet Enterprise
Content Management system.
With this technology, Taskmaster’s automated data capture would
be used to scan completed CRI information forms, extract relevant information
from each form with ICR (intelligent character recognition), and route
that information to IBM/FileNet for rapid storage and retrieval. The data
would then be used for reporting and searching as necessary.
Once installed, the challenge for the Chicago Department of Public Health
was to make sure that staff was always prepared to use the system. “We
hope to never have to use this solution for a large scale public emergency.
However, we wanted our staff to be properly trained,” said Steve
Mier, Director of Administration for CDPH. “Therefore, we applied it to
existing programs that enable us to regularly utilize the technology to
maintain high levels of proficiency.”
The two programs currently utilizing the application are the School-Based
Oral Health Program, which provides free dental services to as many as
400,000 Chicago children in about 600 elementary schools, and the Immunization
Program, which strives to increase resident immunizations and decrease
the incidence of diseases that are preventable with vaccinations.
Even for these programs, capture plays an important role. The School-Based
Oral Health Program generates many different forms, and in order for CDPH
to bill the State and Federal health care programs for the children they
serve, the system must contain relevant information. Additionally, Chicago’s
Immunization program involves distribution of immunizations and vaccinations
to nearly 36,000 people per year and requires completion of multiple forms
for each recipient, all of which must be registered and tracked.
With 120,000 immunization forms and 500,000 dental forms annually, in both
English and Spanish, the data entry workforce cannot support the volume
of paperwork using manual methods. Additionally, with paper records, reporting
on the program’s efficacy is untimely, and searching for historical records
is labor-intensive.
Taskmaster software now automates input of both the School-Based Oral
Health and Immunization Program forms, extracts the relevant information
from each form and forwards data and images to IBM/FileNet. The system
provides the appropriate reports to CDPH and the State of Illinois. More
importantly, the ongoing use of Taskmaster for both programs ensures
that CDPH staff is well-trained to support the CRI.
“EKI and the City of Chicago have put together an application with important
implications for disaster preparedness and recovery. We are proud that
Taskmaster can play a role in the time-critical gathering of data
in the event of an emergency,” said Scott Blau, CEO of Datacap.
About Datacap: Since 1988, Datacap Inc. has provided award-winning
document capture and forms processing software solutions to organizations
worldwide. Datacap Taskmaster software accurately transforms paper into
information, increasing efficiency while reducing costs and document cycle
time. A client/server, rules-based capture workflow platform, Taskmaster
provides the industry’s most adaptable solutions for both document image
indexing and forms processing. Taskmaster also enables scanning and
indexing from a browser and integrates with all leading document management
solutions, databases and ERP systems. Awarded AIIM “Best of Show” for
Forms Processing, Rulerunner Service provides the only complete capture
solution for SOA. For additional information, visit www.datacap.com.
About Electronic Knowledge Interchange: EKI is an industry leading
technology solutions provider, delivering integrated solutions that drive
business performance, increase productivity, reduce costs, and improve
customer satisfaction. EKI’s innovative solutions help clients turn technology
into a competitive advantage. Founded in 1997 by Robert Blackwell
Jr. and Diego Ferrer, EKI designs, develops, implements and manages Large
Scale Applications and Application Infrastructures for some of the World's
largest companies. Based in Chicago, Illinois, EKI is a privately
held company. For more information, please contact (312) 236-0903 or visit
http://www.eki-consulting.com.
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