PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, November 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Elsevier, a world leader in healthcare publications/information as well as web-based and electronic health record (EHR) integrated solutions, today announced a new online resource center for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) updates and initiatives. Accessible via Elsevier's ClinicalDecisionSupport.com site, or by going to http://www.clinicaldecisionsupport.com/ARRA, the resource center and accompanying blog provide users with updates on ARRA progress and actions, as well as insightful commentary on emerging trends and issues from top Elsevier executives Jonathan Teich, M.D., Ph.D.; Michelle Troseth, RN, MSN, DPNAP; and Swati Abbott, MS.

Meaningful clinical decision support (CDS) is a key tenet of healthcare reform and ARRA goals for quality improvement. Designed to assist physicians and other care providers with decisions at the point-of-care, CDS systems assimilate data on a variety of conditions and diagnoses and can flag potential issues, such as unsafe medication interactions, that may end up being harmful to patients as well as costly to the entire healthcare system.

Elsevier's CDS blog and ARRA portal are designed to be a solution to the challenge of keeping current with national quality initiatives, meaningful use updates, and other significant new policies and programs that affect providers, payers, and patients, said Dr. Teich, Elsevier's Chief Medical Informatics Officer. The blog will be a way to facilitate discussions on many topics relevant to the market today, including the role of CDS in the national healthcare environment.

Elsevier has been a leader in the CDS industry for many years. Elsevier's Consult Suite (i.e., First Consult, MD Consult, Nursing Consult) and Gold Standard/Elsevier drug information products make knowledge accessible via the EHR so physicians, nurses and pharmacists can make better clinical decisions within the workflow and at the point of care. Elsevier's CPM Resource Center (CPMRC) provides a well-tested framework including integrated evidence-based interdisciplinary content and transformational services at the point of care. CPMRC has an active international healthcare consortium that co-creates clinician- and patient-focused CDS tools and resources for healthcare transformation. In addition, through MEDai, Elsevier delivers a patient-specific, real-time clinical surveillance solution that is driven by predictive analytics to identify a patient's risk for re-admission and hospital-acquired infection while the patient is still in the hospital. The MEDai Pinpoint Suite, including the newly launched Pinpoint Review(R), offers clinicians greater insight at the point of care, resulting in a higher quality of care for both patient and provider.

Elsevier's blog is launching with introductory postings from Michelle Troseth, Executive Vice President and Chief Professional Practice Officer, CPMRC, and Swati Abbott, President of MEDai. Troseth's first blog post discusses the meaningful use matrix and addresses considerations for healthcare leaders and organizations today, while Abbott's entry highlights common ailments and some possible solutions for our healthcare system, especially with regard to technology. Readers can expect regular updates to the blog as well as guest blog entries from leading industry executives.

Elsevier understands the significance of ARRA and the demands and opportunities it presents for hospitals and other care-providing facilities, continued Teich. We see ourselves as a partner to healthcare executives and point of care clinicians who seek expert commentary and feedback on the changing healthcare landscape.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet (http://www.thelancet.com) and Cell (http://www.cell.com), and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com), Scopus (http://www.scopus.com), Reaxys (http://www.reaxys.com), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com) and Nursing Consult (http://www.nursingconsult.com), which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite (http://www.scival.com) and MEDai's Pinpoint Review (http://www.medai.com), which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com) employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC (http://www.reedelsevier.com), a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

Tom Reller, Vice President, Global Corporate Relations, +1-215-239-3508, T.Reller@Elsevier.com

SOURCE: Elsevier

CONTACT: Tom Reller, Vice President, Global Corporate Relations,+1-215-239-3508, T.Reller@Elsevier.com