Elsevier is improving quality, efficiency of health care with 'Smart Content'

Philadelphia, PA – 17 February, 2011 – To improve healthcare quality while reducing costs, Elsevier, a global leader in medical and health information, will unveil the next generation of clinical decision support (CDS) featuring Smart Content at the annual meeting of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), Feb. 20-24, 2011, in Orlando, Fla.

While fragmented information systems, poor communication and high costs still plague healthcare, Elsevier's world-class information and point-of-care technology solutions optimize decisions and actions to improve the overall quality, safety and cost-effectiveness of care. Smart Content – medical research, knowledge, education and data optimized for greater usability by providers and payers– will improve care quality and safety even further.

"Advancing healthcare quality begins with providing clinicians with the best, most current evidence-based information wherever and whenever it is needed," said Michael Hansen, CEO, Elsevier Health Sciences. "Providing unprecedented levels of access to our rich content assets will lead to better decision-making and ultimately to better, more effective and efficient patient care."

Providers and payers are working hard to respond to the national push to form accountable care organizations and to qualify for meaningful use incentives. Elsevier Clinical Decision Support (CDS) supports those efforts by delivering actionable clinical content, care planning and documentation, drug reference and decision support, learning and performance management, data mining and analytic solutions for provider, pharmacy and payer organizations – all of which is enhanced through the innovation of Smart Content.

"Smart Content affects clinicians across the healthcare spectrum by ensuring that evidence-based information is delivered in a clear, actionable form that is tailored to the task at hand," explained Jonathan Teich, M.D., Ph.D., and Chief Medical Informatics Officer for Elsevier. "We are making significant investments in new technologies and methods to re-engineer the way that knowledge is stored, mapped and delivered for ever-greater precision and impact. This new generation of clinical decision support will enhance the value of the electronic health record, point-of-care reference, enterprise analytics and other aspects of the digital healthcare workflow."

In addition to presentations and demonstrations at the Elsevier booth (#2541), analysts and media at HIMSS will learn more about how 'Smart Content Drives Smart Applications – The Future of Using Knowledge in Healthcare,' at a special Breakfast Briefing on Tuesday, Feb. 22. Elsevier will demonstrate how the next generation of CDS will improve quality, safety and efficiency, enhancing how data and evidence that is selected and delivered to clinicians will help clinicians produce better, faster diagnoses and more effective treatments. RSVP online here.

For more information about Elsevier CDS at HIMSS, visit www.ClinicalDecisionSupport.com/HIMSS11 or stop by the Elsevier CDS booth at HIMSS11, Booth #2541.

Elsevier Clinical Decision Support, a division of Elsevier, the global leader in medical and health information, provides world class information and point-of-care technology solutions that optimize decisions and actions to improve the overall quality, safety and cost-effectiveness of care. The business delivers on this promise through actionable clinical content, care planning and documentation, drug reference and decision support, learning and performance management, and data mining and outcomes analytics solutions for provider, pharmacy and payer organizations.

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 (www.thelancet.com) and Cell (www.cell.com), and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect (www.sciencedirect.com), Scopus (www.scopus.com), Reaxys (www.reaxys.com), MD Consult (www.mdconsult.com) and Nursing Consult (www.nursingconsult.com), which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite (www.scival.com) and MEDai's Pinpoint Review (www.medai.com), which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.

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