News
The Vascular Study Group Patient Safety Organization presents at the 2010 Vascular Annual Meeting
M2S, Inc. and the Vascular Study Group Patient Safety Organization (VSG PSO) sponsored a dinner symposium titled, "How to Establish a Regional Quality Improvement Group" at the Vascular Annual Meeting on June 11, 2010 in Boston, Massachusetts. The symposium featured a panel of keynote speakers, all who are members involved in the forming of the Vascular Study Group of New England (VSGNE) regional quality improvement group. The discussion addressed the processes, advantages and opportunities for forming a regional quality improvement group among institutions to collect and aggregate data for outcome analysis for the improvement of health care delivery. The VSGNE attributed the collecting and reporting of data functions through utilizing M2S’s Clinical Data Pathways quality outcome and reporting platform. The role of the Patient Safety Organization in regional quality improvement groups was also discussed.
Keynote speakers for the symposium included Jack Cronenwett, M.D., Medical Director of the VSGNE and the VSG PSO; Jens Eldrup-Jorgensen, M.D., Chief of Vascular Surgery and Director of the Vascular Center at the Maine Medical Center; Andrew Stanley, M.D., Chief Section of Vascular Surgery at Fletcher Allen Health Care; Philip Goodney, M.D., Assistant Professor of Vascular Surgery at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center; and Andres Schanzer, M.D., Assistant Professor in the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at UMass Medical School.
You can view the presentations by clicking here.
Vascular Regional Quality Improvement Study Groups Forming Nationwide
West Lebanon, NH –June 2, 2010: The Vascular Study Group Patient Safety Organization (VSG PSO) along with M2S Inc., an industry leader in vascular treatment planning and patient registries, announce the continuing expansion of regional quality improvement study groups across the United States. Modeled after the Vascular Study Group of New England’s (VSGNE) quality improvement registry, regions have formed in the Mid-Atlantic, the Carolinas, and the South. In addition, the VSGNE has experienced a rapid growth from twelve to eighteen participating institutions within the last six months.
In an effort to foster the expansion of regional quality improvement groups, the VSG PSO, which has partnered with M2S to provide a secure, web-based data collection and analysis system, are sponsoring a dinner symposium titled “How to Establish a Regional Quality Improvement Group” at the 2010 Vascular Annual Meeting on June 11, 2010 in Boston, Massachusetts. The symposium will be a practical discussion about the opportunities and advantages of establishing a regional group for quality improvement. By highlighting the experience of a successful regional group – the VSGNE – the discussion will cover everything from the logistics of forming a regional group to the benefits of participation. The role of the Patient Safety Organization will also be discussed.
The symposium will be run by a group of expert panelists from the field, headed by Jack Cronenwett, M.D., of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Other members of the panel include: Jens Eldrup-Jorgensen, M.D., of the Maine Surgical Group; Andrew Stanley, M.D., of Fletcher Allen Health Care; Philip Goodney, M.D., of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center; and, Andres Schanzer, M.D., of UMass Memorial Medical Center.
About the VSG PSO
The mission of the Vascular Study Group Patient Safety Organization is to improve patient safety and the quality of health care delivery by encouraging the collection, aggregation and analysis of clinical data via a common registry format. The VSG PSO strives for its outcome analysis to be an integral component of each participating health care provider’s quality improvement efforts, including the implementation of recommendations, protocols and best practices developed by the VSG PSO.
About M2S, Inc.
M2S is a medical data and image management company that offers services across the health care continuum for clinical trials, advanced image analysis and clinical registries. M2S is the leading provider of AAA and TAA Treatment Planning through its Preview® software and its PEMS® patient registry for the vascular surgery field. For more information, visit www.m2s.com.
M2S Summarizes First Quarter Technological Updates and Releases
April 19, 2010 – M2S, Inc., a leading provider of medical data and image management, providing solutions for clinical trials, clinical data management and advanced image analysis to the health care, pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device industries announces a total of 40 technological releases during the first quarter of 2010. The releases, encompassing both its proprietary and licensed technology systems, highlight the company’s focus on increasing operational efficiency and delivering quality data and services.
Clinical Data Pathways powered by M2S received multiple updates to enhance usability and reporting functions. Additionally, through an agreement with Pervasive® Software, M2S created a simple integration model between an institution’s clinical system and Clinical Data Pathways. M2S can now integrate with Consensus Medical Systems’ Vascular lab software, VascuBase®. M2S also now offers a 60-Day Risk-Free Trial to allow customers to assess the power of the Clinical Data Pathways database as a quality improvement tool for its institution. During the trial period customers will have the ability to enter data and receive real-time benchmarked reports.
Other technologies released during the first quarter included a new post-operative processing option for M2S’ endovascular treatment planning service. Postview provides the five key measurements needed for outcome analysis, as well as a 3D model, images and patient surveillance via the PEMS® registry.
M2S also looks forward to continuous upgrades of product offerings in 2010 to ensure secure and efficient processes for its clinical trial services. Coming soon are updates to iCTMS, M2S’ Imaging Clinical Trials Management System as well as updates to the company’s electronic image transfer suite. The enhancements to the Web DAC will further strengthen M2S’ image transfer capabilities, eliminating the need for hardware and allowing rapid image transfer via a secure, web portal.
Contact the M2S sales team for more information or to receive a demonstration of its products and services.
M2S Offers 60-Day Risk-Free Trial of Clinical Data Pathways
Monday, February 15, 2010 – M2S, Inc. a leading provider of clinical data and image management services, is proud to announce the company is now offering a 60 Day Risk-Free Trial of its Clinical Data Pathways product. Clinical Data Pathways is a secure, web-based platform that offers physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers greater control over their data by providing a simple data entry interface, benchmarked reporting and outcome analysis under the protection of a Patient Safety Organization. Developed through a partnership with the Vascular Study Group of New England (VSGNE), Clinical Data Pathways encourages physician collaboration for quality improvement.
Interested participants who accept the trial offer will have the ability to input data and receive real-time benchmarked reports based on six major vascular procedure forms currently available in Clinical Data Pathways. The 60 Day Risk-Free Trial offer will give customers the opportunity to assess the power of Pathways and evaluate it as a tool for quality improvement within their institution.
To receive a demo of Pathways or to sign up for the 60 Day Risk-Free Trial, contact the M2S sales team or visit www.m2s.com/pathways.
M2S Announces Promotions
WEST LEBANON, New Hampshire – April 5, 2010 – Daniel Tully, Chairman of the Board of M2S, Inc., announced today that Gregory Lange has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer, and Steve Maker has been promoted to Chief Technology Officer. Together with Ed York, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Lange and Mr. Maker join the M2S senior management committee.
"We are thrilled to have such a talented and experienced management team leading M2S," said Mr. Tully. "Over the past few years, Greg, Steve and Ed have been instrumental in leveraging M2S’ unique data and image management technologies into the clinical trials and clinical data registry markets. With this team in place, M2S is well positioned for significant future growth,” added Mr. Tully.
Mr. Lange joined M2S in January 2002, and has overseen research and development, quality and regulatory compliance, sales, and operations during his time with the company. Mr. Maker has been Vice President of Technology at M2S since October 2008. Previously, he spent five years leading the Clinical Information System Electronic Medical Record development team at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and has 25 years of software development experience. Mr. York has served as the Chief Financial Officer of M2S since June 2006 and came to the company with over 25 years of experience as a partner in a regional CPA firm and Chief Financial Officer of a leading winter sports sales and distribution company. The M2S senior management committee reports directly to the Board and its directors, including Daniel Tully, George Aitken-Davies, Young Chang and Dr. Jack Cronenwett.
M2S doubles clinical trial image management business in 2009
West Lebanon, NH – February 1, 2010 – M2S Inc., a global provider of image management services for biopharmaceutical and medical device clinical trials announced that the company doubled its clinical trials business from December 2008 to December 2009. At the close of 2009, M2S was managing trials across multiple therapeutic areas, including vascular device, oncology, musculoskeletal and osteoporosis. The trials ranged from Phase I to Phase III for the biopharmaceutical industry and from first-in-man to pivotal within the device trials.
The increase in clinical trials image management business is attributed to M2S’ focus on increasing operational efficiency, delivering clinical quality and reducing total costs for the sponsors. With the ongoing development of its clinical trial technology tools and its Lean Six Sigma continuous improvement principles, the company strives to meet and exceed the expectations of customers while continuously increasing internal process efficiency.
At the forefront of the expanding clinical trial business is M2S’ top-notch technology platform. The company has made large advancements within its e-clinical technologies, providing more speed and efficiency to allow customers to view results faster. Building on its proprietary image transfer technology, the DICOM ArmorCar® (DAC®), M2S has recently expanded its image transfer capabilities, adding two web-based applications for customers to allow images to be sent electronically for processing and review, meeting a recognized need in the industry. M2S has also expanded its e-clinical technology capabilities with further enhancements to its web-based, real-time data management and reporting systems. To learn more about the technology advancements M2S made in 2009, visit http://www.m2s.com/2009-technology.
About M2S
M2S offers medical image data management services across the healthcare continuum, and in 2008 the company acquired the DXA Resource Group (DRG) to further expand it scope of services. M2S clinical trial image management services include protocol development, electronic image collection, independent review, archiving and real-time web-based data management. Its clinical data registries provide long-term evaluation of treatment outcomes, benefits and cost. Over that past 10 years, M2S has managed, under protocol, over 150 million images from around the globe in all DICOM modalities. For more information, visit www.m2s.com.
M2S Announces Sum of Yearly Technological Updates and Releases
January 18, 2010 – M2S, Inc., a leading provider of medical data and image management services for the healthcare, pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device industries announces a total of 108 technological updates and releases during the 2009 year relating to both its proprietary and licensed technology systems, which are dedicated to providing solutions for clinical trials, clinical data management and advanced image analysis. Of the advancements, seventy six were specific to the clinical trial services systems and six related to Clinical Data Pathways, M2S’ clinical data management and quality improvement solution. The numerous updates and releases to the company’s flexible technology platform emphasize M2S’ focus on increasing operational efficiency, delivering clinical quality and reducing total costs to meet customer needs.
Clinical Data Pathways powered by M2S was initially released in the beginning of 2009 and has since received five updates to increase usability, add reporting functions, and include new editing features. A new feature released in early 2010 included a Peripheral Vascular Intervention procedural data entry form. Upcoming releases include fully executed electronic medical record (EMR) integration capabilities, usability features and more ad-hoc reporting functions.
Within the realm of M2S’ Clinical Trial image management services, the company made large expansions within its eclinical technologies, providing more speed and efficiency which allows customers to view results faster. Building on its proprietary image transfer technology, the DICOM ArmorCar® (DAC®), M2S has been working to add two web-based applications for customers to send images to the company – the Web DAC and the secure FTP DAC. This full suite of image transfer solutions, to be completed in early 2010, gives M2S the ability to meet the unique needs of each trial.
Other technologies released to enhance overall eclinical capabilities and processes included iCTMS, M2S’ Imaging Clinical Trials Management System which added reporting functions, as well as general and usability features. Also, customized data transfer forms and updates to internal workflow systems were completed in 2009.
M2S looks forward to continuous upgrades of product offerings in 2010 to ensure secure and efficient processes for the services provided to its customers. Coming soon for clinical trial services is a new release to iCTMS that will consist of, among other new features, a dashboard containing critical information of interest to clinical trial stakeholders and a query management database is also on the list.
Contact the sales team at M2S for more information or to receive a demo of its services and technologies.
M2S announces listing as a Patient Safety Organization by the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality
December 16, 2009 - M2S, Inc., a leading provider of clinical data and image management services, today announced that its component organization, Vascular Study Group Patient Safety Organization, LLC (VSG PSO), has been approved as a Patient Safety Organization (PSO) by the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. Listing as a PSO offers providers a means to pool outcomes data for quality improvement purposes in a federally protected environment shielded from discovery in disciplinary proceedings.
M2S provides physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers with the ability to improve practice standards through use of its Clinical Data Pathways platform. Pathways is a secure, web-based clinical data management solution that provides real-time access to risk-adjusted benchmarked reports and facilitates local, regional and national data collaboration, while providing the customer with complete control of their data.
“Listing as a PSO encourages providers to pool and compare outcomes data to determine treatment best practices without fear of litigation. Moreover, submitting outcomes data to a PSO does not require individual patient consent or prior IRB approval, making this a simple way for providers to assess and improve the quality of care they provide to their patients,” stated M2S CEO, Wes Chapman. For publishing and research purposes, M2S has put in place best-in-class security and privacy policies to reduce obstacles traditionally associated with attaining IRB approval and patient consent.
M2S developed its Clinical Data Pathways system through partnering with the Vascular Study Group of New England (VSGNE) to advance its vascular quality improvement registry. The VSGNE quality improvement registry, formed in 2002, has prospectively collected data on more than 12,000 patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy, carotid stenting, lower extremity arterial bypass and open and endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms. It is the vision of both the VSGNE and M2S that the vascular quality improvement registry model will be replicated in other regions of the United States, facilitating widespread benchmarking and quality initiatives to improve patient outcomes.
About M2S, Inc.
M2S offers medical data and image management services across the healthcare continuum based on best-in-class technology and continuous quality improvement processes, including clinical data management solutions, clinical trials and advanced radiographic image analysis. All M2S services focus on increasing operational efficiency, reducing total cost and maintaining or enhancing clinical quality. M2S is the leading provider of AAA and TAA Treatment Planning using its Preview® Software/Services and its PEMS® (Patient Endovascular Management Services) registry for the vascular surgery field. For more information, visit www.m2s.com.
Vascular Study Group of New England selects Clinical Data Pathways, powered by M2S as quality improvement registry provider
West Lebanon, NH, October 20, 2009 – M2S, Inc. and the Vascular Study Group of New England (VSGNE) have partnered to advance the VSGNE quality improvement registry. Clinical Data Pathways, powered by M2S, is a secure, web-based clinical data management solution that offers physicians, hospitals, medical centers and clinical researchers the power to assess outcomes, enhance clinical quality and improve practice standards while providing the customer with complete control of their data.
The VSGNE quality improvement registry, formed in 2002, has prospectively collected data on more than 12,000 patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy, carotid stenting, lower extremity arterial bypass and open and endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms. There are currently twelve hospital members of the VSGNE from MA, ME, NH and VT. By studying their outcomes, the group has been able to identify best processes of care and better patient selection algorithms to improve patient outcomes.
It is the vision of both the VSGNE and M2S that the vascular quality improvement registry model will be replicated in other regions of the United States, facilitating widespread benchmarking and quality initiatives to improve patient outcomes. The collection and exchange of anonymous aggregate data across multiple participants in the registry fosters continuous improvement in the quality, safety, effectiveness and cost of caring for patients.
“M2S is excited to be part of the VSGNE’s mission to improve quality and enhance clinical outcomes within their region and across the country. As a provider of leading medical imaging tools for vascular surgeons, our company embraces technological advances and are certain that our data management solution will meet the growing needs of healthcare organizations,” M2S CEO Wes Chapman commented.
“We selected M2S as our vendor because of its experience with vascular image management registries, its status as a six sigma company with established protocols for data integrity and its powerful database platform using Oracle Clinical,” Jack Cronenwett, M.D. from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Principal Investigator of the VSGNE, stated.
About M2S, Inc.
M2S offers medical data and image management services across the healthcare continuum based on best-in-class technology and continuous quality improvement processes, including clinical data management solutions, clinical trials and advanced radiographic image analysis. With over 10 years of experience, M2S has created Clinical Data Pathways to give health care providers greater ownership and control of patient data, provide real-time access to risk-adjusted benchmarked reports and facilitate local, regional and national data collaboration. All M2S services focus on increasing operational efficiency, reducing total cost and maintaining or enhancing clinical quality. For more information, visit www.m2s.com.
M2S, Inc. announces agreement with Pervasive Software to provide data integration for Clinical Data Pathways
September 29, 2009 - M2S, Inc., a leading provider of clinical data and image management services, today announced that it has entered an agreement with Pervasive Software (NASDAQ, PVSW), a global leader in data integration software, to improve the versatility and efficiency of its Clinical Data Pathways product. Through the agreement, Pervasive Software will provide M2S Clinical Data Pathways customers the ability to extract data directly from their existing electronic health records and import it into the Pathways database, allowing the customer to pool data within their institution, with peers and/or exporting to third parties/registries.
Clinical Data Pathways, powered by M2S, is a secure, web-based clinical data management solution that offers physicians, hospitals, medical centers and clinical researchers the power to assess outcomes, enhance clinical quality and improve practice standards while providing the customer with complete control of their data.
"Partnering with Pervasive expands our service offering for Clinical Data Pathways customers, allowing bidirectional integration, eliminating duplicate data entry and streamlining their patient documentation workflows,” said Wes Chapman, CEO of M2S.
“We are pleased to partner with M2S to help automate their processes and speed time to revenue,” stated Mike Hoskins, CTO and general manager of Data Integration Products at Pervasive. “Pervasive has a long history of providing the healthcare industry with robust, seamless interoperability solutions and it is great to see organizations like M2S find innovative ways to enable their customers’ success.”
About M2S, Inc.
M2S offers medical data and image management services across the healthcare continuum based on best-in-class technology and continuous quality improvement processes, including clinical data management solutions, clinical trials and advanced radiographic image analysis. With over 10 years of experience, M2S has created Clinical Data Pathways, to provide greater ownership and control of patient data to health care providers, facilitating local, regional and national data collaboration, as well as real-time access to risk-adjusted benchmarked reports. All M2S services focus on increasing operational efficiency, reducing total cost and maintaining or enhancing clinical quality. For more information, visit www.m2s.com.
About Pervasive Software
Pervasive helps companies get the most out of their data investments through embeddable data management, agile data integration software and by enabling revolutionary next-generation analytics. For more information on Pervasive Data Integration, visit www.pervasiveintegration.com.