BSU's Maryland Center Partners with Verizon

Three health care information and communication companies, including Verizon Wireless, have partnered with Maryland Center, the school announced this week.

Here is the full release:

The Maryland Center at Bowie State University recently formed a partnership with three market leaders in healthcare information and communications to develop a national research center that will apply the latest technologies in managing health information to enhance national capabilities to respond to domestic threats including natural disasters, pandemics and manmade catastrophes.

The Maryland Center, an affiliated foundation of the University System of Maryland, has as its charter to eliminate disparities, including those in health, and simultaneously enhance research and development on behalf of Bowie State University. Its new public/private partnership with VisualMED Clinical Solutions Corp., Intelaform, Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. will create the National Emergency Preparedness and Response (NEPR) Research Center. This initiative is designed to respond to recommendations from public and private leaders for research centers to develop surveillance and response capabilities that coalesce national efforts to prepare for emerging threats.

The NEPR Research Center, to be housed by the Maryland Center on the campus of Bowie State University, will assist federal, state and private sector leaders in developing protocols and methodology to enhance the ongoing efforts in preparing and responding to national emergencies.  The center will offer deployable systems developed by the joint capabilities of the private partners.  

"This is the right time and the right place for this kind of project," stated Mickey L. Burnim, president of BSU.  "With the creation of the NEPR Research Center, we are taking a significant step towards our vision of creating innovative public/private economic development partnerships that are beneficial to BSU, the state of Maryland, and our great nation."

"The NEPR Research Center has the potential to revolutionize emergency preparedness efforts, by creating unprecedented and uniform access to medical technology and information. For the first time, local, state, and federal agencies will have real-time access to essential, life-saving data in a highly integrated and usable form to prepare for and respond to national emergencies", said J. Randall Hoggle, PD, Chairman of the Board of Intelaform, Inc.

 "We are excited about the NEPR Research Center initiative and look forward to a long-term partnership that will produce pioneering milestones in the emergency preparedness community," said Terry Lawlah, executive director of the Maryland Center at Bowie State University. "The Maryland Center will optimize our partner's ability to provide sustainable, scalable and stable capabilities in a collaborative and synergistic relationship."

"We wholeheartedly believe this partnership will prove to be one of the premier relationships of the 21st century, one which will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our customers while adding incredible value to all stakeholders," stated Gerard Dab, CEO of VisualMED Solutions Corp.  

About The Maryland Center at Bowie State University
The Maryland Center at Bowie State University, Inc is a non-profit organization that is an affiliated foundation of the University System of Maryland located on the campus of Bowie State University. As an affiliated foundation, the Center engages in and supports activities to further enhance the educational, research or service mission of Bowie State University. Through this collaboration, The Maryland Center and Bowie State work in concert to increase the research capacity of the University. For more information, visit www.themarylandcenter.org.

About Intelaform

Intelaform, Inc. is a global leader in emergency preparedness and response planning and deployment, medical and biosurveillance and a premier source for healthcare product monitoring and surveillance. Intelaform is a Delaware C-Corporation founded in 2007 as a spin out business of Health Pathways, Inc. with intellectual property from a series of global government agencies and private sector emergency preparedness and response projects and healthcare asset management and monitoring programs.  Intelaform global headquarters are in Rockville, Maryland, USA. For more information, visitwww.intelaform.com.

About Verizon

Verizon Communications, Inc., headquartered in New York is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with nearly 109 million total connections nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries, including all of the Fortune 500. A Dow 30 company with$111 billion in 2011 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of nearly 194,000. For more information, visitwww.verizon.com.

About VisualMED

VisualMED markets smart EHR with Clinical Information Systems (CIS) and Computerized Physician Order Entry that meet the new regulatory environment ushered in by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Health Reform Act of 2010. VisualMED offers a powerful technology platform both scalable and interoperable, developed at a cost of some $40 million and tested over many years in tertiary care and ambulatory environments. VisualMED solutions help medical facilities reduce mortality and morbidity due to medical errors, increase provider efficiency, and bring down operating costs. The key clinical components are a core solution in the new agenda to promote greater patient safety and reduce risks due to medication errors. For more information, visit www.visualmedsolutions.com.