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Saint John's AnyWare Group has partnered with an American software company in a move that will allow it to expand into the U.S. health-care market.

AnyWare, which makes software that allows users to access corporate information and software securely onsite and at remote locations, is also a leader in developing e-health solutions.

The New Brunswick IT firm is joining forces with HealthCare Information Management, Inc. (HCIM), a California software maker that specializes in developing software to help hospitals and health-care providers handle billing and insurance claims.

"One of the big focuses for AnyWare this year was channel advancement," said Dan Keddy, partner relationship manager with the AnyWare Group.

Channels are distribution and sales networks that connect software developers with the end users of products.

AnyWare has focused on building up channels into the U.S. market for the last seven months, said Keddy.

HCIM is a great partner for AnyWare, he said.

"It's a company who is already in health care that has some core technology on its own, that has been running into issues with its clients," he said.

HCIM came to realize that AnyWare's technology could fix some of the issues their clients were having, Keddy added.

AnyWare's offerings also augment HCIM's, he said.

"For them it's an easy way to talk about a value-add to their current client base."

The partnership between HCIM and AnyWare brings benefits to both, said Keddy.

"What it allows us to do"¦is to be able to walk into an existing client base, either of ours or that of our new partner, kind of shoulder-to-shoulder and show the best of both companies and by doing so offer a full-scale solution."

Hospitals and health-care providers in the United States are increasingly turning to sophisticated information technology solutions to boost efficiency, noted Keddy.

"What's interesting about the U.S. is that a hospital can literally shut down if it isn't making money," he said.

That has led to growing interest in IT tools that allow them to reduce costs, increase efficiencies as well as a way to recruit doctors, Keddy said.

"If there are doctors who know that this hospital region always pays on time, gives them the leading technology they need to do their jobs most effectively to allow them to see the most patients, if I was a physician I'd probably lean toward an environment like that."

The partnership between AnyWare and HCIM will enable health-care organizations to achieve savings in both their day-to-day operations, through time-saving efficiencies and through faster, more efficient billing, he said.

AnyWare's software allows doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals, as well as front-line staff, access to medical records, diagnostic images and more, securely, anywhere and anytime they can access a computer with Internet access.

AnyWare's technology helps clients use their existing IT infrastructure more efficiently, said Keddy.

"On the HCIM side, HCIM comes in and they help to centralize and also consolidate the way in which insurance companies and other paying situations are able to bill through electronic health records."

Keddy said AnyWare would be interested in seeing if its partnership with HCIM could benefit the provincial Department of Health.

The province is considering moving to activity-based funding as part of its reforms to the health-care system in New Brunswick.

Activity-based funding moves hospitals away from a block budget each year from the government to one where it receives payments based on the services it provides to patients.

Proponents of a per-patient funding model argue that it gives health-care providers an added incentive to provide timely care to patients in order to maximize facility use and patient attraction.

"I think there is definitely potential for us to be able to impact that type of environment, should it come."