Milliman Care Guidelines Selects And Deploys Astoria Software To Streamline Medical Information Publishing
Astoria Software, the leading provider of XML content management solutions for dynamic publishing, announced today at the PTC/User World Event 2006 that Milliman Care Guidelines LLC, A Milliman Company, has selected and deployed Astoria XML content management software to facilitate efficient review, production, and release of evidence-based clinical guidelines in a variety of formats for the health care community.
Milliman Care Guidelines produces approximately 12,000 pages of content per year, authored and reviewed by teams of physicians, nurses, and other medical experts in diverse locations. Its goal was to structure content so that it could be quickly and easily accessed through a simple interface, reviewed, updated and reused for multiple purposes.
The Astoria solution allows Milliman Care Guidelines to manage its large volume of content as independent components with specific knowledge of structure and attributes. By managing content at the element level, Milliman Care Guidelines can update and deliver critical changes in its annually-updated guidelines for its clients far more quickly and reliably.
Unlike content management solutions that rely on a relational database to manage whole documents, Astoria software capitalizes on the flexibility and adaptability of object technology to manage XML content as discrete components, giving Milliman Care Guidelines a tool that is highly intuitive and encourages easy collaboration among workgroups.
"Because our business depends on the accuracy and timeliness of our products, we view content management software as mission critical," said Mike Janning, Milliman Care Guidelines, XML Systems Architect and Production Manager.
"Astoria was the only solution we found that could truly harness our complex authoring and revision process without disrupting our existing workflow and internal processes," Janning continued. "We were also impressed by the Astoria team, their level of support and their understanding of Milliman Care Guidelines' mission and goals. They offered us a solution that was easy to implement and well received by our organization."
Janning noted that another factor in selecting Astoria software was its optimization for language localization, which can facilitate Milliman's potential expansion into new markets. According to Alan Fraser, Astoria's president and CEO, companies like Milliman Care Guidelines that produce large amounts of time-sensitive, complex content can enjoy measurable benefits soon after deployment of Astoria software.
"Milliman Care Guidelines' authoring and production environment demands innovative content management tools," said Fraser. "We know that managing content on a granular level not only improves documentation accuracy, but also overall business productivity and efficiency. Milliman Care Guidelines is using Astoria software in a way that gives them a significant competitive advantage in the evidence-based decision support market."
Astoria's XML content management system streamlines the author-to-publish process for the world's most complex mission-critical documents. Managing content at a granular level streamlines document development by making authoring teams more efficient, improving productivity for remote collaboration and review while increasing quality and accuracy of documentation. These capabilities have a significant and immediate impact on the customer's bottom line. From a cost-efficiency standpoint, the Astoria solution also supports the easy update of content for publishing in any language or format.
About Milliman Care Guidelines
Milliman Care Guidelines LLC, A Milliman Company, is located in Seattle, and produces evidence-based clinical guidelines that are used to support the care of one in three Americans. The annually-updated, six-product Care Guidelines series covers the continuum of care, including: Ambulatory Care, Inpatient and Surgical Care, General Recovery Guidelines, Recovery Facility Care, Home Care, and Chronic Care Guidelines. For further information, visit www.careguidelines.com.
About Astoria Software
Astoria Software, Inc., is a leading provider of XML content management solutions for the dynamic publishing of critical information and documents. As the only software system that enables component-based management and re-use of structured content at the smallest element level, Astoria helps streamline a customer's author-to-publish process for improved productivity and enhanced content quality while reducing the time and cost to publish. Content is authored, securely shared, re-used, reviewed, updated and published quickly, reliably, with repurposing simplified for any delivery format -- print or electronic. The company's customers are progressive organizations that publish complex business critical information and documents that change constantly. Astoria's customers include Cisco Systems, Texas Instruments, Lockheed Martin, Siemens Medical Solutions, General Electric Medical and Cessna Aircraft. Astoria is based in San Mateo, California. For more information, visit www.astoriasoftware.com.