Amisys rolled out Advance Release 2

Amisys Synertech Inc. (ASI) announced the release of Amisys Advance 2. The software represents the delivery of Transoft’s migration handiwork to pull Amisys/3000 out of its PowerHouse interface. The first version of the HP-UX application, offered as an alternative to the HP 3000 app, used a character-based interface. Release 2 was designed to deliver a browser-based graphical interface built around Java and a J2EE Web services architecture. ASI’s CEO Kevin Brown said the company had 14 migrations planned to Release 2, “even prior to our announcement of the release’s general availability.” Those 14 sites represent more than 20 percent of the Amisys installed base, according to the company’s partners and customers.

An ASI press release offered a blue-sky look at the future of migrating one of the more complex off-the-shelf applications in the 3000 market. “The migration of our production account to AMISYS Advance Release 2.0 will be much easier for us,” said Debbie Gibbs, project coordinator for Release 2 beta tester Health Advantage. The largest HMO in Arkansas, Health Advantage used ASI professional services to assist in their beta testing. “We now know what to anticipate, both from the technical and application aspects. The beta testing was a successful team effort between Amisys Synertech and Health Advantage.”

The new version of the program relies on Oracle as its database foundation. Advance also helps HP 3000 healthcare sites service consumer-directed health plans, including HSAs, HRAs and FSAs. These health savings accounts represent the future of US healthcare, according to Brown. The shift toward consumer-directed solutions — ASI called the trend “consumerism” in a 2004 statement — also represents a growth opportunity for the ASI health plan application business. But the growth may not come through many new installations. Lumenos, a health plan which offers Health Reimbursement Accounts which employers fund for employees, signed an outsource deal with ASI last year. Lumenos uses Amisys services and business processing to service the HRAs that Lumenos sells to Fortune 500 companies.