Intermountain chooses Kony Solutions to develop mobile app platform

One of the larger and more prestigious healthcare networks in the West has selected Kony Solutions to develop a platform for launching mobile applications.

Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare, which operates 22 nonprofit hospitals, 185 clinics, an 800-physician medical group and the SelectHealth health plan, as well as other healthcare services, will deploy Kony’s “Write Once, Run Everywhere” technology to help ensure mobile access on more than 9,000 mobile smartphones, tablets, kiosks and other operating systems.

“Our staff is committed to finding innovative ways to provide services and access to the communities we serve,” said Frederick Holston, the health system’s chief technology officer, in a Jan. 24 press release. “By using Kony’s platform to develop our mobile offerings, we can roll out apps more quickly, lower development costs and, more importantly, provide an exceptional user experience for our staff, our patients and our members.”

Kony, based in Orlando, Fla., has developed the KonyOne 4.0 platform, which is designed to enable a single application definition to deliver native apps and mobile web on phones, tablets, kiosks and desktops. Company officials say the system offers native support for all seven operating systems – iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, Java ME, Symbian and webOS – as well as simultaneous support for mobile web.

“We’re pleased to work with Intermountain to help them deliver new mobile services to clients and a new generation of applications for their staff,” said Aaron Kaufman, general manager of Kony’s Healthcare and Life Sciences division, in the press release. “Intermountain chose Kony because our platform gives them comprehensive device support and incredible ease-of-use. With our platform, Intermountain can stay ahead of the technology curve and focus on providing quality care.”

Kony officials said Intermountain developers will train on the Kony Studio integrated development environment (IDE) to develop apps for clinical care, physicians, nurses, patients and health plan members.

“With Kony, we can easily support both mobile web and native apps. Kony also helps us future-proof our mobile strategy, so we don’t have to constantly worry about OS upgrades or new devices on the market,” said Holston.

Named a ‘Visionary” in Gartner’s 2011 Magic Quadrant for Mobile Consumer Application Platforms report, Kony has carved a significant space in the mobile health platform arena. The company launched its KonyOne 4.0 platform late last year, shortly after developing a mobile offering for health plans, and earlier this month signed a deal with Pennsylvania’s Independence Blue Cross to develop a long-term mobile strategy.

Intermountain has been named a “Top 500 Innovator” by InformationWeek and last year received a Transformational Leadership Award from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the American Hospital Association. Last year, the health system was named the lead organization in a group of seven health systems chosen by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to participate in the Patients Hospital Engagement Networks initiative. Armed with a $2.7 million contract, the seven health systems will work on reducing preventable injuries and complications to patients.
 

Eric Wicklund

Editor of mHIMSS.org

Follow Eric on Twitter @eriwick