Alpine Technology Group (ATG) has been a primary participant in a legacy mainframe replacement project for a Federal health management agency. The project involves the transformation of multiple outdated and incompatible proprietary systems into a uniform and reliable information architecture—integrating the nationwide collection, warehousing and reporting of data related to all types of healthcare providers. The ongoing project has already resulted in quantitative improvements in the efficiency and accuracy of regulatory and quality assurance operations.

The ASPEN (Automated Survey Processing Environment) system developed by Alpine Technology Group provides state-level secure data collection of healthcare provider demographic, surveillance and certification information, with timely replication of required information into the national repository. The ASPEN system has standardized and streamlined process-intensive survey and oversight operations at both state and regional levels. ATG works extensively with State Agencies to develop reliable IT solutions that foster collaboration and communication, and minimize duplication of time and effort.

A State-level initiative was developed by Alpine Technology Group to handle the many interactions between state health department operations and private sector healthcare providers. The system ensures consistent data entry and submission, and provides a vehicle for quick and meaningful feedback. Increased efficiency and error reduction facilitates the State in making the timely responses that are mandated by regulatory requirement. The repository also offers convenient access to event information and the ability to evaluate trends by region, facility, event category, date range, and other criteria.

August 2004 marked the national roll-out of ASPEN Enforcement Manager (AEM), the most recent addition to Alpine Technology Group's ASPEN suite. AEM enables States to efficiently monitor the oversight of nursing homes that are out of compliance with Federal and/or state regulations. In addition to providing States with a method of maintaining current and comprehensive nursing home enforcement information, AEM ensures that nursing home data submitted to the national repository is standardized across all States. Prior to the national release, representatives from State and Federal health agencies participated in a series of training sessions at ATG’s training facility in Longmont, Colorado.