Access HealthNet Wins Communications Deal

Access HealthNet Inc., a Westlake Village provider of information management and communications systems to the health care industry, has landed an important new customer.

Access will provide its remote communications systems to Unilab Corp. to install an information network for the Alameda Alliance for Health in Oakland.

Unilab, based in Tarzana, will use Access’ software to help doctors and others in the Oakland area health industry keep track of such matters as patients’ insurance eligibility, treatment authorizations and medical referrals.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but the Alameda alliance includes more than 900 physicians, several large hospitals, the Alameda County Health Agency and 25 clinics.

“This agreement is one of the largest in Access HealthNet’s history,” said Steven E. Levy, Access’ chairman and chief executive. He said Access’ systems will be installed at Children’s Hospital Oakland and Highland General Hospital in Oakland, linking the hospitals and their physicians to an areawide network.

The agreement calls for Access to provide its MedLink patient management technology to link Alameda County’s clinics to the community health information network.

Levy said remote communication is one of the fastest growing segments of the health care industry. The market for such systems has grown to $800 million annually and is expanding at a rate of about 35% a year, he added.