SunGard Availability Services has formed a partnership with Orchestrate Healthcare, a leading provider in healthcare technical consulting services, to help healthcare organizations improve information availability for electronic medical records (EMR). Together, SunGard Availability Services and Orchestrate Healthcare will help hospitals develop and execute cost-effective business continuity plans that address the requirement to access EMR data in the event of an IT systems outage to safeguard quality of care.

Driven by the U.S. Government's newly passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which requires healthcare organizations to implement certified electronic health record technology, providers have a renewed focus on IT systems in order to maximize funding, avoid penalties and reduce errors to improve patient safety. Together, SunGard Availability Services and Orchestrate Healthcare provide healthcare organizations a holistic approach to planning and recovery that allows IT and hospital operations to recover together after a systems outage.

Recently honored with a "Best in KLAS" achievement award for technical services, Orchestrate Healthcare delivers cost-effective technical and consulting services for a wide range of healthcare technical services projects. SunGard Availability Services will offer a full portfolio of AdvancedRecovery solutions, managed IT services, consulting services, and business continuity management software tailored to the needs of healthcare organizations. SunGard Availability Services expects to release these products by June 30, 2009.

"As a leading provider of information availability solutions, SunGard is on the forefront of issues affecting continuity and recovery for the healthcare industry," said Charlie Cook, president, Orchestrate Healthcare…