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Accela Signs Contract With California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to Track Hospital Construction and Earthquake Safety
SACRAMENTO, CA, Nov 09, 2009 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) --
Accela, Inc. today announced that the California Office of Statewide
Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) has selected Accela Automation
software as the nexus of a comprehensive online environment that will
track hospital and skilled nursing facility construction projects
across the state. OSHPD's Facilities Development Division (FDD) will
utilize Accela solutions to replace an existing database system,
which is used to track health-facility plan review and construction;
facilitate inspections and certifications; and ensure compliance with
state-mandated seismic safety standards.
When the new Web-based system goes live in the summer of 2010, it
will allow more effective coordination between all FDD functional
areas. Accela Automation will also enhance FDD's existing e-Services
Portal, providing healthcare facility management with
up-to-the-minute access on the status of their projects.
Current FDD projects under plan review or in construction are valued
at more than $20 billion, making it one of the largest building
departments in the State of California. FDD's most critical service
is to ensure that California healthcare facilities are built to
remain structurally sound through their expected lifecycle. This
includes a statewide seismic retrofitting push currently underway in
conjunction with the California Office of Emergency Services.
Workloads for FDD inspectors have expanded significantly in recent
years due to California Senate Bill 1953, which requires that
hospitals considered at risk of collapse in an earthquake be replaced
or retrofitted to higher seismic safety standards by 2013, or later
with an approved extension. Non-compliant facilities will be unable
to offer healthcare services.
To help support its broad mandate, FFD will use the Accela Land
Management(TM) module of Accela Automation, which allows government
agencies to automate the hundreds of steps involved in completing a
permit -- including initial application, plan reviews, fee calculation
and collection, inspections/investigations, and sign-offs. FDD also
will realize the benefits of:
-- Accela GIS(TM) for geographic representations of all land-use,
zoning, and infrastructure information associated with a parcel,
permit, inspection or plan;
-- Accela Citizen Access(TM) to provide the public with transparent,
24/7 online access to the permitting process and the status of their
applications;
-- and Accela Wireless(TM), a mobile government software application
that allows government staff to perform their jobs from the field for
inspections, code enforcement, work orders, and service requests.
"OSHPD exemplifies the kind of government agency that is looking to
the future and examining better ways to fulfill its vital
public-safety mandate," said Maury Blackman, CEO and President of
Accela. "Public-works and code-enforcement activities directly
impact and protect citizens. Therefore, it's critical that agencies
select technologies which automate their business processes,
streamline their databases, and improve communication between agency
teams and the public they serve. We applaud OSHPD's visionary
approach."
About OSHPD and FDD
OSHPD is chartered with promoting healthcare accessibility by
analyzing California's healthcare infrastructure, promoting a diverse
and competent healthcare workforce, providing information about
healthcare outcomes, assuring the safety of buildings used in
providing healthcare, insuring loans to encourage the development of
healthcare facilities, and facilitating development of sustained
capacity for communities to address local healthcare issues. FDD
enforces building standards, per the California Building Standards
Code, as they relate to health facilities construction. Additional
information can be found at www.oshpd.ca.gov/FDD.
About Accela
Accela Inc. is the leading provider of Web-based and mobile software
applications that make government services available 24/7. Accela's
solutions automate licensing, permit, case, and asset management
processes for local, state, and federal government agencies of all
sizes. Backed by 30 years of development and implementation in more
than 500 agencies worldwide, Accela software manages more types of
registered government transactions than any other solution. Accela
products and services empower agencies to increase efficiencies,
reduce workload, and provide the public with more convenient access
to government services. Accela is headquartered in San Ramon,
Calif., with offices in Visalia, Calif.; Sandy, Utah; Melbourne,
Australia; Abu Dhabi; and Beijing. Additional information can be
found at www.accela.com.
Accela and Accela Automation are registered trademarks of Accela,
Inc. Accela Land Management, Accela GIS, Accela Citizen Access and
Accela Wireless are trademarks of Accela, Inc.
CONTACT:
Paul Davis
Accela, Inc.
925-659-3270
Email Contact
SOURCE: Accela, Inc.
http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=8B17DA8060DC3801
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