SafeMed is venturing into new territory, with a new name and some new products designed to push the company's healthcare footprint into new areas.

The San Diego-based healthcare analytics company - it provided the analytics engine for Google Health - announced this week that it will now be known as Anvita Health. In addition, the company launched a new mobile viewer for Google Health that allows users to gain access to their personal health records at any time and from any place.

"We see Google Health as a vital tool in allowing consumers to take a more active role in their own healthcare and the care of their families," said Ahmed Ghouri, Anvita Health's co-founder and chief medical officer, in a press release. "The Anvita Mobile Viewer builds a bridge between the home and the doctor's office and allows Google Health users to realize the full worth of their PHR data by taking it to where critical medical decisions are made."

The Google Health announcement was made at the 25th annual Towards the Electronic Patient Record (TEPR+) show and conference this week in Palm Springs, Calif. The event, sponsored by the Medical Records Institute of Boston, drew about 750 attendees and focused, among other things on the evolution of patient-centered healthcare initiatives and on healthcare applications for mobile devices like smartphones, cellphones and PDAs.

"The new Mobile Viewer from Anvita is a great example of how companies can innovate using Google's open platforms," said Sameer Samat, Google Health's director of product management. "We are pleased to see one of our trusted partners use Android to help make personal health data more available to consumers. We think giving users options on how they access their health data is paramount to consumer-directed care. Anvita has created the first of many mobile health applications using Google Health."

The Anvita Mobile Viewer is offered free as a downloadable application built for the Android platform, allowing users to view Google Health profile data from any Android-powered devices, which currently only consist of the T-Mobile G-1.

One day before the Google Health announcement, Anvita Health officials announced the name change.
"Anvita is the Sanskrit word for bridging gaps in understanding, and it very accurately describes what we do," said Richard Noffsinger, Anvita Health's CEO. "Our software solutions create a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of populations and individuals. Our enhanced 360-degree view identifies immediate and long-term quality improvement opportunities that also save costs."

According to company officials, the name change also reflects a desire to move beyond the company's initial focus on drug safety to include clinical decision support, patient interventions, gaps in care and comprehensive views of the patient and patient populations.

"The most teachable moments to encourage people to adhere to treatment regimens are at the point of care, whether in a physician's office or at the pharmacist's counter," said Ghouri. "Real-time analysis and delivery of data allows consumers and caregivers to obtain, at the point of care, relevant, up-to-the-second information about their treatment options."