Health Hero Network Signs Agreement with McKesson to Bring Telehealth Technology to Home Care Market
Mountain View, CA – July 27, 2004 – Health Hero Network, Inc., the leading innovator of technology solutions for remote health monitoring, reports that McKesson has chosen the Health Buddy® system to launch its new telehealth solution, McKesson Telehealth Advisor™. Health Hero Network and McKesson, the world’s largest healthcare services and information technology company, have signed an agreement whereby McKesson will market and resell the Health Buddy system to the homecare market and provide integration with Horizon Homecare™. The partnership allows McKesson to offer 17,000 nurses and other clinicians relying on Horizon Homecare a new integrated telehealth solution that addresses the strains on our health care system while improving patient quality and care.
“We are extremely excited to work with McKesson, an organization who understands and has a history of streamlining processes and improving quality of patient care while bringing high-quality healthcare information and technology to the home care market,” said Geoffrey Clapp, Health Hero Network Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operations Officer. “This relationship gives Health Hero Network a natural extension of our technology to the growing number of patients with chronic illnesses requesting home care services.”
“We are pleased to work with Health Hero Network, the leader in remote health monitoring,” said Craig Fraizer, McKesson Vice President and General Manager, Extended Care Solutions Group. “Its unique, simple and easy-to-use monitoring technology and data management tools, along with its highly personalized health management programs and complex data system, are making a difference in patients’ lives and improving health outcomes at the same time. Combined with McKesson’s Horizon Homecare Agency Management System, we will provide our customers with a single, integrated electronic medical record, including data from nursing visits and telehealth monitors.”
Telehealth Advisor, based on the Health Buddy system, includes monitoring technologies, clinical information databases, Internet-enabled decision support tools, health management programs and content development tools. The system serves as the interface between patients at home and their care providers, facilitating patient education and monitoring of chronic conditions. McKesson will package and sell the system to the home care market as Telehealth Advisor. Telehealth Advisor will offer Health Hero Network’s state-of-the-art health management programs in various disease areas, such as diabetes, heart disease and mental health, as well as related health topics like pain management and wellness to manage chronic illness. McKesson’s new telehealth solution will allow patients to collect their vital signs using medical devices (such as a scale, blood pressure monitor or blood glucose monitor) and transmit the readings and responses to other symptom, behavior and education questions to their provider via an easy-to-use Health Buddy appliance connected to an ordinary phone line.
Patients respond to disease-specific questions presented by the Health Buddy appliance, which connects to a database containing thousands of questions on the most common disease and health subjects. The programs are based on appropriate standard practice guidelines and use dynamically branching question taxonomy. Patients gain a better understanding of their health condition and providers benefit by increasing the efficiency of their staff nurses while improving patient care through better health management
About Health Hero Network
Health Hero Network develops and markets the Health Buddy® system for health improvement. The Health Buddy system serves as the interface between patients at home and care providers, facilitating patient education and monitoring of chronic conditions. The system includes monitoring technologies, clinical information databases, Internet-enabled decision support tools, health management programs and content development tools. Through increased communication, behavior modification, and prevention, the Health Buddy system improves the quality of care. Based in Mountain View, California, Health Hero Network’s systems are protected by over 55 issued US patents. http://www.healthhero.com