brown2020

SAVING DOLLARS, SAVING LIVES:
THE IMPORTANCE OF PREVENTION IN CURING MEDICARE

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HEARING

before the

SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING
UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

__________

WASHINGTON, DC

__________

JUNE 30, 2005
STATEMENT OF MR. STEPHEN J. BROWN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, HEALTH
HERO NETWORK, INC., MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA

Mr. Chairman and Committee members, I am Steve Brown, and I am the CEO of Health Hero Network, a technology company in Mountain View, CA.

We serve people struggling with chronic illness. Our technologies are designed to enable caregivers to coach and monitor patients at home. I am going to talk about some of the commonsense things that Senator Lincoln talked about, and I am also going to talk about some of the programs we are involved with, which hopefully will make the CBO happy about the results as well.

My view is that health care does not start when we are wheeled into the emergency room, and it does not start at the doctor’s office. Health care starts at home, with our own behavior and with prevention.

Most people in Medicare have a chronic illness. For them, prevention means reducing the complications of chronic illness and living independently longer. From our work with the Veterans’ Administration, we have seen that when caregivers and patients work together on daily management and prevention, they can improve the quality of life and reduce costs.

To illustrate this point, I am going to introduce Wally Browning from Huntington, WV, who recently was interviewed in his local paper. I included this in the written testimony.

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HEALTH HERO NETWORK INVITED TO CAPITOL HILL TO DEMONSTRATE ITS HEALTH CARE TECHNOLOGY
Home Health Monitoring Technology Displayed as Example of Future of Health Care
At Tech Demonstration Day on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON, DC – June 8, 2005 – Health Hero Network, Inc. today is demonstrating its new Health Buddy® system on Capitol Hill to show health policy leaders how technologies can improve chronic care by coaching and monitoring patients at home. As one of the few companies invited to participate in the Tech Demonstration Day, Health Hero Network will show how the Health Buddy® system is playing a leading role at the Veterans Administration (VA) in improving quality of care and reducing costs for the VA’s highest risk patients with severe chronic illness. The Health Buddy system will also be included in upcoming landmark Medicare demonstration programs.

The seminar and all-day technology demonstration is hosted by the eHealth Initiative and the Capitol Hill “Steering Committee on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics.” The event is attended by Congressional leaders and government decision makers who are committed to improving the quality of health care.

“Coaching and monitoring patients at home is a key element of transforming and improving chronic care,” said Steve Brown, Health Hero Network’s CEO. “The attendees of today’s event will have the opportunity to see first hand how information technology can enable chronic care improvement by connecting people at home with chronic illness to proactive and preventive healthcare services.”

The eHealth Initiative is a non-profit affiliated organization whose mission is to drive improvement in the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare through information and information technology. The Capitol Hill “Steering Committee on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics” is now in its 12th year

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.