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VETERANS INTEGRATED SERVICE NETWORK 8 AND HEALTH HERO NETWORK PARTNER TO DEVELOP CHEMOTHERAPY HOME TELEHEALTH PROJECT
Veterans Receiving Daily Cancer Care Using Health Hero Technology

Mountain View, Calif. – August 7, 2003 - Health Hero Network, Inc., with Veterans Integrated Service Network 8’s Community Care Coordination Service (VISN 8 CCCS), reports that Veterans have been enrolled into the Advancing Cancer Care Through Technology (ACCTT) project. VISN 8 CCCS currently uses Health Hero® technology to manage over 1,000 patients across seventeen disease states in Florida and the surrounding region. ACCTT project objectives include providing daily cancer monitoring and management to veterans undergoing chemotherapy and offering appropriate follow-up for symptoms. The Institutional Review Board-approved project aims to show quality of life improvements and to help cancer patients comply with and complete their course of treatment in a comfortable manner.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death among Veterans, with approximately 50,000 new diagnoses each year. Treatment for the disease is often lengthy and demanding of VA resources. VISN 8 CCCS, uses technology to provide high-quality coordinated care to Veterans while reducing unnecessary use of clinical services. VISN 8 CCCS’s high level of patient satisfaction with home telehealth projects, combined with cost-effective results, led to the development of the ACCTT project. The home telehealth model treats cancer as a chronic medical condition, seeks to provide information to Veterans to enable them to make shared decisions with their providers, and establishes the home as the preferred site of care. Enrolled Veterans’ health status will be monitored and providers promptly alerted to any changes in symptoms. If a patient reports acute symptoms in response to questions that a VISN 8 care provider has flagged, his or her survey information is uploaded immediately, allowing care providers to review results in real time with a goal of providing appropriate relief for patients without delay.

Using the Health Hero® Health Buddy® appliance, an easy-to-use patient communication device for daily question and answer, education, and reinforcement surveys, Veterans in the project are currently receiving support during their chemotherapy treatment. VISN 8 CCCS care coordinators will receive daily patient data risk-stratified with clinical trend charts through the Health Hero® iCare Desktop™, a web-based care management system for monitoring patient data. Following chemotherapy treatment, Veterans will receive post-therapy maintenance focusing on anxiety levels and survivorship. Additional support for enrolled Veterans will come from a chaplain, social workers, and medical providers associated with the ACCTT project.

“We are excited about this new dialogue to improve the lives of Veterans with cancer,” noted Crystal Todd R.N., Care Coordinator for the ACCTT Project. “The ACCTT project, which was partially funded by the National Cancer Institute, will serve Veterans in northern Florida and southern Georgia.”

“When examining outcomes at six months, we hope to find that the ACCTT project results in more rapid intervention, decreases unnecessary visits to the hospital, and improves the quality of life for Veterans,” said the project’s co-principal investigator, Dr. Neale Chumbler, a Research Health Scientist at the VA HSR&D/RR&D Rehabilitation Outcomes Research Center at the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System in VISN-8 and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Services Administration in the College of Health Professions at the University of Florida. “Using daily feedback to monitor symptoms during treatment should enable Veterans to complete their chemotherapy cycle in a timely, comfortable manner, will empower them to remain independent, and improve self-management of their symptoms.”

About Health Hero Network
Health Hero Network, Inc., founded in 1988, develops and licenses technology solutions for health monitoring and management. The Health Hero technology platform offers Internet-enabled care management tools, multiple patient interfaces, and a secure environment for data communications. The Company’s products include the Health Buddy® appliance, featuring Buddylink™ device connectivity, Health Buddy® Web, other licensee devices for data collection and communications with patients, and iCare Desktop™, an Internet-based care management and research tool for health care professionals. Health Hero offers over a dozen standard health management programs delivering daily monitoring & education, and promoting positive behavioral change for better chronic care with lower costs to the health care system. Buddylink allows patients to upload device-reported data from a variety of peripheral devices. Health Hero Network technology is protected by over 50 issued U.S. patents. Company headquarters are in Mountain View, California. On the Net: http://www.healthhero.com.