December 10, 2004 Chronic Care Improvement Program
HEALTH HERO NETWORK INCLUDED IN MEDICARE CHRONIC CARE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
Health Hero Network Providing Key Technology Component to Medicare Pilots for Preventive, Proactive Approach to Chronic Care
Mountain View, Calif. – December 10, 2004 – As part of a nationwide effort to test new models of care for people with chronic illness, the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Secretary announced its cooperative agreements for its Chronic Care Improvement Program, authorized under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. Health Hero Network, a leading innovator of technology solutions for home health monitoring, will be working with two of the Medicare awardees : McKesson Health Solutions, LLC and Health Dialog Services Corporation.
“Health Hero Network’s unique combination of personalized patient education and monitoring technologies with clinical information management tools for caregivers are powerful allies in enabling patient-centered chronic care,” said Steve Brown, CEO of Health Hero Network. “The Chronic Care Improvement Programs shift the model of care for Medicare patients from a system that is episodic and reactive to one that is continuous, preventive and proactive.”
McKesson Health Solutions will conduct its chronic care improvement program in Mississippi using the award winning Health Buddy® system also incorporating the PERS (Personal Emergency Response System) technology provided by American Medical Alert Corporation (AMAC).
Health Dialog Services Corporation will serve as the lead for a program in Pennsylvania in which Health Hero Network and a number of prominent organizations will provide care management services to Medicare beneficiaries that have been diagnosed with congestive heart failure and/or complex diabetes.
The Health Buddy system includes monitoring technologies, clinical information databases, Internet enabled decision support tools, health management programs and content development tools. The system provides personalized daily coaching, guidance, assessment and feedback, while also collecting data from home medical devices, supporting patients in managing their health conditions. Health Hero Network is the first enabling technology company to receive National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) disease management certification for its quality in implementing evidence based practice guidelines for patient education and care management in the areas of heart failure, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension
For more information on the Chronic Care Improvement Program, please refer to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicarereform/ccip/. For information on the Health Dialog award, refer to http://www.healthdialog.com/CCIP_Pilot.pdf And for additional details on the McKesson award, please see http://www.mckesson.com/media.html.
Images of the Health Buddy system can be found at http://www.healthhero.com/press/graphics_logos.html.
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
