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TUFTS-NEW ENGLAND MEDICAL CENTER STUDY SHOWS REDUCED HOSPITALIZATIONS AND BED DAYSOF CARE WITH HEALTH BUDDY® SYSTEM
Addition of Home Health Monitoring Technology to Disease Management Program More Effective than Disease Management Alone

Mountain View, CA - December 12, 2005 — A randomized controlled trial conducted by Tufts-New England Medical Center found that a telephone-based disease management program delivered in conjunction with using Health Hero Network’s Health Buddy® system and Philips Medical System’s weight scale and blood pressure monitor on a daily basis, significantly cut heart failure hospitalizations compared with the telephone-based disease management program alone.

The Specialized Primary and Networked Care in Heart Failure (SPAN-CHF II) study examined 188 patients for 90 days after being discharged from their first heart failure-related hospitalization. Patients in the intervention group were engaged in a weekly telephone-based disease management program, interacted daily with the Health Buddy appliance for monitoring, coaching and education, and were required to report their vital signs using Philip’s Medical System’s devices. The control group only received the telephone-based disease management program.

The study demonstrated that the patients using the Health Buddy system and medical devices in conjunction with disease management resulted in a 72 percent reduction in re-hospitalization for heart failure and 63 percent reduction in all cardiac-related hospitalizations.

The intervention group reported high levels of satisfaction with the Health Buddy appliance with 100 percent rating it easy or very easy to use and 99.3 percent reporting that they were satisfied or very satisfied with it. In addition almost 85 percent reported they would continue to use the Health Buddy appliance in the future.

“Patients are not always forthcoming in reporting significant changes in the way they feel, or the development of new symptoms, which can signal important changes in their underlying heart condition.,” said Dr. Marvin Konstam of the New England Medical Center, who led the study. “The Health Buddy system was an easy, consistent way for patients to check in about their symptoms every day. Adding the daily monitoring component to the disease management program made a significant difference in delivering effective care to patients, positively affecting their outcomes.

The home health monitoring technology in the study utilized the Health Buddy system from Health Hero Network, which included the Health Buddy appliance – a countertop appliance that delivers daily surveys to patients asking about how they are feeling and whether they have taken their medication and vital signs. In addition, the Health Buddy system also provides patients with education, reminders and coaching, empowering them to better manage their condition. The information reported by the patients is automatically available, via a secure website, to care providers who can easily see if a symptom is deteriorating, check patient behaviors and examine trends in a patient’s health.

“For people with complex chronic conditions like congestive heart failure, the keys to improving care and reducing hospitalizations are changing behavior and detecting problems early,” said Steve Brown, CEO of Health Hero Network. “These outcomes show that coaching and monitoring patients on a daily basis is an important component in keeping them healthy and preventing them from reaching a crisis point.”

These results were presented at the American Heart Association’s 2005 Scientific Sessions in Dallas, TX on November 15, 2005.

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.