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CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE WEST DISEASE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, POWERED BY HEALTH HERO, DOCUMENTS IMPROVEMENT IN CLINICAL OUTCOMES AND REDUCTIONS IN THE COST OF CARE
Internet supported outpatient management program improves health status, patient satisfaction and cost of care delivery with daily in-home communication

San Francisco and Mountain View, CA - March 26, 2001 - Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) and Health Hero Network, Inc. today announced results of a six-month outcomes analysis of The Mercy Heart Institute’s Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) disease management program powered by Health Hero Network. Findings show significant reductions in hospitalizations, emergency room visits and total bed-days for patients in the program in addition to large reductions in total direct-variable costs.

The Mercy Heart Institute part of CHW Northern California originally introduced the Congestive Heart Active Management Program (CHAMP) in 1997 to facilitate daily in-home monitoring, coaching, education, and reinforcement of self-care management skills to patients with CHF. The original CHAMP featured outbound calling of CHF patients with nurse-mediated care including diuretic management. In March of 1999, Mercy and CHW integrated Health Hero’s Internet-based patient management solution into CHAMP to improve the quality of care and increase case manager efficiency.

Outcomes analysis of the original CHAMP program, as compared to standard care, showed reductions in hospitalizations and ER visits for all causes by 66% and total bed-days by 61%. Direct-variable cost savings with CHAMP were $7,885 Per Patient Per Year (PPPY). Outcomes analysis of the Health Hero enhanced CHAMP program, as compared to standard care, showed further reductions in total direct-variable costs to a total of $9,151 PPPY. Hospitalizations and ER visits were reduced by 73%. Total bed-days were reduced by 80%.

“The CHAMP program has traditionally yielded excellent results for patients in the program,” said Dan Ferguson, MD, Chief Medical Officer, CHW Northern California. “Our partnership with Health Hero has helped us make a great disease management program better. We are now expanding the Health Buddy use into our Hypertension, Diabetes, CHF/Diabetes co-morbid, adult and pediatric Asthma, and COPD programs.”

Merck Health Management Services originally introduced the Health Hero Internet program at Mercy/CHW in an on-going effort to bring value-added support to health care organizations with disease management initiatives. CHW has since expanded use of the Health Hero platform to several additional sites including Facey Medical Group, RFK, St. Francis, Northridge and San Gabriel Hospitals.

“Our partnership with Health Hero contributed significantly to our success in treating patients with chronic diseases,” said Dr. George W. Bo-Linn, MD, CHW Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. “Consequently, we improved the models of care by bringing together high technology as well as the high touch of health care for both providers and patients.”

“Our mission is to empower caregivers to better manage chronic conditions while enabling health care centers to continuously improve the quality of their services,” said Steve Brown, CEO of Health Hero. “Mercy Heart Institute’s results show that leading medical centers and integrated health care delivery systems can achieve significant financial savings through better care management. We salute Mercy’s program and look forward to working with them to help Catholic Healthcare West achieve these kinds of results throughout their system.”

About Catholic Healthcare West
Founded in 1986, Catholic Healthcare West is the largest Catholic healthcare system based in the western United States with 47 hospitals and five medical practice groups in California, Arizona and Nevada. CHW is sponsored by nine religious orders and works to further the healing ministry of Jesus by delivering compassionate, high-quality, affordable health services; providing direct services to the poor and disenfranchised, and advocating on their behalf; and partnering with others to improve the quality of life in the communities served. CHW annually cares for more than 300,000 patients; provides more than $400 million in community benefits and care for the poor; and employs approximately 40,000 people.

About Health Hero Network
Health Hero Network, Inc., based in Mountain View, California, develops and markets the industry leading technology platform for remote patient communications, monitoring, and care management. The Health Hero platform includes a technology platform for remote patient monitoring and Internet-based care management and research application services. The Health Hero® solution consists of web-based tools for caregivers and the Health Buddy® appliance, iCare Desktop™, a web based patient management application for health care professionals, patient interfaces such as the Health Buddy appliance, a secure data center acting as the repository for application services and collected data, and content for over a dozen major chronic diseases. Health Hero Network licenses its platform to medical technology and services companies seeking a technology blueprint proven to enable better chronic care with lower costs to the healthcare system. Health Hero Network technology is protected by over 40 issued U.S. patents. For more information about Health Hero, visit www.healthhero.com.