brown2020

Bosch acquires Health Hero Network
Leading innovator of telehealth solutions

Products in the health monitoring business

All associates will become members of the Bosch team

Stuttgart – The Bosch Group has announced it has acquired a majority shareholding in Health Hero Network, a leading innovator in the remote health monitoring business. An agreement to this effect has been reached with the company’s shareholders. Terms of the agreement will not be disclosed.

Health Hero Network, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, develops and sells technology solutions that allow the remote monitoring and management of patient health data. “With the innovative products of Health Hero Network, the Bosch Group can help patients with chronic conditions achieve a better quality of life,” said project leader Sascha Henke. Since it was founded in 1992, Health Hero Network has been issued 63 patents. The company currently employs 44 associates, all of whom will be retained by Bosch.

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. In the areas of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology, some 260,000 associates generated sales of 43.7 billion euros in fiscal 2006. The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 300 subsidiary and regional companies in over 50 countries. This worldwide development, manufacturing, and sales network is the foundation for further growth. Bosch spends more than three billion euros each year for research and development, and in 2006 applied for over 3,000 patents worldwide. The company was set up in Stuttgart in 1886 by Robert Bosch (1861-1942) as “Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering.”

The special ownership structure of Robert Bosch GmbH guarantees the entrepreneurial freedom of the Bosch Group, making it possible for the company to plan over the long term and to undertake significant up-front investments in the safeguarding of its future. Ninety-two percent of the share capital of Robert Bosch GmbH is held by Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, a charitable foundation. The majority of voting rights are held by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG, an industrial trust. The entrepreneurial ownership functions are carried out by the trust. The remaining shares are held by the Bosch family and by Robert Bosch GmbH.

Today I had the opportunity to participate in Health 2.0 User Generated Healthcare Conference. The one-day conference in San Francisco was fabulously organized by Matthew Holt of The Healthcare Blog and Indu Subaiya of Etude Scientific.

Indu and Matthew managed to assemble a stellar collection of entrepreneurs, movers, shakers, and creators of the next generation of the eHealth field. A full house discussed search engines that learn from personal health records, social networks that support patients, and how the wisdom of crowds is transforming medical knowledge.

We all know that the current way we organize and manage healthcare is dysfunctional and unsustainable. How else could we find a way to spend $2 trillion per year and leave 45 million people uninsured? How else could we spend so much and still have such mediocre outcomes compared to the rest of the world?

There have been many promising ideas proven futile and many vain attempts at healthcare transformation. What is different this time around? Finally the ecosystems are in place, the tools of production are widely accessible and development costs are so low that citizens do not need to wait for the institutions to be the deciders.

We have entered a new phase of rapid innovation and experimentation that is producing a wave of brave new ideas, some of which will be disruptive to current ways of doing things and some of which will be revolutionary. Pay attention to the list below, because you will be seeing these people in headlines for years to come.

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HEALTH HERO NETWORK SECURES $16 MILLION IN OVERSUBSCRIBED SERIES B FINANCING
Funding To Help Drive Adoption of Health Buddy® System For Chronic Care Management

Redwood City, CA – November 16, 2006 — Health Hero Network Inc., a leading innovator of technology solutions for chronic care management, today announced it has secured $16 million in an oversubscribed series B financing to underwrite ongoing new product development and marketing for its successful Health Buddy System. The investment was led by existing investor Psilos Group and new investors California Technology Ventures, Integral Capital Partners and Boston Scientific. Existing investors Artal Services, Shoreline Venture Partners and ZG Ventures provided additional support.

The Health Buddy System helps improve patient outcomes and reduces the cost of care for patients with chronic diseases by educating and monitoring patients at home through easy-to-use home devices. Healthcare professionals access data transmitted from the patient at home using web-based health management programs. Studies have shown that the Health Buddy System produces results by modifying patient behavior and improving therapy compliance, while enabling healthcare professionals to identify problems earlier and prevent acute complications of chronic illnesses. The System is being utilized by more than 16,000 patients and is currently deployed in 120 Veteran Health Administration facilities.

“This additional investment will reinforce our long-standing leadership position in providing tools enabling a better model of care for patients with chronic conditions and their care providers,” said Steve Brown, president and chief executive officer of Health Hero Network. “We are expanding our technology and services to more partners and customers. We are committed to delivering convenient and easy-to-use solutions for patients.”

An estimated 133 million Americans, or about 45 percent of the population, have one or more chronic health conditions such as diabetes, heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD). According to a 2004 study by the Robert Wood Foundation and Johns Hopkins University, spending for chronic illnesses represents 83 percent of total health care costs in the United States.

“Automated patient behavior monitoring and modification systems are essential to meeting the growing needs of patients, health care providers, and payers. The Health Buddy System serves as a critical interface among these parties and has proven to have a positive effect on patient outcomes and cost containment,” said Brian Stansky, managing director for Integral Capital Partners. “We look forward to working with the Health Hero Network team and the other investors to bring this technology to an expanding set of patient needs and care settings.”

“The company has deep intellectual property assets and customer relationships that prove the value of the intellectual property, as evidenced by the company’s work with the VA and the company’s licensing agreements with leading companies,” said Alex Suh, Founding Managing Director of California Technology Ventures. “Strong financial backing and continued commitment from the company’s investors and management show that Health Hero Network will be a leader in this market for years to come.”

About Health Hero Network
Based in Redwood City, 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 education and monitoring of patients with 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 patient care. Health Hero Network’s systems are protected by 57 issued US patents. http://www.healthhero.com.

Redwood City, CA – June 26, 2006 – Health Hero Network, Inc. announces that it received the Innovative Approach to the Delivery of Health Care award given by the California-based Adaptive Business Leaders Organization (ABL) during its eighth annual Innovations in Health CareSM awards event. The ABBY award, among the most prestigious recognitions in California bestowed on health care and life science companies, is awarded to organizations whose products and services are judged to be the most innovative, with proven metrics that assure their cost-effective quality. Health Hero Network was honored for its Health Buddy system of care that enables people afflicted with chronic illnesses to manage their conditions from home.

“Health Hero Network’s Health Buddy system represents the very best of innovations in health care. It’s an elegant solution that truly makes the timely delivery of quality, cost-effective health care a reality,” said ABL President, Mimi Grant.

In bestowing the award, the ABL noted that the Health Buddy system, currently used by over 12,000 patients, has delivered significant clinical outcomes including reduced hospital admissions, reduced inpatient bed days, increased medication compliance, and reduced costs. The Health Buddy system is also recognized as the leading telehealth solution in use by the Veterans Affairs Administration (VA), deployed in over 100 of its clinical sites across the country. Coincidently, Kenneth Kizer, MD, former head of the Veterans Health System, was honored by the ABL for his leadership while he was at the helm of the VA, where he was the principal architect of the largest transformation in the organization’s history.

“Health Hero Network was founded on the vision that health care can be transformed to provide better service to people who struggle with complex chronic conditions while substantially reducing medical costs,” said Steve Brown, CEO of Health Hero Network. “To be recognized alongside other outstanding health care CEOs and business leaders in California is a great honor. Recognition of our Health Buddy system and its proven effectiveness in organizations such as the VA, our nation’s largest health care delivery system, is validation for us that the time has come for a better system of care,” added Brown.

About Health Hero Network
Health Hero Network develops and markets the Health Buddy system for health improvement. The 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 patients’ quality of care. Based in Redwood City, California, Health Hero Network’s systems are protected by over 57 patents. http://www.healthhero.com

Health Hero Network Signs Agreement with McKesson to Bring Telehealth Technology to Home Care Market

Mountain View, CA – July 27, 2004 – Health Hero Network, Inc., the leading innovator of technology solutions for remote health monitoring, reports that McKesson has chosen the Health Buddy® system to launch its new telehealth solution, McKesson Telehealth Advisor™. Health Hero Network and McKesson, the world’s largest healthcare services and information technology company, have signed an agreement whereby McKesson will market and resell the Health Buddy system to the homecare market and provide integration with Horizon Homecare™. The partnership allows McKesson to offer 17,000 nurses and other clinicians relying on Horizon Homecare a new integrated telehealth solution that addresses the strains on our health care system while improving patient quality and care.

“We are extremely excited to work with McKesson, an organization who understands and has a history of streamlining processes and improving quality of patient care while bringing high-quality healthcare information and technology to the home care market,” said Geoffrey Clapp, Health Hero Network Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operations Officer. “This relationship gives Health Hero Network a natural extension of our technology to the growing number of patients with chronic illnesses requesting home care services.”

“We are pleased to work with Health Hero Network, the leader in remote health monitoring,” said Craig Fraizer, McKesson Vice President and General Manager, Extended Care Solutions Group. “Its unique, simple and easy-to-use monitoring technology and data management tools, along with its highly personalized health management programs and complex data system, are making a difference in patients’ lives and improving health outcomes at the same time. Combined with McKesson’s Horizon Homecare Agency Management System, we will provide our customers with a single, integrated electronic medical record, including data from nursing visits and telehealth monitors.”

Telehealth Advisor, based on the Health Buddy system, includes monitoring technologies, clinical information databases, Internet-enabled decision support tools, health management programs and content development tools. The system serves as the interface between patients at home and their care providers, facilitating patient education and monitoring of chronic conditions. McKesson will package and sell the system to the home care market as Telehealth Advisor. Telehealth Advisor will offer Health Hero Network’s state-of-the-art health management programs in various disease areas, such as diabetes, heart disease and mental health, as well as related health topics like pain management and wellness to manage chronic illness. McKesson’s new telehealth solution will allow patients to collect their vital signs using medical devices (such as a scale, blood pressure monitor or blood glucose monitor) and transmit the readings and responses to other symptom, behavior and education questions to their provider via an easy-to-use Health Buddy appliance connected to an ordinary phone line.

Patients respond to disease-specific questions presented by the Health Buddy appliance, which connects to a database containing thousands of questions on the most common disease and health subjects. The programs are based on appropriate standard practice guidelines and use dynamically branching question taxonomy. Patients gain a better understanding of their health condition and providers benefit by increasing the efficiency of their staff nurses while improving patient care through better health management

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