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MEDecision Illustrates the Value of Collaborative Data Exchange in Healthcare With 2-Part Webinar Series

Posted on: Monday, 5 March 2007, 09:01 CST

The open sharing of patient information among physicians, hospitals, and healthplans -- commonly known as collaborative data exchange -- stands to dramatically improve healthcare costs and quality. Representatives from MEDecision, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDE) and some of its key healthplan and technology collaborators will conduct a series of Webinars to discuss the collaborative data exchange concept and highlight some promising strategies already underway that the healthcare community can begin to employ today.

"Streamlining Healthcare Interactions and Processes through Automated Transactions," the first installment in the two-part Webinar series, will be held on Tuesday, March 6, 2007 at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time. The second installment, "Promoting Health Information Exchange through Interoperability," is scheduled for Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time. To register for either of these free events, please visit: www.MEDecision.com/webinars.asp.

MEDecision, a provider of software, services and clinical content to healthcare payers, is conducting the Webinars as part of a larger initiative it recently launched to promote increased collaboration among healthcare stakeholders in hopes of driving greater adoption of collaborative data exchange. The company believes that doing so will bring more complete patient information to the point of care, enabling faster and more informed decisions that can ultimately improve medical outcomes and lower healthcare costs.

"Facilitating greater information sharing and interaction among physicians, healthplans, hospitals and even patients themselves is our best opportunity to reform healthcare," said MEDecision Chief Medical Officer Henry DePhillips, M.D. "Our Webinar series will look at some of the things the industry can begin doing now to build more comprehensive and lasting collaborations going forward."

The first of the two Webinars will feature MEDecision Product Marketing Manager Robyn Fritz, along with Edna Willingham, director of medical management for Memphis Managed Care Corporation, a 200,000 member HMO serving the TennCare Medicaid program. The two will discuss how automating the administrative interactions between healthplans and physicians/hospitals can streamline efficiencies, reduce administrative costs without compromising information or data quality, and provide new information sources that strengthen payer and provider relationships.

Fritz and Willingham plan to cover three specific topics:

The latest automated transaction trends

Strategies for leveraging existing regional provider networks

A healthplan's perspective on the benefits and results of a collaborative data exchange program

Gary Austin, vice president of the MEDecision Interoperability Competency Center, and Edward Fotsch, M.D., CEO of Medem, Inc., a leading provider of online physician-patient communications services, will host the second half of the Webinar series on March 28. They will discuss the details of a joint initiative in which MEDecision is delivering its Patient Clinical Summary, a payer-based, clinically-validated, electronic health record to patients and their providers through iHealth, Medem's secure, interactive and fully transportable online personal health record. The Webinar will highlight the project as an example of the interoperability and collaboration necessary to realize the benefits of collaborative data exchange.

"The Webinar series will underscore the great things that can be achieved when healthcare entities work together," DePhillips added. "Both individually and collectively, the two sessions will offer some very compelling insights into the power that collaborative data exchange holds for improving healthcare and how important it is that we begin capitalizing on every opportunity to advance it."

For more information about MEDecision, please visit www.MEDecision.com.

Resources:

MEDecision Webinar registration page: http://www.medecision.com/Webinars.asp

2007 Initiative news release: http://investorrelations.medecision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID= 229756

Photo: Henry DePhillips, M.D., executive vice president and chief medical officer at MEDecision

http://www.MEDecision.com/HenryA.DePhillips,III,M.D..jpg

Memphis Managed Care Corporation: http://www.mmcc-tlc.com/

Interoperability Competency Center news release: http://investorrelations.medecision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID= 231186

Medem, Inc,: http://www.medem.com/index.cfm

MEDecision/Medem news release: http://investorrelations.medecision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID= 230371

(Due to their length, some URLs may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)

About MEDecision

Founded in 1988, MEDecision provides healthcare payer organizations with software, services and clinical content that allow them to increase administrative efficiency and improve the overall quality and affordability of their members' healthcare. A provider of Collaborative Care Management, MEDecision's technologies analyze data, automate payer workflow processes and electronically connect patients, providers and payers to give each a common view of the patient's medical history, helping to foster better clinical decision making. MEDecision believes that, in the aggregate, its customers insure or manage care for approximately one in every six people in the U.S. with health insurance. For more information about MEDecision, please visit www.MEDecision.com.

MEDecision is a trademark of MEDecision, Inc. The MEDecision logo and product names are also trademarks or registered trademarks of MEDecision, Inc. Other product and brand names are trademarks of their respective owners. MEDE-G

Source: Business Wire

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