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Today, more than 150,000 Cleveland Clinic patients use eCleveland ClinicMyChart(R). The short-term pilot, begun on Monday, Nov. 3, is the first pilotin the country to follow multiple diseases in the clinical delivery settingusing multiple at-home devices such as glucometers, heart rate monitors,weight scales and blood pressure monitors.
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The pilot will be a physician-driven, invitation-only opportunity offeredto a group of Cleveland Clinic PHR users in the areas of diabetes,hypertension and heart failure. Cleveland Clinic plans to enroll approximately400 patients and aims to demonstrate that the program will enable patients andphysicians to better manage and track chronic diseases from home, using thepatient's own computer.
"As the prevalence of chronic disease rises at an alarming rate in theUnited States, the strain on our nation's economy and healthcare system cannot be relieved without the creation of innovative, cost-effective solutionsthat involve patients in proactively managing their healthcare," said C.Martin Harris, M.D., Chief Information Officer, Cleveland Clinic. "AtCleveland Clinic, we strive to participate in and help to advance the nationaldialogue around a more efficient and effective national healthcare system.This pilot is intended to demonstrate that utilization of our comprehensivePHR system can empower patients and physicians to better communicate andmanage chronic conditions, improve efficiencies and hopefully lower costs."
Patients will be provided HealthVault-enabled digital devices, such asblood pressure monitors and glucometers, and asked to perform regular healthmonitoring. By connecting the device(s) to their home computers, their healthinformation will be uploaded, with their consent, to a personal HealthVaultaccount controlled by the patient, and then sent to their Cleveland ClinicMyChart account. This data will create an online log of the readings that willbe available to the patient's physician. Data sent from a patient'sHealthVault account to MyChart can not be changed or altered in any way.
"These kinds of innovative solutions have the potential to help physiciansand patients save time, improve accuracy of health information and communicatemore effectively," states Christopher Hebert, M.D., Department of Nephrologyand Hypertension, Cleveland Clinic. "Offering more automated disease trackingwill allow patients and physicians more time during office visits to discusshow to improve the patient's health rather than how to improve theirmonitoring and provide them with more reliable data to share with allphysicians involved in the patient's care."
By connecting with Microsoft(R) HealthVault, Cleveland Clinic hopes todeliver:
-- Improved outcomes for patients - Using home-based devices, patients maybe more apt to track and measure their health, improving compliance and dataintegrity and allowing physicians to more efficiently view, track and measuretheir data.
-- Improved clinician efficiency - By receiving reliable, consistent andautomatic patient data, physicians can improve the quality of office visitsand reduce the length of appointment times.
-- Consumer Empowerment - This type of web-enabled, consumer-drivenapproach will provide patients with increased control of their medicalinformation and an important part to play in the management of their chronicdisease.
"The HealthVault pilot with Cleveland Clinic could have a far-reachingeffect on the approach to managing chronic disease not just in this countrybut in any geography with Internet connectivity," said Peter Neupert,corporate vice president, Microsoft Health Solutions Group. "We expect todemonstrate that innovative, cost-effective technology solutions can empowerpatients to partner more effectively with their physicians and better managetheir chronic conditions from where they live and play -- in the home. Usingreadily accessible technology to deliver better care at lower cost -- with animproved experience for individuals -- can serve as a model for managingdisease worldwide."
Microsoft HealthVault (www.healthvault.com) is a personal healthapplication platform. HealthVault provides a privacy and security-enhancedfoundation on which a broad eco-system of providers can build innovativehealth and wellness solutions such as PHRs, disease management, fitness,weight loss and other Web applications. HealthVault can be used to collect andstore health information that would otherwise reside in disparate systems, andtransfer the information between a variety of providers' health services andsystems. It enables the re-use and free flow of interoperable andtransportable personal health information.
About Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic, located in Cleveland, Ohio, is a not-for-profitmultispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospitalcare with research and education. Cleveland Clinic was founded in 1921 by fourrenowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care basedupon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. U.S. News &World Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation's besthospitals in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey. Approximately 1,800full-time salaried physicians and researchers at Cleveland Clinic andCleveland Clinic Florida represent more than 100 medical specialties andsubspecialties. In 2007, there were 3.5 million outpatient visits to ClevelandClinic and 50,455 hospital admissions. Patients came for treatment from everystate and from more than 80 countries. Cleveland Clinic's Web site address iswww.clevelandclinic.org .
About Microsoft in Health
Microsoft is committed to improving health around the world throughsoftware innovation. Over the past twelve years Microsoft has steadilyincreased its investments in health, with a focus on addressing the challengesof health providers, health and social services organizations, payers,consumers and life sciences companies worldwide. Microsoft closelycollaborates with a broad ecosystem of partners and develops its own powerfulhealth solutions, such as Amalga and HealthVault. Together, Microsoft and itsindustry partners are working to advance a vision of unifying healthinformation and make it more readily available, ensuring the best quality oflife and affordable care for everyone.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader insoftware, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize theirfull potential.
SOURCE Cleveland Clinic
