Milliman Care Guidelines(R) 2009 Release Emphasizes Efficiency, Quality Solutions

Milliman Care Guidelines(R) 2009 Release Emphasizes Efficiency, Quality
Solutions

Enhancements to Interactive Workflow Tool, Emerging Technology Authorizations
Among Highlights

SEATTLE, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Milliman Care Guidelines LLC, A Milliman
Company, today announced release of its 13th Edition of the Care Guidelines
clinical guidelines and software to more than 1,000 clients in the US and
internationally.

In day-to-day use by seven of the country's eight largest managed care
organizations, the annually updated Care Guidelines products span the
continuum of care, including behavioral health and management of chronic
conditions, all delivered within robust, interactive software.

"In today's environment, healthcare organizations are looking for tools to
deliver higher quality care while creating new efficiencies," stated Scott
Harris, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "Fortunately, quality
care and efficiency are convergent concepts, and the Care Guidelines are
uniquely positioned to support them, enabling clients to drive quality and
efficiency within their own organizations."

In 2009, the Care Guidelines have once again been updated with the latest
evidence-based medicine, and enhanced with powerful, innovative features that
help clients deliver the best quality care possible to their members and
patients:

-- CareWebQI(R) Upgrades - This interactive workflow tool captures and
reports on user interactions and on variances from best practice.
Significant upgrades include more configuration and customization
options, such as user-defined fields; configurable time zones; and
date
and time formats. Role-based security has been added, along with the
ability to automatically load patient data into security groups via
bulk
data load or HL7 interface. There is also improved documentation
capability for Recovery Facility Care and Home Care treatment plan
progressions, and assignment of multiple diagnosis and procedure codes
to an episode.

-- Expanded Authorization Guidelines - Among 42 new Ambulatory Care
guidelines are three cancer chemotherapy agents, including trastuzumab
(Herceptin(R)); five genetic medicine guidelines, including BRCA
testing; assisted reproductive technology; three shoulder surgery
guidelines, including adhesive capsulitis/frozen shoulder; and
additional durable medical equipment guidelines, including specialty
bed
criteria.

-- Mapping to Quality Standards - New crosswalk documents outline exactly
how the Care Guidelines support the accreditation requirements and
quality improvement activities of national agencies, including NCQA,
URAC, CMS, IHI and NQF.

-- Additional Strategic Alliances - The Care Guidelines are integrated
with
30 care management programs from 25 Strategic Alliance Partners. In
addition to established alliances with ACS MIDAS+, Allscripts,
Landacorp(R)/SHPS(R), MEDecision(R) and TriZetto(R), integrations are
on
the way with programs from Altruista Health, CaseNet(R), Click4Care,
Gaudette International Corporation, IMA Technologies, Pegasystems and
ZeOmega.

-- New Neonatal Care Guidelines - New neonatal level of care guidelines
add
to coverage of Medicaid-specific issues.

-- New Patient Discharge Handouts - Provide information in simple
layperson
language about nutrition, activity level, self-care, problems to
report,
information sources and more.

-- Increased Problem Oriented Coverage - The Recovery Facility Care
product
adds coverage of children with special healthcare needs and medical
oncology, while Home Care now includes infusion therapy and wound
management.

About Milliman Care Guidelines

Milliman Care Guidelines, LLC, A Milliman Company, is located in Seattle, and
independently develops and produces evidence-based clinical guidelines and
software used by more than 1,000 clients, including hospitals, providers and
seven of the eight largest US health plans. Covering the continuum of care,
the seven-product Care Guidelines series is updated annually by an experienced
team of clinicians, and is used to support the care of nearly two-thirds of US
health plan members. For more information, visit www.careguidelines.com.

About Milliman

Milliman Care Guidelines is a wholly owned subsidiary of Milliman, Inc., which
is among the world's largest independent actuarial and consulting firms.
Founded in Seattle in 1947 as Milliman & Robertson, the company now has 49
offices in key locations worldwide. Milliman employs more than 2,000 people,
with a professional staff of more than 1,000 qualified consultants and
actuaries, including specialists ranging from clinicians to economists. The
firm has consulting practices in healthcare, employee benefits, property and
casualty insurance, life insurance and financial services. Milliman serves the
full spectrum of business, financial, government, union, education and
nonprofit organizations. For more information, visit www.milliman.com.

SOURCE Milliman Care Guidelines LLC

Scott Harris, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Milliman Care
Guidelines, Tel +1-206-381-8160, Cell +1-480-203-7268,
scott.harris@milliman.com