Health Integrated Hosts Industry Collaborative Focused on the Patient-Centered Medical...

Health Integrated Hosts Industry Collaborative Focused on the Patient-Centered
Medical Home (PCMH)
Health plans, educators and physicians invited to participate in issues-based
blog exploring PCMH as a strategy to improve health and reduce costs
(http://www.healthintegrated.com/blog-intro.html)

TAMPA, Fla., July 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Integrated, a leading provider of
Health Management Solutions, has formally launched a collaborative focused on
the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), an emerging healthcare delivery
model focused on improving care while reducing healthcare costs.

With the debut of the Health Integrated PCMH Community Blog, members of the
healthcare community interested in sharing insights or learning more about the
PCMH concept now have an open, neutral and educational online environment in
which to explore topics and issues. The registration link for the blog, which
is the first dialogue-based program of several planned to support the
collaborative, can be found at
http://www.healthintegrated.com/blog-intro.html.

"With a few simple key strokes, health insurers, physicians, educators and
others interested in contributing to the growing PCMH industry knowledge base
are able to gain access to and join the ongoing discussions online, at any
time of the day," says Christopher Valerian, DO, executive medical director of
Health Integrated and moderator of the Health Integrated PCMH Blog.

PCMH is garnering significant attention on the national healthcare scene as a
model that could address some of the fundamental concerns experienced by
high-usage chronic patient groups. Because PCMH holds potential to provide a
much-needed focal point for every challenged patient in a complex healthcare
system, it is being implemented or considered by most major managed care
organizations and professional associations with several high-profile pilots
currently in process.

"Any model that looks at the whole patient, including PCMH, will provide a
good platform for integrating effective care to improve physical,
psychological and behavioral outcomes -- particularly among the highest risk
patients that are most challenged in a disconnected system," Valerian adds.

As part of an ongoing initiative around bringing PCMH solutions to market,
Health Integrated decided to launch a collaborative exploring PCMH after
health plan customers expressed interest in sharing lessons learned and best
practices during the most recent Executive Leadership Series forums hosted by
the Company. As part of the collaborative, Health Integrated will facilitate
email communications, conduct interactive opinion-leader hosted Webinars,
launch and report topical surveys, provide access to clinicians focused on
building medical home and PCMH experts and disseminate materials important to
PCMH implementation and operation.

"Our health plan partners, who are on the front lines of identifying ways to
improve the quality of care for their members, are interested in PCMH as one
strategy to address a complex set of healthcare problems," says Steve
Wigginton, president of Health Integrated. "The intent of PCMH is to enable
patients to more easily access care that is integrated, comprehensive and
patient-centered. As such, PCMH may be especially beneficial for high-need
members, such as the chronically ill." Chronically ill patients with co-morbid
conditions, including complex psychosocial issues, represent the greatest
disproportionate costs for the nation's health plans.

Health Integrated's PCMH Blog is designed for industry professionals
interested in PCMH and requires registration and a password. It will be
moderated and updated on an ongoing basis.

About Health Integrated

Health Integrated is the leading innovation partner for health plans,
providing evidence-based solutions to accelerate achievement of health
management goals for clinical outcomes, quality measures and cost containment.
For more information, visit http://www.healthintegrated.com.

Images: Screen shots of Health Integrated's PCMH Collaborative Community Blog

http://www.ereleases.com/pr/2009-HealthIntegrated1.jpg

http://www.ereleases.com/pr/2009-HealthIntegrated2.jpg

Caption: Screen shots of Health Integrated's home page and new interactive
PCMH blog, open to members of the healthcare community interested in engaging
in dialogue about the PCMH concept. PCMH has emerged in the last few years as
a new model for a "whole patient" approach, and is being considered by many
healthcare providers and insurers as a way to effectively improve care while
reducing costs. http://www.healthintegrated.com/blog-intro.html.

CONTACT:
Mike Miniati, Health Integrated
813-388-4030 or mminiati@healthintegrated.com

This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit
http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Health Integrated

Mike Miniati of Health Integrated, +1-813-388-4030,
mminiati@healthintegrated.com