DEERFIELD, Ill.— Focused Health Solutions, a leading national provider of health promotion and wellness services, has partnered with Emmi Solutions, LLC, to offer enhanced solutions to large, self-insured employers looking to reduce medical claims, lower absenteeism and improve workforce productivity.

The partnership provides Focused Health participants with access to Emmi Solutions’ award-winning Emmi^® programs. Emmi programs use plain language and audio-visual techniques to educate and engage patients about their health conditions. Patients can view Emmi programs at their own pace, in the convenience of their own homes. After viewing Emmi programs, patients are better prepared to ask more informed and directed questions, ultimately making the most of the time they spend with their physicians or healthcare providers.

Emmi Solutions’ programs provide a perfect complement to the full suite of customized health management solutions that Focused Health offers to employers looking for a better return on their investments in employee health care.

Focused Health’s high-touch, goals-based solutions address a variety of chronic diseases and wellness conditions—from asthma to cancer symptom management to stress. But instead of one-size-fits-all programming and passive mailing campaigns, Focused Health offers its participants customized feedback reports to monitor healthy behaviors; individually tailored coaching programs to encourage ongoing involvement, personal telephonic reviews from a health coach to review an individual’s health results, and access to knowledgeable nurse managers and behavioral specialists.

These programs are delivered through a unique and effective engagement model—featuring enrollment incentives, copay reimbursements and goals-based incentives—that encourages participation, rewards long-term behavior change, and teaches healthy self-management behaviors that last a lifetime.

“By partnering with Emmi Solutions, Focused Health will further maximize the value our clients and participants receive from enrolling in our programs,” said Charlene Bonvissuto, a registered nurse and president and chief executive officer at Focused Health. “Emmi Solutions’ emotionally engaging and clinician- and patient-tested programs will allow us to build even stronger relationships with our participants and further improve employer satisfaction.”

Emmi programs help patients gain the knowledge, confidence and motivation to take a more active role in their care. This is good for patients and employers looking for a better return on their healthcare expenditures. Emmi programs are available for a wide variety of surgical procedures and chronic conditions and will be used by Focused Health nurses and health coaches during feedback discussions and in creating care plans for participants. Viewers also are given the opportunity to take notes and initiate questions for further discussion.

“We are extremely excited about our partnership with Focused Health Solutions because we share a common passion for creating an exceptional and engaging user experience,” said Ronald Rooth, chief executive officer for Emmi Solutions. “Empowering patients is perhaps the most important part of rehabilitating our healthcare system and yet, it’s often overlooked. We are pleased to be collaborating with Focused Health Solutions on the next generation of health management solutions.

For more information on how Focused Health Solutions’ health promotion and wellness services can help an organization manage its healthcare costs, visit www.focusedhs.com


About Focused Health Solutions

Focused Health Solutions (FHS) is a leading national provider of customized population health management services. Founded in 1999, the Deerfield, IL based company boasts a senior management team with over 100 years of collective experience in the healthcare industry and a blue chip customer base. FHS combines innovative data analysis, condition-specific clinical pathways, proprietary telehealth technology, Health Risk Assessments, and deep clinical expertise to reduce healthcare costs and improve health. The FHS population health management model integrates sophisticated systems and experienced personnel to produce quantifiable clinical and economic benefits for its program participants and clients. Focused Health Solutions is a member of DMAA, NCQA, HERO and MWA. For more information, visit www.focusedhs.com


About Emmi Solutions

Emmi Solutions, LLC, is the creator of technology-based communication solutions and producer of award-winning Emmi programs. Healthcare organizations nationwide use Emmi to engage patients and positively impact the patient experience across the continuum of care. Whether it’s helping people prepare for a procedure, manage a chronic disease or successfully live with a medical device, every detail of the Emmi platform is designed with a single goal in mind: to improve the patient experience. Emmi Solutions’ clients and partners know the benefits of engaging patients to take an active role in their care: increased patient satisfaction, enhanced patient-physician relations, increased operational efficiencies, and improved quality and safety. For more information, visit www.emmisolutions.com

The July, 2009 issue of Healthcare Informatics takes a look at ways leading health systems are addressing readmission rates for patients with chronic conditions like congestive heart failure (CHF). The article, written by Daphne Lawrence, describes Emmi Solutions client OhioHealth as a leader in this area. Currently, OhioHealth is using Emmi^® programs to engage patients and reduce CHF hospital visits.

Click here to read the article in Healthcare Informatics.

In an effort to keep patients informed about health care topics, Hancock Regional Hospital has partnered with Emmi Solutions, LLC of Chicago to provide patients with relevant and accessible medical information, according to a news release.

Click here to read more from the Greenfield Daily Reporter.

Emmi Solutions and Phytel Partner as a
Crucial Step in Physician Prescribed Patient Education Services

DALLAS— Phytel, the leader in empowering physician-led health improvement has partnered with Emmi Solutions, the market leader in interactive patient engagement programs, to deliver reliable and integrated patient self-management services. At the direction of physicians, Phytel will notify patients who have chronic conditions and who are preparing for or recovering from surgical procedures about specific web-based, multimedia educational programs that empower patients to take a more active role in their care.

“In order to truly improve health outcomes, patients need to be part of the care team and have more seamless access to information about their health care,” said Steve Schelhammer, CEO of Phytel. “This functionality is a critical component of Phytel, enabling physicians to connect to their patients more efficiently outside the four walls of the clinic. Information prescriptions written by the physician and delivered by Phytel can help patients better manage their own conditions, improving the quality of care and enhancing patient safety.”

Phytel will integrate over one hundred Emmi^® multimedia programs that cover a wide range of procedures, from colonoscopies to joint replacements, as well as self-management of chronic conditions such as diabetes and asthma. Emmi Solutions creates its own content with the help of skilled medical illustrators and writers along with leading medical experts who use the latest evidence-based medicine protocols.

About half a million patients per year view Emmi programs. Among the leading healthcare organizations that rely on them are Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System, NorthShore University Health System, Stanford Hospitals & Clinics and the Billings Clinic.

Phytel combines an electronic registry based on nationally recognized clinical guidelines with an automated messaging system that alerts patients when it is time for them to visit their physician for follow-up or preventive care. By putting in a standing order for Emmi programs, physicians can use Phytel to send information prescriptions to patients who would benefit from viewing this educational content. In the case of a chronic disease like diabetes, the protocol for information therapy is integrated with the other diabetes protocols within the Phytel registry. The protocol engine triggers tailored messages to the patient to watch the appropriate Emmi program by a certain date. In addition, patients scheduled for procedures are reminded to watch the prescribed program before their operation. Emmi Solutions verifies that patients have viewed the programs in their entirety, and this information will be fully integrated into the Phytel registry and used to assist in the informed consent process.

In addition, the new Phytel offering can help physician practices qualify for the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) recognition as medical homes. Under the medical home model, practices are expected to provide enhanced electronic communications with patients, as well as web-based self-management education, and to document their efforts in these areas. Physicians who combine Phytel’s outreach capabilities with Emmi Solutions’ content and documentation capabilities are ideally positioned to meet these requirements.

“Phytel and Emmi Solutions complement each other beautifully, delivering a new standard in patient-centered care,” said Ronald Rooth, Chief Executive Officer for Emmi Solutions. “One of the major things we’ve learned is the importance of integration and automation. Our programs are already integrated with electronic health records, but automating the information prescription takes the process to the next level. Our advanced integration with Phytel will eliminate the guesswork and takes the workload off the physician and staff so they can spend quality time with their patients.”

Patients are clearly ready for the kind of physician directed care and self-management education that Phytel will now provide. According to a recent report by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, thirty-seven percent of surveyed consumers said that they are interested in using online tools that could help assess, monitor and manage their health.

About Emmi Solutions – Emmi Solutions, LLC, is the creator of technology-based communication solutions and producer of award-winning Emmi programs. Healthcare organizations nationwide use Emmi to engage patients and positively impact the patient experience across the continuum of care. Whether it’s helping people prepare for a procedure or manage a chronic disease, every detail of the Emmi platform is designed with a single goal in mind: to improve the patient experience. For more information, please visit www.emmisolutions.com

About Phytel – Phytel is the premier company empowering physician-led health improvement. Phytel provides physicians with proven technology to deliver timely, coordinated care to their patients. Phytel’s state-of-the-art registry, which now encompasses 15 million patients nationwide, uses evidence-based chronic and preventive care protocols to identify and notify patients due for service, while tracking compliance and measuring quality and financial results. For more information, please visit www.phytel.com

AdherenceRx, a leader in physician and pharmacist prescribed health coaching services steeped in the methodology of behavior science, has partnered with Emmi Solutions, the market leader in interactive patient engagement programs, to deliver reliable and integrated patient self-management services. At the direction of a patient’s health coach, patients are prescribed a series of interactive patient education modules aimed at improving health literacy via a unique and effective technology platform that tracks patient engagement.

Interactive patient education is becoming essential in establishing baseline metrics related to a patient’s health literacy and understanding of a particular health condition. With access to survey tools at the end of each on-line experience, health coaches can learn more about patients and their likelihood to be compliant with a physicians prescribed therapy. Moreover, it’s a powerful vehicle that supports health coaches in tailoring their interventions to the patient’s needs, challenges and motivations. Armed with this information, health coaches can work with patients to overcome their inherent behavioral challenges associated with non-compliance.

“In order to truly improve health outcomes, patients need to be part of the care team and have more seamless access to information about their health care,” said Chris Cresswell, President and CEO of AdherenceRx.

“This functionality is a critical component of a health coach’s ability to connect to his or her patients more efficiently and effectively.”

AdherenceRx will integrate Emmi^® multimedia programs into its behavioral health coaching model, helping patients gain the knowledge, confidence and motivation to take a more active role in their medication adherence.

“By partnering with AdherenceRx, we are expanding the model for traditional health coaching,” said Ronald Rooth, Chief Executive Officer for Emmi Solutions. “The combination of Emmi Solutions’ emotionally-engaging user experience and AdherenceRx’s health coaching, will build stronger relationships with patients, assisting them in adhering to their medications and resulting in improved clinical and financial outcomes for patients and providers.”

Programs cover a wide range of health conditions, spanning across chronic and specialty conditions. Emmi programs tailored to culturally diverse populations and caregivers are in development for AdherenceRx to support the various specialty segments of patient care–such as Alzheimers and Diabetes–within the African-American and Hispanic populations. About half a million programs per year are issued to patients.

About AdherenceRx

The AdherenceRx is a joint venture between Washington, D.C. based Innovative Partner Solutions and Cincinnati, Ohio based Hummingbird Coaching Services. The model is centric to one-on-one personalized health coaching programs designed to assist patients overcome the many hurdles preventing them from adhering to one or more prescribed therapies, managing their health, adopting healthy lifestyles, and ultimately establishing behaviors that drive sustainable long-term positive health outcomes.

Leveraging expert health coaching with state-of-the-art technology and the latest teachings of behavioral science, AdherenceRx offers a personalized, cost-effective approach that increases patient adherence while enhancing patients’ ability to improve their health by giving them the resources, tools and support necessary to become successful and living a healthy lifestyle. This proprietary system combines the benefits of one-on-one live personal health coaching with the flexibility, efficiency and affordability of Internet-based and mobile phone delivery.

Equally as important, AdherenceRx allows patients to transition into a more automated virtual behavioral health coaching support over-time once patients demonstrate a “likelihood” for compliance based on integrated survey tools administered by their health coach. This allows the model to be cost-effective for most pharmaceutical brand and health plan sponsors.

Unlike most traditional call center coaching models, AdherenceRx leverages behavioral experts and approaches to improving medication adherence. A few examples of the techniques used by our coaches include.

• Self-Observation & Monitoring
• Problem Solving
• Cognitive Restructuring
• Motivational Interviewing
• Interactive Patient Education
• Assertiveness Training
• Social Support
• Dynamic Patient Incentives

About Emmi Solutions Emmi Solutions, LLC, is the creator of technology-based communication solutions and producer of award-winning Emmi programs. Healthcare organizations nationwide use Emmi to engage patients and positively impact the patient experience across the continuum of care. Whether it’s helping people prepare for a procedure or manage a chronic disease, every detail of the Emmi platform is designed with a single goal in mind: to improve the patient experience. For more information, please visit www.emmisolutions.com

Uniformed consent is costly for patients. CBS reporter Jon Lapook looks at the problem of unnecessary procedures and uninformed consent. Ultimately, online patient aids like Emmi programs form part of the solution.

Click here to watch the video.

Click here to read the story online.

PRESS RELEASE

The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative
and Emmi Solutions Create a Valuable Tool to Educate Patients About the Patient Centered Medical Home

Healthcare providers, employers, advocacy groups and other interested parties can download the program free of charge at
http://www.emmisolutions.com/medicalhome/register/transformed.html

WASHINGTON, DC – April 28, 2009 – – The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, a coalition of more than 400 organizations who have joined together to develop and advance the patient centered medical home, and Emmi Solutions, producer of interactive health education programs, announce the release of a new multimedia program to help patients understand the patient centered medical home. The web-based educational program, entitled “Introduction to the Patient Centered Medical Home”, was recently unveiled at the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative Stakeholder’s Working Group Meeting.

Click here to view the program.

“Patients are at the center of the medical home model, which advances continuous, uninterrupted care that is managed and coordinated by a primary care provider,” said Edwina Rogers, Executive Director of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative. “The focus on the patient intersects the governance structure and the Working Groups within the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative. This multimedia program is free and will be a valuable tool to clinicians as they seek to educate their patients about the patient centered medical home.”

The web-based program will be distributed free to healthcare providers, employers, advocacy groups and other interested parties through PCPCC.net and other websites that promote the patient centered medical home.

“Healthcare organizations rely on Emmi Solutions to help engage consumers in complex topics such as diabetes and heart disease,” said David Sobel, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Emmi Solutions. “Currently, they are struggling to explain the patient centered medical home in a way that is engaging, consistent and effective. By creating this program and offering it for free to providers, payers and other interested parties, we can accelerate and enhance their efforts to get consumers on board with the vision of the medical home.”

To get a free copy of the program, please visit http://www.emmisolutions.com/medicalhome/register/transformed.html

The program was developed in collaboration with an advisory board comprised of Elaine M. Skoch, RN, MN, EMBA, CNAA, BC, Vice President, Performance Improvement and Education, TransforMED; Edwina Rogers, Executive Director of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative; Julie Schilz, BSN MBA, Manager, IPIP and PCMH, Colorado Clinical Guidelines Collaborative; Eileen Forlenza, Director, Colorado Medical Home Initiative, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; Katherine Herring Capps, President, Health2 Resources; and Gregg J. Stefanek, DO, Gratiot Family Practice of Alma, Mich. The program materials were also reviewed and approved by the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative’s Consumer Task Force.

About Emmi Solutions, LLC
Emmi Solutions, LLC, is the creator of technology-based communication solutions and producer of award-winning Emmi programs. Healthcare organizations nationwide use Emmi to engage patients and positively impact the patient experience across the continuum of care. Whether it’s helping people prepare for a procedure or manage a chronic disease, every detail of the Emmi platform is designed with a single goal in mind: to improve the patient experience. For more information, visit www.emmisolutions.com or call 1-866-294-3664.

About the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative
The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative is a coalition of more than 400 major employers, consumer groups, organizations representing primary care physicians, and other stakeholders who have joined to advance the patient centered “medical home.” The Collaborative believes that, if implemented, the patient centered medical home will improve the health of patients and the health care delivery system. For more information on the patient centered medical home and a complete list of the PCPCC members, please visit http://www.pcpcc.net

Emmi Checking Your Blood Sugar Program© 2008

Emmi Solutions is pleased to announce that
Diabetes- Checking Your Blood Sugar program has won the Best in Class award from the Interactive Media Awards^TM- the highest honor bestowed by the IMA.

Diabetes- Checking Your Blood Sugar is an online multimedia program that empowers patients with the information and skills they need to better manage their diabetes. The program takes complex medical information and makes it simple and easy to understand- ultimately
engaging patients to take a more active role
in their own health.

Win Marks 4^th IMA for Emmi^® Programs

This marks the second straight year an Emmi^® program has
won an IMA Best in Class award and the fourth IMA award
for Emmi^® programs overall. Last year, Emmi won Best in Class for How to Give a Good Medication History and Outstanding Achievement for Asthma and House Dust.

PRESS RELEASE

Emmi^® Programs Support Informed Consent
& Reduce Hospital Malpractice Costs

CHICAGO – March 24, 2009  – Emmi Solutions, the award-winning, Chicago-based creator of web-based healthcare education programs, has entered into an agreement with Beazley, a major London-based insurer of medical malpractice for US hospitals, for Beazley to provide insurance coverage at a reduced cost to hospitals that implement Emmi programs as part of the informed patient consent process for medical procedures.

As a development of Beazley’s quality indicator return premium program, hospitals that utilize Emmi Solutions’ interactive healthcare education programs will be entitled to receive a portion of the premium paid for their medical malpractice insurance back at the end of the policy period. The value of this return premium will vary, depending on the coverage provided. But return premiums of more than $100,000 have already been paid out to individual Beazley clients that implement agreed measures to improve the quality of patient care.

Beazley’s Lloyd’s syndicates, rated A by A.M. Best, insure US hospitals on a non-admitted or surplus lines basis and coverage can only be arranged through an accredited surplus lines broker.

“Beazley is one of the largest and most experienced insurers of United States hospitals,” said Jordan Dolin, co-founder and vice-chairman of Emmi Solutions. “We are delighted that an insurer of Beazley’s caliber has recognized the very real benefits that our products bring to hospitals.”

Added Dolin, “There is significant data that indicates our programs increase patients’ understanding of their medical procedures and conditions. This reduces hospital and physician exposure to litigation based upon misunderstanding. Additionally, it increases patient and physician satisfaction and quality clinical outcomes.”

About Emmi Solutions, LLC
Emmi Solutions, LLC, is the creator of technology-based communication solutions and producer of award-winning Emmi programs. Hospitals and healthcare organizations nationwide use Emmi to engage patients and positively impact the patient experience across the continuum of care. Whether it’s helping people prepare for a procedure, manage a chronic disease, or successfully live with a medical device, every detail of the Emmi platform is designed with a single goal in mind: to improve the patient experience. Emmi Solutions’ clients and partners know the benefits of engaging patients to take an active role in their care: increased patient satisfaction, enhanced patient-physician relations, increased operational efficiencies, risk mitigation, and improved quality and safety.

For more information Emmi Solutions’ unique interactive products and services, please visit www.emmisolutions.com or call 1-866-294-3664.

About Beazely Group, plc
Beazley Group plc (BEZ.L) is the London-based parent company of global, specialist insurance businesses with operations in the UK, US, France, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

Beazley manages four Lloyd’s syndicates: Syndicate 2623 and Syndicate 623 underwrite a broad range of insurance and reinsurance business worldwide; Syndicate 3623 focuses on accident and health business; and 3622 is a dedicated life syndicate. In 2008, Beazley underwrote gross premiums of £875.7m. All Lloyd’s syndicates are rated A by A.M. Best. In the US, Beazley’s underwriters focus on writing specialist insurance products in the admitted market, backed by Beazley Insurance Company, Inc., an admitted carrier in all 50 states; and surplus lines risks, backed by the Beazley syndicates at Lloyd’s. Beazley Insurance Company, Inc. is rated A by A.M. Best.

Beazley is a market leader in many of its chosen lines, which include professional indemnity, property, marine, reinsurance, accident and life, and political risks and contingency business.