American Well and Microsoft Enter Into a Strategic Collaboration to Bring Healthcare to People’s Homes
Posted on June 19, 2008
Filed Under Microsoft
SAN FRANCISCO, June 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Today at America’s
Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Institute 2008, American Well Inc. and
Microsoft Corp. announced that they have entered into a strategic
collaboration to introduce an integrated consumer health solution that
brings together American Well’s Online Healthcare Marketplace and Microsoft
HealthVault, Microsoft’s online consumer health platform. The integrated
solution will allow consumers to use their health information to interact
live, online and on-demand with physicians from their home or office.
The Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA), Blue Cross Blue Shield
of Hawaii, plans to be the first health plan in the nation to offer the
integrated solution to all Hawaii residents. It is slated to become
available during the upcoming open enrollment period.
“At the heart of this strategic collaboration is the understanding that
personal health information becomes truly meaningful when consumers and
providers can use it in the process of actual care,” said Peter Neupert,
corporate vice president of the Health Solutions Group at Microsoft.
Microsoft’s HealthVault platform allows people to collect, store and
manage personal health information and share it with physicians, family
members and other trusted third parties. Consumers can store information
from multiple sources including provider and hospital record systems, home
monitoring devices, and patient entries. American Well’s Online Healthcare
Marketplace enables live communication between a consumer and healthcare
provider. By adding HealthVault, consumers would be able to collect and
provide health information for advised, coordinated care.
“This innovative solution promises to advance both the quality of care
and quality of service HMSA brings to our members and our community,” said
Michael Gold, chief operating officer of HMSA.
“Convenient, immediate and affordable online care in people’s homes is
becoming a reality in 2008,” said Ido Schoenberg, M.D., chief executive
officer of American Well. “With HealthVault, we can offer better
data-enriched communication, device connectivity, access and portability to
health plan members and nonmembers.”
The integrated solution will allow consumers to use their health
information from HealthVault to drive online consultations with providers
on the American Well system. In Hawaii, credentialed physicians who are
already part of the HMSA network will be able to make themselves available,
at their discretion, for online and phone consultations with plan members
as well as other consumers. This on-demand interaction between consumers
and providers will be under advisement of consumers’ care coordinator,
namely their primary care physician.
About American Well
American Well has created a new healthcare marketplace where consumers
and physicians can come together online to acquire and provide convenient
and immediate healthcare services.
American Well is committed to supporting health plans in meeting
consumer and employer demand for affordable, efficient and immediate access
to quality care. For more information, please visit
http://www.americanwell.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.
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