Blue Cross Blue Shield of Hawaii plans to be the first health plan to introduce the integrated online care platform to consumers. SAN FRANCISCO, June 19
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.
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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.
