In The News

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Optum Introduces Health Care Cloud Environment that Enables Secure Collaboration, Enhances Patient Care and Speeds Innovation
Healthcare Scheduling Exchange Available at Baptist Hospital
Medicaid Cost Containment and Quality Through Scheduling
Health Choice increases preventive participation
A simple, Web-based scheduling solution leads to 44% increase in completed preventive services
Baptist Hospital Transforms Care Delivery By Linking Patients To Physicians And Ongoing Care.
MyHealthDIRECT’s CEO Jay Mason to Present Session on Scheduling Connectivity during Medicaid Health Plans of America Annual Meeting.
Health Partners of Philadelphia Offers Innovative Ways to Improve Member Care through MyHealthDIRECT Partnership
MyHealthDIRECT’s CEO and Founder Jay Mason Joins Panel of National Healthcare Leaders to Speak at New York Health IT Summit
MyHealthDIRECT expands services to California in partnership with Regal Medical Group, an Independent Physician Association
Milwaukee Health Care Partnership and Wisconsin Health Information Exchange Extend Contract with MyHealthDIRECT as Award-Winning Collaboration Continues to Support Better Health Care for Uninsured and Underserved Individuals
Family and Children’s Service’s 211-Nashville Health Navigator to use MyHealthDIRECT to Support Better Access to Healthcare for Clients
MyHealthDIRECT Selected by Nashville General Hospital To Help Connect Patients with Appropriate Providers
MyHealthDIRECT Is Silver Sponsor of 19^th Annual Medicaid Managed Care Congress, May 18-20
MyHealthDIRECT Receives $4 Million In Series B Investment Funding
MyHealthDIRECT CEO Jay Mason to Discuss “Making Healthcare Cheaper” at Health 2.0’s Spring Fling Conference in San Diego
MyHealthDIRECT Receives $100,000 to Provide Healthcare Access to Patients in Need at Connecticut Hospital
“MyHealthDIRECT links patients, doctors online. Service includes appointments,” by Brookfield NOW
“Donations Link Patients to Community Doctors,” by William W. Backus Hospital
MyHealthDIRECT to Showcase Tech-Based Solutions for Collaborative Healthcare Delivery at Annual HIMSS11 in Orlando
Doug Cobb of Chrysalis Ventures Joins MyHealthDIRECT Board of Directors
Frank Stellato Joins MyHealthDIRECT As Chief Financial Officer
MyHealthDIRECT Expands Executive Team with New SVP
MyHealthDIRECT Signs WHIE Contract
VP of Client Services Joins MyHealthDIRECT Team
MyHealthDIRECT expands with addition of Vice President of Community-Based Alliances
HIStalk Interviews Jay Mason
MyHealthDIRECT Expands into Connecticut and Arizona
Finding cost savings in unnecessary ER visits
MyHealthDIRECT

Optum Introduces Health Care Cloud Environment that Enables Secure Collaboration, Enhances Patient Care and Speeds Innovation

The health care cloud from Optum to simplify creation and implementation of health
Secure platform to enable collaboration necessary to improve patient care, reduce costs
The health care cloud will feature Optum Care Suite, with its set of clinical decision support and productivity management apps

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., February 14, 2012 – Health services leader Optum today launched a secure, cloud-based environment designed to help everyone involved in patient care communicate and collaborate more effectively to improve health outcomes. The health care cloud from Optum will be previewed at the HIMSS 2012 conference in Las Vegas, Feb. 20-24.

The health care cloud environment from Optum simplifies the lives of caregivers, innovators and health IT managers – those whose work has the greatest impact on patient care and on the performance of the health system. The health care cloud from Optum helps these health professionals communicate and access essential health intelligence more efficiently, create and deploy health applications quickly and manage technology in their offices or across networks with ease.

“Through this health care cloud, Optum is delivering capabilities essential to making the health system work better. By providing a secure place where more people can contribute to the creation of health applications, and where health professionals can better manage their work and time, Optum can help improve patient experiences and outcomes across the health system,” said Andy Slavitt, group executive vice president at Optum.

Better communication, collaboration and health IT integration
The health care cloud is designed to meet the highly specialized demands of the health system. The environment features an intuitive dashboard that helps users access the information and applications they need throughout their day to support medical decisions. This supports fully informed, better-coordinated care and treatment decisions.

The health care cloud from Optum features secure text and video chat capabilities to help health professionals connect, communicate and collaborate with other health professionals and with patients. These capabilities are necessary for full participation in Accountable Care Organizations and other emerging care models that require more effective collaboration. It also includes productivity tools that easily integrate with a range of health IT systems to help doctors, nurses and other clinicians, and health administrators organize their information and resources in one, simple interface, accessible securely from any Internet-connected device.

For example, the health care cloud from Optum can integrate the applications that patients use, such as biometric monitors, with the health information systems used by physician practices, hospitals and health plans. This keeps electronic medical records up-to-date and automates delivery of progress notes to members of the care team. Working from a common set of complete patient information, physicians and patients can make treatment decisions together, track progress and stay connected between appointments. The health care cloud from Optum also enhances patient safety by ensuring all care team members can access consistent information from diagnosis through the end of treatment. Further, the cloud environment helps physicians and administrators save time by streamlining key quality measurement, regulatory compliance, billing and other administrative tasks.

Accelerating innovation, implementation of health care apps
Health professionals and other innovators can leverage the Optum health care environment to create and host their applications. A Developer Toolkit includes HIPAA compliance modules, collaboration tools and other health care technology essentials. A Chief Information Officer Toolkit supports deployment of internal and external applications, and provides templates for creating a master patient index and other resources that support population health management.

In the second quarter of 2012, a software development kit (SDK) optimized for health care will be available to health apps developers. This open toolkit will help a large, growing community of innovators quickly turn their ideas into working solutions that health professionals can deploy quickly and inexpensively.

The health care cloud from Optum also features a marketplace where entrepreneurs can market and deliver their solutions to a hundreds of thousands of health professionals and thousands of health organizations.

“The health care cloud from Optum will support widespread innovation across the health system by removing barriers to applications development and by helping health care professionals work together more easily to enhance patient care,” said Ted Hoy, senior vice president and general manager of cloud business platforms at Optum. “The goal is to enable users to combine applications, data, analytics and services to their own specifications to improve patient and population health while improving efficiency and reducing costs.”

Combining leading technical, analytical and health care expertise
Optum is bringing together medical professionals, entrepreneurs and leading technology companies to develop and test its cloud environment.

Working with Cisco, Optum has embedded Cisco’s core collaboration and cloud capabilities into the health care cloud experience. Other partners, including EMC, HP and IBM helped build data management and networking capabilities. Physicians and health IT companies, including CareCore National, Cleveland Clinic, HealthLoop and MyHealthDIRECT helped to define user requirements. These parties will be among the first to bring their innovative, care-enhancing ideas to life via Optum’s health care cloud environment.

“Optum understands the practical and technological barriers to delivering better care and the benefits of creating a more efficient health system, and its health care cloud represents a significant leap forward. Cisco’s focus is providing a foundation for the health care cloud from Optum so that health professionals are confident in their ability to collaborate with peers and specialists using the latest technology. We’re proud to be part of the health care cloud from Optum,” said Randy Pond, executive vice president of Operations, Processes and Systems at Cisco.

Optum seeds the cloud with Optum Care Suite
Optum will make its health information, workflow and analytics solutions available via its health care cloud, beginning with Optum Care Suite, also announced today. Optum Care Suite serves the needs of doctors, hospitals and the broader clinical community through user-friendly apps that deliver health intelligence to those who need it to make decisions; and automate performance measures and compliance reporting.

The health care cloud and Optum Care Suite will be shown at the HIMSS 2012 conference in Las Vegas, Feb. 20-24. Attendees, developers, entrepreneurs and health IT companies are encouraged to visit the Optum exhibit space (booth #4245) to see demonstrations and learn how they can leverage the Optum health care cloud to improve their operations and bring new applications to market.

Read the Original Press Release…

Healthcare Scheduling Exchange Available at Baptist Hospital

The nation’s first healthcare scheduling exchange has made its way to Music City. Baptist Hospital recently joined the 60 U.S. hospitals utilizing MyHealthDIRECT —a web-based platform that first builds, then organizes, open and available appointments throughout an entire provider network into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services.

Serving the Underserved

Wisconsin-based MyHealthDIRECT is saving money and impacting quality measures for participating hospitals, according to Jay Mason, founder and chief executive officer for the company. More importantly, his team is connecting the uninsured and underinsured populations and Medicaid patients, who often frequent emergency departments, to primary care providers.

“It’s a win-win situation,” said Mason. “Everyone’s goal is to get the patient to the right provider at the right time.”

The concept is simple: A patient shows up in a hospital’s emergency department, or receives treatment as an inpatient. The admissions registrar notes the patient has no primary care provider, and searches the MyHealthDIRECT database for physicians and available appointments. The field can be narrowed based on a doctor’s availability, location, spoken language, gender or religion, ensuring a good match regardless of the patient’s preferences and transportation or insurance needs.

Within five minutes, the patient has an appointment and is more likely to receive follow-up and preventive care on an ongoing basis. The web-based application means no software is purchased or displaced, and clients appreciate affordable monthly subscriptions over pricey software purchases. MyHealthDIRECT also provides onsite one-on-one training for hospital and clinic staff.

“The whole preface is to get patients who frequent the emergency department a provider for follow-up so there’s better continuity of care,” said Jennifer Elliott, director of Emergency Services, Critical Care and Patient Access at Baptist Hospital. “It’s difficult to treat a chronic problem if patients are using the Emergency Department as their primary source of care, and we want to help point them in the right direction.”

Baptist Hospital’s ED receives more than 50,000 patient visits each year, and treats each patient regardless of ability to pay. The hospital received a $37,500 grant from the Baptist Healing Trust to help implement MyHealthDIRECT.

Elliott said the system is a welcome upgrade from traditional referral methods, which involve giving patients a list of doctors accepting new patients, or making them wait up to 20 minutes while the registrar attempts to schedule an appointment by phone.

Physician Participation

MyHealthDIRECT staff work with hospitals to recruit physicians, who have the ability to control appointment details through the system.

“MyHealthDIRECT isn’t just technology sitting on a server somewhere,” Mason noted. “We actually deploy employees who go into the community and help doctors understand what the program is all about. We’re digitalizing the appointments and partnerships they already have in place.”

And by identifying trending and no-show rates at participating clinics, the program also helps backfill open appointments and no-shows.

“A lot of clinics perceive themselves to not be available at the last minute,” Elliott said. “MyHealthDIRECT helps clinics be full … not just look full.”

Nashville Medical Group

Nashville Medical Group (NMG) was among the first Baptist affiliates to participate in MyHealthDIRECT. With four locations and 42 physicians, the primary care-driven, multi-specialty group designates a set number of appointments to the web-based scheduling exchange.

“We want to live out the mission, vision and values of Saint Thomas Health Services, which is providing care to the poor and vulnerable,” said Gregg Winston, administrator for NMG. “It’s a philosophical and moral commitment that follows what we’re all about, which is getting people into a primary care setting so we can deal with them on a holistic basis.”

The MyHealthDIRECT Community

MyHealthDIRECT is gaining in popularity throughout Middle Tennessee’s healthcare community. Web-based scheduling is being adopted by additional hospitals and by 2-1-1 Tennessee — a free community services help line provided through United Way.

Learning from the Past, Planning for the Future

An information technology entrepreneur with 20 years experience in start-ups, Mason launched MyHealthDIRECT in 2005, following the closure of a large central city hospital in his native Milwaukee.

“It created a lot of unintended consequences, and the medical community got together and said they wanted to do something about it,” Mason recalled. “We were already in development of a solution, and re-crafted it slightly to improve access to care for the uninsured and those covered by Medicaid.”

In Milwaukee, Mason’s web-based scheduling reduced non-urgent emergency department visits by about 23 percent — a statistic that’s become standard among participating hospitals. Still, Mason said MyHealthDIRECT is less about getting patients out of the ED and more about getting them into the most appropriate healthcare setting possible. He now provides web-based scheduling to 60 hospitals and 12 health plan clients in a dozen states, and Mason plans to launch a retail version for health plan participants in 2012.

“We built this platform with the future in mind,” Mason concluded. “We want to improve the workflow process for our clients and learn how we can help them function most effectively.”

Read the Original Article …

Medicaid Cost Containment and Quality Through Scheduling

MyHealthDirect’s Jay Mason, CEO and Tom Reilly, VP Health Care Solutions are our guests on Medicaid Matters.

Jay and Tom explain how Medicaid cost containment and quality improvement can be achieved through innovative scheduling connectivity. Listen Here

Health Choice increases preventive participation

JAN 17, 2012
BY: JAMIE J. GOOCH
MANAGED HEALTHCARE EXECUTIVE E-NEWS

Health Choice Arizona has instituted a new scheduling system to help it connect patients with appropriate community health resources on a timely basis. Health Choice Arizona provides healthcare to 195,000 members in nine Arizona counties. As a managed care organization in the state’s Medicaid program known as the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, it wanted to find a way to help those members with the lowest incidence of preventive service completion quickly schedule their appointments.

According to Mike Uchrin, Health Choice Arizona’s chief operating officer, low completion scores can have repercussions for patients and providers alike. The state of Arizona rates screening exams very highly. Health plans that do not meet standards set for 29 separate measures, including completion rates for preventive services and physicals, are subject to sanctions of up to $100,000 per standard, Uchrin says.

In the past, Health Choice Arizona used a variety of approaches to make and keep preventive care appointments for their members. Reminders were mailed, messages were left on voicemail, and members were called by phone when requested to help schedule appointments. Oftentimes staffers would spend as many as 20 minutes per patient scheduling a single appointment, largely due to the difficulties in coordinating patient schedules with available providers.

Health Choice Arizona now uses MyHealthDIRECT, which combines a system for building provider inventories with a scheduling platform to facilitate the appointment process. The system helped them go from a 48% to a 68% preventative services completion rate.

“It’s important for managed care organizations to look beyond traditional campaigns that merely encourage members to get preventive care,” says Jay Mason, CEO of MyHealthDIRECT. “Educational programs and mailers to members have a role, but they are not going to make great impact.”

Baptist Hospital Transforms Care Delivery By Linking Patients To Physicians And Ongoing Care

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Nov. 11, 2011 – One of the most important things a patient can do after leaving the hospital is to connect with appropriate physicians for follow up and ongoing care.

Baptist Hospital is utilizing MyHealthDIRECT, a Web-based software application to connect – in real time – patients to health care providers at the most appropriate level of care. The system allows hospital personnel search and book available health care appointments for patients.

“This is the first step in helping members of our community better their health and their lives,” said Bernie Sherry, president and CEO of Baptist Hospital. “It will provide more timely and ongoing care for patients while also reducing visits to the emergency room, especially for those who have had no medical home and had to use the ER for non-emergency treatment. We can seamlessly match them with a local care provider.”

MyHealthDIRECT’s platform first builds, then organizes, open and available appointments throughout an entire provider network into a searchable and schedulable inventory of health care services. The proprietary web-based software solution has helped health care organizations across the country increase access to care, facilitate care management and improve quality measures.

“Clients see immediate benefits as our solution simplifies and transforms the appointment-making process by providing real time search capabilities and sending appointment confirmation details and reminders to patients,” said Jay Mason, CEO of MyHealthDIRECT. “MyHealthDIRECT not only helps organizations reach their bottom-line goals but it ensures better health care coordination and delivery.”

“This platform allows us to advance our mission of supporting personalized, quality care through a cost effective care coordination initiative. It’s been beneficial to our care management team in helping inpatients who have spent several days with us for complicated medical conditions to those who come through our emergency department,” said Sherry.

Baptist Hospital received a $37,500 grant from the Baptist Healing Trust to help implement MyHealthDIRECT.

The Baptist Healing Trust recently awarded funds totaling over $1.9 million to 53 local non-profits for a variety of health related projects, according to President & CEO Cathy Self. The mission of the Baptist Healing Trust is to be a caring ministry devoted to healing with love in the Christian tradition.

Recipients of the contributions include non-profit organizations from all over Middle Tennessee working to help create access to quality, compassionate health services for the community’s most vulnerable. This year’s grants bring the collective grant making of the Baptist Healing Trust to almost $55 million since 2002. The Baptist Healing Trust was created when Baptist Hospital in Nashville was acquired by Saint Thomas Health, a ministry of Ascension Health.
About Baptist Hospital

About Baptist Hospital
Baptist Hospital is a member of Saint Thomas Health, the market share leader in Middle Tennessee and a faith-based health ministry with more than 6,500 associates. Saint Thomas Health’s regional health system consists of five hospitals – Baptist Hospital, Saint Thomas Hospital and The Hospital for Spinal Surgery in Nashville, Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro and Hickman Community Hospital in Centerville – and a comprehensive network of affiliated joint ventures in diagnostics, cardiac services and ambulatory surgery as well as medical practices, clinics and rehabilitation facilities. Saint Thomas Health is a member of Ascension Health, a Catholic organization that is the largest not-for-profit health system in the United States. For more information, visit www.baptisthospital.com or www.sths.com.

About MyHealthDIRECT
MyHealthDIRECT is a national health services company connects hospitals, care management organizations, public agencies and community collaboratives for the purpose of scheduling timely and appropriate health care appointments on behalf of individuals. Founded in 2005, MyHealthDIRECT offers a web-based solution that organizes open and available health care appointments in the community into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services. The MyHealthDIRECT solution promotes continuity of care, reduces unnecessary cost and utilization and ensures that patients are scheduled with appointments that best fit their needs and preferences. MyHealthDIRECT’s web-based solution helps healthcare organizations in 11 states improve access to care, facilitate care management and improve quality measures.

MyHealthDIRECT’s CEO Jay Mason to Present Session on Scheduling Connectivity during Medicaid Health Plans of America Annual Meeting

Nov. 6-8 event focuses on issues affecting Medicaid trends and other healthcare issues

Washington D.C. – November 13, 2011 – MyHealthDIRECT’s CEO and founder, Jay Mason, will be a presenter at the Medicaid Health Plans of America Annual Meeting, Nov. 6-8, in Washington, D.C., at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill. This year’s event, “The Changing Landscape for Medicaid Health Plans,” will address critical issues affecting the Medicaid health plans industry, including health reform implementation, quality improvement, healthcare delivery, and cost-containment.

The conference features prominent speakers and brings together numerous health policy officials, government representatives, clinicians, political commentators and business leaders to discuss Medicaid trends and care issues.

Mason’s session, at 7:30 a.m. on Nov. 8, is entitled “Scheduling Connectivity: Containing Cost and Improving Access.” He will explore strategies for establishing scheduling connectivity to providers to help contain costs, increase efficiency, improve access and deliver better care to vulnerable populations.

MyHealthDIRECT, a web-enabled health services company, organizes open and available health care appointments throughout a provider network into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services.

“MyHealthDIRECT’s on-demand care coordination platform provides a scheduling platform for risk-bearing entities like Medicaid health plans,” said Mason. “We welcome the opportunity to be part of a discussion that focuses on how the industry can move forward with innovation as evidenced by MyHealthDIRECT transforming healthcare and providing benefits for everyone at plans from care manager to provider to member.”

For more information about the 2011 Medicaid Health Plans of America Annual Meeting, visit http://www.mhpa.org/Events/2011_Annual_Meeting/

About MyHealthDIRECT:
MyHealthDIRECT is a national health services solutions company that connects hospitals, care management organizations, public agencies and community collaboratives for the purpose of scheduling and booking timely and appropriate healthcare appointments on behalf of individuals. Founded in 2005, MyHealthDIRECT offers a web-based solution that organizes open and available healthcare appointments in the community into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services. The MyHealthDIRECT solution promotes continuity of care, reduces unnecessary cost and utilization and ensures that patients are matched with appointments that best fit their needs and preferences.

PRESS CONTACT:
Mary Campe
SS | PR
847-415-9325
mcampe@sspr.com

Health Partners of Philadelphia Offers Innovative Ways to Improve Member Care through MyHealthDIRECT Partnership

Health Plan Utilizes New Technology for Scheduling Connectivity Services

Brookfield, WI – (September 27, 2011) – MyHealthDIRECT today announced it has signed a contract with Health Partners of Philadelphia, a not-for-profit health plan, which will use MyHealthDIRECT’s web-based scheduling service solution to enable increased access to care and enhanced care coordination for its 170,000 members. The initial launch of the program will include ten physician practices from Health Partners’ robust provider network.

MyHealthDIRECT, a technology-enabled health services company, builds and organizes open and available healthcare appointments throughout a provider network—into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services, including primary and specialty care. Its web-based application is used nationwide by hospitals, health systems, managed care organizations and health information exchanges. MyHealthDIRECT connects people with provider appointments in real time, based on member coverage and preferences, including location, languages spoken and other special needs.

“MyHealthDIRECT will allow us to streamline our process for connecting members with primary and specialty care, which is essential to our overall mission of improving member health outcomes” said Mary K Stom, MD, chief medical officer and senior vice president of healthcare management, Health Partners. “It will also allow for increased operational efficiency, while enabling us to respond to specific member needs, such as language preference, which is critical to our culturally diverse membership.”

Health Partners will use MyHealthDIRECT to assign new members to primary care providers and medical homes and schedule provider appointments with MyHealthDIRECT participating physicians for members following an inpatient hospital stay or emergency room visit. MyHealthDirect will also enable the health plan to enrich its healthcare delivery and care coordination by identifying member needs for preventive care services and scheduling appointments in real time.

“We look forward to supporting the Philadelphia community through this partnership. The appointment-making process saves time and money and connects patients to the most appropriate provider for the best possible care,” said Jay Mason, CEO of MyHealthDIRECT. “I am confident that Health Partners will realize immediate benefits to their health care coordination and delivery, and their bottom line using our web-based scheduling solution.”

About MyHealthDIRECT

MyHealthDIRECT is a national health services company that connects hospitals, care management organizations, public agencies and community collaboratives for the purpose of scheduling timely and appropriate health care appointments on behalf of individuals. Founded in 2005, MyHealthDIRECT offers a web-based solution that first builds, then organizes open and available health care appointments in the community into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services. MyHealthDIRECT promotes continuity of care, reduces unnecessary cost and utilization and ensures that patients are scheduled with appointments that best fit their needs and preferences. MyHealthDIRECT’s web-based solution helps healthcare organizations in 11 states improve access to care, facilitate care management and improve quality measures. For more information on the company please visit www.myhealthdirect.com.

About Health Partners

Health Partners is a not-for-profit health plan serving more than 170,000 members in the Greater Philadelphia region. Its HealthChoices Medicaid plan consistently ranks number one in member satisfaction in the area in an annual consumer survey and is rated as “Excellent,” the highest level possible, by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). In 2009, the company launched KidzPartners, which provides free or low-cost health insurance to uninsured children and teens through CHIP, Pennsylvania’s Children’s Health Insurance Program. Founded more than 25 years ago, Health Partners is one of the few hospital-owned health plans in the country and has received national recognition for its innovations in managed care. For more information about Health Partners, please visit www.healthpart.com.

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MyHealthDIRECT’s CEO and Founder Jay Mason Joins Panel of National Healthcare Leaders to Speak at New York Health IT Summit

Mason’s panel examines healthcare delivery reform from ACO’s to Medical Homes

New York, NY- (September 15, 2011) Jay Mason, CEO and founder of MyHealthDIRECT, a web-enabled health services company, will be a featured speaker at the seventh annual Health IT Summit on Sept. 20-21 at The Westin New York at Times Square in New York City.

As a Summit Faculty member, Mason will rely on his extensive knowledge of healthcare practices to candidly discuss healthcare reform and the necessity to improve quality and value in the system for a successful and financially viable outcome. Mason and other care leaders will talk about the challenges of reform and potential solutions during the Sept. 21 session, “A Comprehensive Look at Healthcare Delivery Reform: From ACO’s to Primary Care Medical Homes (PCMH) and Beyond.”

In 2005, Mason founded MyHealthDIRECT, whose innovative scheduling solution connects patients to health providers and is used by hospitals, health systems, and health information exchange companies in 12 states. The applications organize open and available appointments throughout a provider network into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services.
The iHT2 (Institute for Health Technology Transformation) conference brings together national thought leaders and decision makers to address some of today’s most pressing issues surrounding healthcare and information technology. During the two-day event, executives will interact with a national audience of peers, national leaders and solution providers to discuss the latest solutions for practice management, mobility, telemedicine, outsourcing, IT infrastructure, next-generation electronic medical records, disease management, and more.
“Collaboration is a key to solving some of today’s healthcare problems, including timely access and delivery of care,” said Mason. “The summit serves an important role in the process of finding potential solutions by connecting industry leaders who will work together to find answers. I’m proud to represent MyHealthDIRECT and be part of the process as we strive to bring efficient and effective healthcare to everyone.”
In its seventh year, the Health IT Summit is the premier executive summit focused on the strategies and tools that redefine customer care, collaboration and efficiency in healthcare provider markets. Summit information can be found at http://ihealthtran.com/newyorkhome.html.

About Jay Mason

Jay Mason, MyHealthDIRECT CEO, is an entrepreneur with a passion for uncovering opportunities and building successful enterprises. He worked at CNA Insurance and Principal Financial before starting Professional Insurance Planners of America in 1986, where he achieved one of the top designations as a leading employee benefits agency in Wisconsin. In 1988, Jay launched National Employee Benefits, one of the first chiropractic benefit management firms in the country. The company merged with American WholeHealth (AWH) in 1998 and as a venture backed company, investors received a 10x return when the company was sold in 2005. Mason currently serves on the Board of Directors of Concordia University of Wisconsin and on the Board of Directors of the Christian Stewardship Foundation.

About MyHealthDIRECT

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MyHealthDIRECT expands services to California in partnership with Regal Medical Group, an Independent Physician Association

Seamless, real-time, Web-based scheduling for healthcare appointments benefits thousands of physicians and patients and supports an integrated care coordination program

CALIFORNIA (August 1, 2011) — MyHealthDIRECT and Regal Medical Group today announced a partnership that will assist the care transition process by scheduling health care appointments for its members using MyHealthDIRECT’s web-based scheduling services solution.

MyHealthDIRECT’s platform first builds, then organizes, open and available appointments throughout an entire provider network into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services and is used nationwide by hospitals, health systems, managed care organizations and health information exchanges. With this contract, MyHealthDIRECT expands its services to California where Regal Medical Group, an Independent Physician Association (IPA), coordinates health care with affiliated providers.

“Both physicians and patients will appreciate the MyHealthDIRECT’s appointment scheduling process and the time savings it offers,” said Dr. Jeffrey Klein, Regal Health Group’s Medical Director. “This partnership advances our mission of supporting personalized, quality care for our members through a cost effective care coordination initiative.”

About MyHealthDIRECT

MyHealthDIRECT is a national health services company connects hospitals, care management organizations, public agencies and community collaboratives for the purpose of scheduling timely and appropriate health care appointments on behalf of individuals. Founded in 2005, MyHealthDIRECT offers a web-based solution that organizes open and available health care appointments in the community into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services. The MyHealthDIRECT solution promotes continuity of care, reduces unnecessary cost and utilization and ensures that patients are scheduled with appointments that best fit their needs and preferences.

MyHealthDIRECT’s web-based solution helps healthcare organizations in 11 states improve access to care, facilitate care management and improve quality measures.

For more information on the company please visit www.myhealthdirect.com.

About Regal Medical Group

Regal Medical Group, an Independent Physician Association, provides high-quality health care at lower out-of-pocket costs to members. Regal, part of Southern California’s largest managed health networks, emphasizes prevention over intervention and works closely with thousands of health care providers and members. Regal provides the resources, guidance and expertise, and coordinates all health care needs.

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Milwaukee Health Care Partnership and Wisconsin Health Information Exchange Extend Contract with MyHealthDIRECT as Award-Winning Collaboration Continues to Support Better Health Care for Uninsured and Underserved Individuals

Brookfield, WI – (7/26/11) – MyHealthDIRECT, along with Milwaukee Health Care Partnership (Partnership) and Wisconsin Health Information Exchange (WHIE) announced today the two-year extension of MyHealthDIRECT’s contract in support of the Partnership’s Emergency Department Care Coordination Initiative. MyHealthDIRECT, a web-enabled scheduling solution, organizes open and available health care appointments throughout a provider network into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services.

MyHealthDIRECT plays an integral role in the Partnership’s Emergency Department Care Coordination Initiative, which seeks to reduce avoidable emergency department visits and related hospitalizations, eliminate duplicate tests and procedures, and connect high-risk patients in the emergency room with medical homes.

Using MyHealthDIRECT in the past year, more than 8,700 appointments were scheduled between Partnership hospitals (Aurora Health Care, Columbia St Mary’s, Froedtert Health and Wheaton Franciscan Health Care) to the community’s clinical providers. Of these, more than 6,300 scheduled provider appointments were made to Federally Qualified Health Centers.

The Partnership’s successful efforts at improving community health, including its use of MyHealthDIRECT to schedule appointments directly from the emergency department, earned a 2011 NOVA Award from the American Hospital Association.

Along with an expansion into Wheaton Franciscan Health Care hospitals, MyHealthDIRECT has introduced a series of enhancements to its solution, including improved reporting capabilities, and the ability to text appointment reminders to patients and attach informational materials to a scheduled appointment.

“It is rewarding to be a part of this community Partnership that advocates access to care. We look forward to continuing to make further strides in the Emergency Department Care Coordination Initiative over the next two years and create a healthier future for Milwaukee residents,” said Jay Mason, CEO of MyHealthDIRECT.

“MyHealthDIRECT is an integral partner in our efforts to reduce avoidable emergency department visits and connect high-risk patients with medical homes” said Joy Tapper, Executive Director of Milwaukee Health Care Partnership. “With MyHealthDIRECT, all Milwaukee emergency departments now schedule appointments with safety net clinics in real time.”

Since its founding in 2007, Milwaukee Health Care Partnership’s goal has been to secure adequate and affordable insurance coverage for low-income individuals; improve access to all health services; provide affordable medications; enhance care coordination between emergency departments and primary care medical homes; in order to improve health outcomes while reducing the cost of care.

Wisconsin Health Information Exchange (WHIE) is a tool supporting enhanced clinical decision making by providing appropriately private and secure patient encounter history at the time and point of care, creating a platform for community wide coordination of care. Collaborating with key stakeholders, such as the Partnership, information is exchanged electronically across institutional boundaries and ensures the secure delivery of timely and accurate electronic health information.

“As we continue to address the challenges of efficient patient care delivery through technology, and improving workflow for clinical staff, we are excited about the continued and growing collaboration with MyHealthDIRECT. Collaborations such as that with the Partnership and MyHealthDIRECT continue to improve efficiency and coordination of care, with the ultimate benefit to the patients of the community that need primary care services, “said Kim R. Pemble, Executive Director of WHIE.

Across the country, MyHealthDIRECT’s web-based solution helps healthcare organizations improve access to care, facilitate care management and improve quality measures. The application is easy to implement and use, enabling organizations to quickly put MyHealthDIRECT to work within any practice environment to find open and available healthcare appointments in the community to meet patients’ needs.

About MyHealthDIRECT

MyHealthDIRECT is a national health services company that connects hospitals, care management organizations, public agencies and community collaboratives for the purpose of scheduling timely and appropriate health care appointments on behalf of individuals. Founded in 2005, MyHealthDIRECT offers a web-based solution that organizes open and available health care appointments in the community into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services. The MyHealthDIRECT solution promotes continuity of care, reduces unnecessary cost and utilization and ensures that patients are scheduled with appointments that best fit their needs and preferences. For more information on MyHealthDIRECT please visit www.myhealthdirect.com.

About Milwaukee Health Care Partnership

The Milwaukee Health Care Partnership is a public private consortium dedicated to improving care for under-served populations in Milwaukee County. The consortium includes healthcare providers, government agencies and community organizations that are dedicated to improving care for low income individuals. Members include: Aurora Health Care, Children’s Hospital and Health System, Columbia St. Mary’s, Froedtert Health, Health Care for the Homeless Milwaukee, the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, Milwaukee Health Services, Sixteenth Street Community Health Center, Westside Health Care Association, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare & the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Other collaborating partners include: City of Milwaukee Health Department, Milwaukee Free Clinic Collaborative, Medical Society of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Hospital Association and Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association. The Partnership works to increase coverage, access and care coordination and improve health care outcomes, health status and the cost effectiveness of care for the most vulnerable patients in the community.

About Wisconsin Health Information Exchange

The Wisconsin Health Information Exchange (WHIE) is one of the nation’s leading efforts to improve health and health care through regional electronic information exchange. By collaborating across institutional boundaries and ensuring secure delivery of timely and accurate electronic health information, WHIE seeks to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and accessibility of health care and public health. WHIE is sponsored by the National Institute for Medical Informatics (NIMI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to research, development, implementation and operation of advanced healthcare information networking solutions. For more information, visit http://www.whie.org.

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Family and Children’s Service’s 211-Nashville Health Navigator to use MyHealthDIRECT to Support Better Access to Healthcare for Clients

Web-Based System Funded Through Ascension Health Enables Health Navigator to Quickly Schedule Callers with Appropriate Healthcare Providers in Real Time

Brookfield, WI (June 27, 2011) – MyHealthDIRECT announced today that its flagship Web-based healthcare service solution has been selected for use in the health navigator program offered by Nashville’s 211 Call Center. In Nashville, 211 is a program operated by Family and Children’s Service with funding from and in partnership with United Way to assist those in need with high-quality information and referrals to community resources. The health navigator program is staffed by individuals trained to assess need, manage people’s access of healthcare services, and schedule callers in need of healthcare with the appropriate healthcare providers in real time to help resolve issues and defuse personal crises. The health navigator position is funded through Ascension Health, of which Saint Thomas Health in Nashville is a member.

The addition of the MyHealthDIRECT application will enable the health navigator to immediately connect callers with available healthcare providers in Nashville who can provide appropriate resources and care to address the individual’s specific needs. With MyHealthDIRECT the health navigator will have access to a management system that seamlessly schedules patients with healthcare appointments throughout a community or network. The 211 Call Center, using MyHealthDIRECT, will be able to organize and search available provider appointment slots and book appointments for its callers.

MyHealthDIRECT CEO and founder Jay Mason stated “We are very pleased to partner with Family & Children’s Service and 211, with support from Ascension Health, to streamline the delivery of this vital service and reduce barriers that often prevent individuals from accessing the care they need.”

The 211 Call Center provides 24/7 support to callers and their families by providing access to an array of resources and services to anyone in the region. Last year, the center answered just shy of 150,000 calls for help and provided almost 250,000 referrals to 1,859 agencies that provide assistance in the region. Of those calls approximately 14,000 callers were seeking healthcare-related assistance.

With the MyHealthDIRECT solution, the 211 health navigator will be able to not only manage and track callers, their circumstances and resolutions internally, but also immediately schedule appointments for callers at the appropriate provider’s nearest location, provide transportation information (directions and/or public transit options), offer language options, and issue appointment reminders to ensure the appointment is kept or rescheduled. Family and Children’s Service CEO Michael McSurdy stated, “Collaboration among MyHealthDIRECT, local healthcare providers and 211 can only improve access to and support in accessing healthcare for the clients.”

Across the country, MyHealthDIRECT’s Web-based solution helps healthcare organizations improve access to care, facilitate care management and improve quality measures. The platform is easy to implement and use, enabling organizations to quickly put MyHealthDIRECT to work within any practice environment to find open and available healthcare appointments in the community to meet patients’ needs.

For more information, visit www.myhealthdirect.com.

About MyHealthDIRECT

MyHealthDIRECT is a national health services company that connects hospitals, care management organizations, public agencies and community collaboratives for the purpose of scheduling timely and appropriate healthcare appointments on behalf of individuals. Founded in 2005, MyHealthDIRECT offers a web-based solution that organizes open and available healthcare appointments in the community into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services. The MyHealthDIRECT solution promotes continuity of care, reduces unnecessary cost and utilization and ensures that patients are scheduled with appointments that best fit their needs and preferences. For more information on MyHealthDIRECT please visit www.myhealthdirect.com.

About Family & Children’s Service

Nashville, TN-based Family & Children’s Service aims to strengthen families, children and individuals to achieve self-sufficiency, family preservation and emotional well-being through a wide range of programs in a Strength & Systems Based Service Philosophy. This approach emphasizes each client’s internal strengths, talents and potential to help cultivate resilience in the wake of trauma, abuse and other obstacles through client-oriented services and collaborative therapy provided within the context of each clients’ unique life environment and experience. For more information, visit www.fcsnashville.org.

About Ascension Health
Ascension Health is transforming healthcare by providing the highest quality care to all, with special attention to those who are poor and vulnerable. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Ascension Health provided more than $1 billion in care of persons who are poor and community benefit last year and is the nation’s largest Catholic and nonprofit health system. Its Mission-focused Health Ministries employ 113,000 associates serving in more than 500 locations in 20 states and the District of Columbia. For more information, visit www.ascensionhealth.org.

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MyHealthDIRECT Selected by Nashville General Hospital To Help Connect Patients with Appropriate Providers

Web-Based Solution Increases Efficiency, Improves Quality of Care, Reduces Costs; Hospital Cites Ability to Link Patients with Community Doctors and Ongoing CareBrookfield, WI – (June 7, 2011) – MyHealthDIRECT announced today that its flagship healthcare connection solution has been selected for installation at Nashville General Hospital at Meharry, Nashville’s leading city-owned medical center and part of the Metropolitan Nashville Hospital Authority (MNHA). Nashville General, a leader in the innovative use of healthcare information technology, intends to use MyHealthDIRECT to connect patients to appropriate healthcare providers both inside and outside the MNHA system.

Nashville General, serving the citizens of Davidson County since 1890, is renowned for its medical staff that includes physicians from Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University. Its emphasis on advanced healthcare IT includes systems that allow clinicians and staff members to securely share medical data and patient records electronically throughout the organization. MyHealthDIRECT, a proprietary Web-based software application that connects patients to healthcare providers at the most appropriate level of care in real time, will interface with the hospital’s systems to search and organize available healthcare appointments.

“We are excited about the enhancements to the quality and appropriateness of care that this solution will allow us to pass on to our patients,” said Jason Boyd, interim CEO of Metropolitan Nashville Hospital Authority. “MyHealthDIRECT addresses a serious problem that many hospitals across Tennessee and the US face which is inappropriate utilization of medical services and access to medical home based models.

By installing MyHealthDIRECT, Nashville General anticipates several advances in quality of care, cost reduction and more effective resource utilization:

A reduction in the use of Emergency Department services for non-emergency visits
The ability to connect community residents to resources like Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and community centers or other appropriate levels of care
The ability to connect members with network providers and resources
An increase in referrals back from FQHCs and community centers for hospital specialists
Ability to educate our patient base on appropriate use of various levels of care

“Nashville General Hospital at Meharry has placed itself at the forefront of the use of technology to solve some of the most difficult challenges facing large metropolitan medical centers today. We’re thrilled that it has chosen MyHealthDIRECT to be a leading component of that strategy,” said Jay Mason, president and founder of MyHealthDIRECT. “Using our solution, Nashville General will not only increase quality of care for its patients, but also move toward more effective cost containment through greater operational efficiency, by moving follow-up care away from the Emergency Department and into the community, and by connecting more patients into a PCP/Medical Home relationship.”

MyHealthDIRECT helps healthcare organizations increase access to care, facilitating care management and improving quality measures. As a Web-based solution, MyHealthDIRECT is easy to implement; healthcare organizations can quickly use MyHealthDIRECT to scan and query over 95% of the most popular, commercially-available practice management systems to find open and available healthcare appointments in the community.

For more information, visit www.myhealthdirect.com.

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MyHealthDIRECT a Silver Sponsor of the 19th Annual Medicaid Managed Care Congress, May 18-20
Company CEO and Founder Jay Mason to Participate in Thursday, May 19 Panel Discussion On Impact of Accountable Care Organizations and Patient Centered Medical Homes

Brookfield, WI – (May 17, 2011) – MyHealthDIRECT announced today that it has assumed silver-level sponsorship of the 19^th Annual Medicaid Managed Care Congress, the largest and longest running industry event for state Medicaid officials and Medicaid health plan executives, to be held May 18-20, 2011 at the Hilton Baltimore in Baltimore, MD. As part of the conference, Jay Mason, MyHealthDIRECT CEO and founder, will take part in a May 19 panel presentation entitled “Gain Insight on ACOs and Patient Centered Medical Homes and Their Effect on Managed Care Organizations”.

The 2011 Medicaid Managed Care Congress will be focused on the most pressing clinical and business concerns facing Managed Care organizations today, including the impact of healthcare reform, operational efficiency, and strategies for managing high-cost populations to better protect profitability. The Congress attracts hundreds of C-level executives and top officials from both the governmental and private sectors, including health plans, state Medicaid agencies, the federal government, pharmaceutical companies and service providers.

Jay Mason will be joined in his May 19 panel appearance by Charlotte MacBeth, MBA, MHA, JD, President and CEO of MWwise; Edwina Rogers, Executive Director of the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative; and Mark Wallace, MD, Medical Director of CO Access. The session will examine the coming impact of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and Patient Centered Medical Homes on Managed Care organizations, especially in the areas of cost reduction, Medicaid vs. commercial applications, and state variances.

“Gain Insight on ACOs and Patient Centered Medical Homes and Their Effect on Managed Care Organizations” will be moderated by Anita Murcko, MD, FACP, Principal and Chief Medical Officer of Cambiare, LLC. The panel begins at 4:15 PM on May 19.

“With greater change facing the healthcare industry today than ever before, The Medicaid Managed Care conference is of vital importance to many of the field’s primary decision-makers. We believe it is important for MyHealthDIRECT, as a healthcare technology innovator, to play a leading role in this event,” said Mason. “We look forward to our participation, not only to exchange views with these key executives, but also to acquaint a broader cross-section of the industry with MyHealthDIRECT’s health services.”

To learn more about the 19^th Annual Medicaid Managed Care Congress, or to register, log on to http://www.iirusa.com/mmcc/home.xml. MyHealthDIRECT will be exhibiting at the Congress, booth #8.
For more information on MyHealthDIRECT please visit www.myhealthdirect.com.

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MyHealthDIRECT Receives $4 Million In Series B Investment Funding

Fast-Growing Health Services Innovator will Use Funds from Arboretum Ventures and Chrysalis Ventures to Facilitate Its Expansion into New Markets Across U.S.

Brookfield, WI – (April 6, 2011) – MyHealthDIRECT today announced that it has closed its Series B investment round with $4 million in funding from two of America’s leading healthcare venture capital firms, Arboretum Ventures and Chrysalis Ventures. Chrysalis participated in the company’s previous round. Reflecting the growing demand of MyHealthDIRECT among leading healthcare organizations and agencies, the investments will be used to fund the company’s continued national growth through expansion of its sales, client services and technical resources.Founded in 2005, MyHealthDIRECT is a web-based access management system that broadly and seamlessly connects patients to healthcare appointments throughout a community or network. Using a simple Web browser, healthcare organizations can use MyHealthDIRECT to scan and query over 95% of the most popular, commercially-available practice management systems to find and book open and available healthcare appointments in the community.

“We’re excited to continue to achieve important milestones at MyHealthDIRECT.” said Jay Mason, CEO and founder of MyHealthDIRECT. “These investments come at a time of major growth for our company where we expect to double our headcount and quadruple our sales in 2011. We look forward to working closely with both Arboretum and Chrysalis to take MyHealthDIRECT to its next level of achievement.”

“Arboretum is very pleased to lead the Series B round of funding for MyHealthDIRECT. The company’s products help more efficiently connect healthcare providers and patients so the right care can be provided to the right patient at the right place and time,” stated Tim Petersen, Managing Director, Arboretum Ventures. “MyHealthDIRECT is rapidly establishing itself as the ‘Open Table’ of healthcare, and we are very pleased to provide it with additional growth capital.”

“As demonstrated by our additional investment, we are excited about the important impact that MyHealthDIRECT is having in healthcare,” stated David Jones, Jr., Chairman and Managing Director, Chrysalis Ventures. “The company has a strong management team, clear vision, and motivated people. We believe MyHealthDIRECT is making a real difference in improving access to healthcare services and raising the overall quality of medical care.”

For more information, visit www.myhealthdirect.com.

About Aboretum Ventures

Abortetum Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm specializing in the healthcare sector. Arboretum invests through the United States, but with a special interest in the Midwest. Aboretum aims to transform young companies into mature and thriving businesses that are improving patient outcomes and lowering the cost of care, thereby generating superior returns for entrepreneurs and our investors. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Arboretum currently manages $170 million in capital. Arboretum has made 18 company investments over the past seven years, including investments in HealthMedia (acquired in 2008 by Johnson & Johnson) and HandyLab (acquired in 2009 by Becton Dickinson).

About Chrysalis Ventures

Chrysalis Ventures manages one of Mid-America’s largest funds for early-stage and growth investments with approximately $400 million under management. Since 1993, the firm has invested in over 65 companies, primarily in the healthcare and technology sectors. With headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, Chrysalis has offices in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Ann Arbor and Houston. The firm seeks to partner with entrepreneurs to build enduring businesses in industries undergoing significant transformation. For more information, please visit www.chrysalisventures.com.

About MyHealthDIRECT

MyHealthDIRECT is a national health services solutions company that connects hospitals, care management organizations, public agencies and community collaboratives for the purpose of scheduling and booking timely and appropriate healthcare appointments on behalf of individuals. Founded in 2005, MyHealthDIRECT offers a web-based solution that organizes and books open and available healthcare appointments in the community into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services. The MyHealthDIRECT solution promotes continuity of care, reduces unnecessary cost and utilization and ensures that patients are matched with appointments that best fit their needs and preferences. For more information on MyHealthDIRECT please visit www.myhealthdirect.com.

MyHealthDIRECT CEO Jay Mason to Discuss “Making Healthcare Cheaper” at Health 2.0’s Spring Fling Conference in San Diego

Panel Discussion Will Explore Latest Technologies in Healthcare Including New Models for Care Delivery and Taking Advantage of Rapid Development and Deployment Cycles

Brookfield, WI (March 22, 2011) – Focused on improving healthcare delivery with effective and efficient IT and service solutions, MyHealthDIRECT announced today that CEO and co-founder Jay Mason will speak Tuesday, March 22^nd at 4:00 P.M. Pacific Standard Time during the “Making Health Care Cheaper” session, at the Health 2.0 Spring Fling conference in San Diego.

The conference, being held March 21-22 at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines, is the leading gathering of healthcare related technology providers in the country. The 2011 Health 2.0 Spring Fling conference will center on three themes; the evolution of research, prevention, wellness, exercise and food, and making healthcare cheaper.

Mr. Mason will call on his deep industry experience to discuss how the latest Health 2.0 technologies are changing the healthcare landscape for the better through gains in efficiency and cost. He will also tackle alternate funding models that can spurn a faster, more iterative approach to healthcare innovation.

“Healthcare is in a challenging period, and all of the players will need to focus squarely on making quality healthcare more affordable,” said Mr. Mason. “I’m very excited to be a part of an interesting panel discussion at the Spring Fling conference. Health 2.0 is a great organization that promotes healthy discussion about innovation and change in our industry. Its conferences are also a great forum for networking and collaboration as it attracts the very brightest people throughout healthcare.”

In addition to the panel discussion, Mr. Mason will also be conducting a live product demonstration during the conference. Visit http://myhealthdirect.com/please-join-us/, for more information.

MyHealthDIRECT provides a comprehensive service solution to assist healthcare organizations in increasing access to care, facilitating care management and improving quality measures. Whether it is a patient arriving in the emergency room for non-emergency treatment, a health plan member calling for a physician referral, or a patient in need of chronic disease management, its solution ensures that patients connect with the most available–and appropriate–care provider for their unique health concern. Patients are automatically directed to the right health professionals offering the right services the right time and location. Its proprietary web-based software requires no additional hardware or software, no capital investment and minimal technical commitment.

About MyHealthDIRECT

MyHealthDIRECT is a national health services solutions company that connects hospitals, care management organizations, public agencies and community collaboratives for the purpose of scheduling and booking timely and appropriate healthcare appointments on behalf of individuals. Founded in 2006, MyHealthDIRECT offers a web-based solution that organizes open and available healthcare appointments in the community into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services. The MyHealthDIRECT solution promotes continuity of care, reduces unnecessary cost and utilization and ensures that patients are matched with appointments that best fit their needs and preferences. For more information on MyHealthDIRECT please visit www.myhealthdirect.com.

About Health 2.0

The Health 2.0 Conference is the leading showcase of cutting-edge technologies in health care, including Online Communities, Search and lightweight Tools for consumers to manage their health and connect to providers online. Health 2.0 has been featured in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Huffington Post, on CNN, CBS News, and in the healthcare trade press. In addition Health 2.0 has set up a non-profit industry consortium, the Health 2.0 Accelerator, and a research consulting service, Health 2.0 Advisors. Health 2.0 remains a venue where innovation in technology is introduced and ground-breaking ideas are shared to drive change in the health care system.

MyHealthDIRECT Receives $100,000 to Provide Healthcare Access to Patients in Need at Connecticut Hospital

Generosity of Lord Foundation to Help Backus Hospital Link Local Patients
with Community Doctors and Ongoing Care

Brookfield, WI – (March 16, 2011) MyHealthDIRECT today announced they have received a pledge of $100,000 from The Edward and Mary Lord Foundation to advance the accessibility of healthcare for patients of The William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, Connecticut.

MyHealthDIRECT is a web-based software application that connects, in real time, patients to healthcare providers at the most appropriate level of care; allowing its users to search and organize open and available healthcare appointments in the community into a schedulable inventory of healthcare services.

Backus Hospital has used MyHealthDIRECT since 2009 to provide more timely and ongoing care for patients, and reduce visits to the emergency room. Kathryn Lord, director of The Edward and Mary Lord Foundation, presented the first of two $50,000 checks to Backus on February 15^th as part of a two-year pledge to support the hospital’s MyHealthDIRECT program. “We are excited to support the MyHealthDIRECT program, as we believe that this is a great positive and forward-thinking move in helping members of our community better their health and their lives,” Ms. Lord said.

MyHealthDIRECT’s proprietary web-based software solution helps healthcare organizations increase access to care, facilitate care management and improve quality measures. Whether it is a patient arriving in the emergency room for non-emergency treatment, a health plan member calling for a physician referral, or a patient in need of chronic disease management, MyHealthDIRECT ensures that patients connect with the most available–and appropriate–care provider for their specific health concern.

“It is our mission is to transform the delivery of healthcare by seamlessly and directly connecting members and patients with the provider they need at every point along the care continuum,” said Jay Mason, president and co-founder of MyHealthDIRECT. “We are grateful to have supporters such as the Lord Foundation, who understand our quest to serve all members and patients, including the underserved, treating them with respect and dignity.”

Since the inception of MyHealthDIRECT at Backus two years ago, the hospital has made over 600 referral appointments. The generous gift of the Lord Family will help to improve the immediate welfare of local patients in Norwich, Connecticut, and have a positive impact on their future health.

For more information, visit www.myhealthdirect.com.

About MyHealthDIRECT

MyHealthDIRECT is a national health services solutions company that connects hospitals, care management organizations, public agencies and community collaboratives for the purpose of scheduling and booking timely and appropriate healthcare appointments on behalf of individuals. Founded in 2006, MyHealthDIRECT offers a web-based solution that organizes open and available healthcare appointments in the community into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services. The MyHealthDIRECT solution promotes continuity of care, reduces unnecessary cost and utilization and ensures that patients are matched with appointments that best fit their needs and preferences. For more information on MyHealthDIRECT please visit www.myhealthdirect.com.

About The William W. Backus Hospital

For more than 117 years, Backus Hospital has provided quality healthcare to the residents of eastern Connecticut. The 213-bed, not-for-profit, acute care community hospital is the primary source of health services for nearly a quarter-million people. Since its founding in 1893, Backus has continually provided programs and services, and formed strategic alliances with other healthcare organizations and providers to meet the healthcare needs of the region. For more information about Backus and its services, please visit www.backushospital.org

“MyHealthDIRECT links patients, doctors online. Service includes appointments”

Publisher: Brookfield NOW
By Jessica Stephen, Correspondent

BROOKFIELD, WI (March 9, 2011) – Jay Mason was supposed to talk a friend’s son out of his revolutionary idea for health care. Instead, Mason and the 18-year-old from St. Louis created MyHealthDirect, an online start-up that connects people to local doctors, then helps them books their appointments. “Our job is to get people to the right place at the right time,” said Mason, CEO of the Brookfield-based company. Before the company had clients in seven states, with plans to more than double that in 2011, MyHealthDirect was an off-the-cuff idea from Michael Eaton, a teenager whose father managed a major health care system.

“He said, ‘Hey dad, why can’t you market your doctors online? If I can order a book online, why can’t I book an appointment online?’ ” Mason recalled. “And he said, ‘You don’t understand how health care works.’ And it didn’t work that way at the time.” But Mason, who already had experience starting four other health care-related businesses, liked the idea, which merged the concepts behind Internet search engines with the personal service appreciated when dealing with health concerns.

“MyHealthDirect finds doctors and books appointments,” Mason said. “But it also matches doctors to your insurance, in network, out of network, on a bus route, Spanish speaking. All these things can be entered in to the form we use to determine which clinics match those categories.” So far, the service has been available for Medicaid patients and those without insurance, two groups of people who have traditionally had a hard time finding doctors who would treat them because of their limited benefits.

But, Mason said, MyHealthDirect is working with insurance companies to roll out services for more traditional patients, too. There are even plans for a smart phone app. “You would pull up the list of doctors, put down when you would like to be seen and be able to schedule that in real time on your phone,” Mason said.

Brookfield NOW (posted article, 3/9/11)

“Donations Link Patients to Community Doctors”, by William W. Backus Hospital

The Edward and Mary Lord Foundation has pledged $100,000 toward MyHealthDIRECT”

NORWICH, CT (March 7, 2011) – William W. Backus Hospital, “The Edward and Mary Lord Foundation has pledged $100,000 toward MyHealthDIRECT, an innovative tool at Backus Hospital that links patients who lack a primary care physician with appropriate healthcare providers. This provides more timely and ongoing care for patients, and reduces visits to the emergency room.

Kathryn Lord, Director of the local Foundation, presented a $50,000 check to Backus on Feb. 15 — the first part of a two-year pledge. The hospital’s Emergency Care and Trauma Center is named after Ms. Lord’s uncle and aunt, Edward and Mary Lord, whose $500,000 gift to the BackusCare expansion project in 2007 helped make its expansion possible.

“We are excited to support the MyHealthDIRECT program, as we believe that this is a great positive and forward-thinking move in helping members of our community better their health and their lives,” Ms. Lord said. “This goal could not fit the mission of the Edward and Mary Lord Foundation more perfectly.”

MyHealthDIRECT is a computerized system that connects healthcare providers and patients, providing Backus staff in the Emergency Department, hospitalists, Care Management and other departments the ability to fill healthcare gaps by making referrals to local clinics such as United Community & Family Services and Generations Family Health Centers.

“The generosity of the Lord Foundation is a great example of how our community hospital can improve the immediate welfare of local patients, and have a positive impact on their future health,” said Genevieve Schies, Director of the Backus Office of Philanthropy and Development.

Backus is one of only six hospitals in the state, and the only one in southeastern Connecticut, to utilize MyHealthDIRECT.

Since beginning the program in May 2009, Backus has made more than 600 referral appointments. Patients who have a primary care provider, a “medical home,” are able to receive ongoing and comprehensive care for their medical conditions. This keeps patients healthier, and avoids visits to the emergency department.

“This is an extremely important program at a time when the numbers of uninsured and underinsured people are increasing, and healthcare reform is well underway,” Ms. Schies said. “We are extremely grateful to have supporters like the Lord family who understand how important philanthropy is to community hospitals.””

MyHealthDIRECT to Showcase Tech-Based Solutions for Collaborative Healthcare Delivery at Annual HIMSS11 in Orlando

Company Leaders to Highlight Success Stories in Bridging the Gap between Providers and Patients to Streamline Care Continuum

Brookfield, WI (February 18, 2011) – Focused on improving healthcare delivery with effective and efficient IT and service solutions, MyHealthDIRECT announced today that CEO and co-founder Jay Mason and Vice President of Community Alliances Marilee Benson will serve as featured speakers during the Annual HIMSS11 Conference & Exhibition Feb. 20-24 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. Recognized as one of the premier conferences in the healthcare industry, HIMSS brings together nearly 30,000 healthcare professionals from across the globe for this annual gathering.

Mason and Benson will present “Community Collaborations Strategies” at 1:30 p.m. and again at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 21 in the New and Emerging Technology Theatre (#218) located in Hall A. The session will address the critical challenges healthcare leaders face with regard to community collaborations, including ensuring adequate access to care, cost containment and quality. Attendees will learn first-hand how other healthcare organizations are driving change through implementing Software-as-a-Service interoperable service solutions to connect the healthcare community outside the organizational infrastructure to the spectrum of providers and streamline the care continuum. Mason and Benson will expand on a simple yet unique models and success strategies for implementing Collaborative Healthcare Communities.

“The annual HIMSS event gives us a wonderful opportunity to meet one-on-one with people who are looking for the right technology solution for their specific situation,” Mason said. “In this session, we intend to introduce attendees to a novel solution that is bridging the gap between the hospital, providers and health plans to provide the best possible care for patients.”

MyHealthDIRECT provides a comprehensive service solution to assist healthcare organizations in increasing access to care, facilitating care management and improving quality measures. Whether it is a patient arriving in the emergency room for non-emergency treatment, a health plan member calling for a physician referral, or a patient in need of chronic disease management, MyHealthDIRECT’s solution ensures that patients connect with the most available–and appropriate–care provider for their unique health concern. Patients are automatically directed to the right health professionals offering the right services the right time and location. Its proprietary web-based software requires no additional hardware or software, no capital investment and minimal technical commitment.

The solution not only facilitates appointment booking at the point of service but also provides reminders, locates available public transportation and follows up with patients to ensure the appointment was kept or rescheduled. The system is well suited for call center and/or care/disease management environments within managed care organizations and hospitals, hospital emergency departments and discharge planning units. The solution integrates with any portal or client website for easy access.

In addition to the presentation, representatives from MyHealthDIRECT will be available to talk one-on-one HIMSS attendees about their own needs at Kiosk #11 in the New & Emerging Technology Pavilion throughout the event. For more information, visit www.myhealthdirect.com.

About MyHealthDIRECT

MyHealthDIRECT is a national health services solutions company that connects hospitals, care management organizations, public agencies and community collaboratives for the purpose of scheduling and booking timely and appropriate healthcare appointments on behalf of individuals. Founded in 2006, MyHealthDIRECT offers a web-based solution that organizes open and available healthcare appointments in the community into a searchable and schedulable inventory of healthcare services. The MyHealthDIRECT solution promotes continuity of care, reduces unnecessary cost and utilization and ensures that patients are matched with appointments that best fit their needs and preferences. For more information on MyHealthDIRECT please visit www.myhealthdirect.com.

About HIMSS

HIMSS is a cause-based, not-for-profit organization exclusively focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of information technology (IT) and management systems for the betterment of healthcare. Founded 50 years ago, HIMSS and its related organizations have offices in Chicago, Washington, DC, Brussels, Singapore, Leipzig, and other locations across the United States. HIMSS represents more than 30,000 individual members, of which 68% work in healthcare provider, governmental and not-for-profit organizations. HIMSS also includes over 470 corporate members and more than 85 not-for-profit organizations that share our mission of transforming healthcare through the effective use of information technology and management systems. HIMSS frames and leads healthcare practices and public policy through its content expertise, professional development, and research initiatives designed to promote information and management systems’ contributions to improving the quality, safety, access and cost-effectiveness of patient care. To learn more about HIMSS and to find out how to join us and our members in advancing our cause, please visit our website at www.himss.org.

Doug Cobb of Chrysalis Ventures Joins MyHealthDIRECT Board of Directors

BROOKFIELD, WI—January 5, 2011
MyHealthDIRECT (MHD) is pleased to announce the addition of Doug Cobb to the company’s Board of Directors. Cobb is a successful Software-as-a-Service entrepreneur and entrepreneur-in-residence at Chrysalis Ventures, a Louisville, KY-based venture capital firm investing primarily in early-and growth-stage healthcare and technology companies. Cobb joined the MHD Board of Directors, effective December 22, 2010.

One of the most successful CEOs in the Chrysalis portfolio, Cobb was most recently CEO of Appriss Inc., a Louisville, KY-based provider of innovative information technology solutions for state and municipal agencies. In 2007, Cobb sold Appriss to an investor group led by Bain Capital, resulting in one of the largest cash-on-cash returns in Chrysalis’ history.

“I am thrilled that Doug will be joining MHD as a new Board member,” said Jay Mason, CEO and co-founder of MHD. “Doug’s experience in bringing advanced technology solutions to public service agencies is relevant to MHD’s mission to transform the delivery of healthcare by seamlessly connecting people with providers. In addition, his track record as an entrepreneur makes him a positive addition to our Board.”

“The company offers an important and innovative service that helps realign supply and demand of healthcare services so that patients are seen by the right physician at the right time,” said Cobb. “MHD’s positive growth trajectory and industry demand, along with its alignment with strategic partners, will only enhance MHD’s market visibility. I am excited to be a member of this team,” said Cobb.

MHD provides an on-demand, web-based patient scheduling utility for the entire healthcare ecosystem. With the ability to read practice scheduling systems, this service solution enables hospitals, health plans and managed care organizations to direct patients to the right healthcare professional at the right time and location. Since 2006, MHD has scheduled thousands of healthcare appointments. Additionally, third-party studies have shown that the use of the MHD solution helps reduce unnecessary emergency room visits by redirecting patients to a personally selected primary medical home.

Cobb has a successful 25-year history as a serial entrepreneur. From 1997 to 2000, Cobb served as the founding president and CEO of Greater Louisville Inc., Louisville’s leading economic development organization. Before joining Greater Louisville Inc., Cobb was a co-founder and managing director of Chrysalis Ventures from 1993 to 1997. Prior to Chrysalis, he was the founder and CEO of The Cobb Group, the world’s leading publisher of newsletters for personal computer users that were successfully sold to publisher Ziff-Davis in 1991.

Frank Stellato Joins MyHealthDIRECT As Chief Financial Officer

BROOKFIELD, WI—January 5, 2011
MyHealthDIRECT (MHD) is pleased to formerly announce an important addition to its executive team. In July of 2010, Frank Stellato joined the company as Chief Financial Officer. Founded in 2006, MHD is an innovative healthcare technology service solution provider. The company offers a web-based access management solution that broadly and seamlessly connects patients to healthcare appointments throughout a community or network. It is used by hospitals, managed care organizations, and State Agency and Health Information Exchange initiatives, resulting in cost containment and better care delivery.

In his new position, Frank will have functional responsibility for the financial and human resource areas of the company. These areas include financial reporting, expense and cash management, establishing standard operating procedures and controls, forecasting and budgeting, finance and capital raise activities and managing the company financial relationships. As a senior member of the organization, Frank will also participate in setting MyHealthDIRECT’s strategic direction.

“Frank’s proven abilities in financial management will be instrumental at MyHealthDIRECT as we continue to grow,” says Jay Mason, CEO of MyHealthDIRECT. “We are extremely fortunate to have Frank on our team and look forward to the impact he will have on the whole organization.”

“I am delighted to join the team at MyHealthDIRECT,” said Stellato. “I am very excited to participate in commercializing the MHD value proposition which addresses the core issue facing today’s healthcare environment, cost containment and enhanced patient care.”

Mr. Stellato comes to the organization with 30 years of healthcare industry experience in start up, mid size and Fortune 100 companies. Prior to joining MyHealthDIRECT, Frank was the Chief Financial Officer of MedAssist Incorporated, a leading provider of revenue cycle management solutions to the healthcare provider market. He was instrumental in the 2007 sale of MedAssist to Firstsource Solutions Limited for $330 million in cash. Post sale, Frank was appointed to the North American CFO role for Firstsource. Mumbai-based Firstsource is among India’s leading business processing outsourcing companies, providing business process management services to global leaders in the Banking, Financial, Telecom and Healthcare industries. Frank also spent 15 years at Baxter International Inc. with various cross functional role responsibilities, including director level experience in Accounting/Finance, Marketing and Operations. Mr. Stellato holds a Bachelor degree from DePaul University, Chicago Illinois and holds a CPA certificate from the state of Illinois.

My Health Direct Expands Executive Team with New SVP

Company hires seasoned business development leader to direct growth into managed care and other markets

BROOKFIELD, WI. – September 27, 2010
My Health Direct, an innovative web-based health care service, has recruited another member onto their senior management team, Zachary Fritz, who is their Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

Mr. Fritz is responsible for expanding and leading a sales organization that captures new business in the managed care, hospital, disease management, and partner arenas. He has nearly twenty years experience in sales, sales leadership, marketing, business development, and strategy, primarily with healthcare SaaS and services organizations. He is also accountable for corporate marketing and for developing My Health Direct’s overall marketing plan. Mr. Fritz evaluates market trends, provides industry analysis, and collaborates with the other executive team members on company strategy.

“Zac’s proven abilities will drive great results at My Health Direct,” says Jay Mason, CEO of My Health Direct. “We are extremely fortunate to have Zac joining our team and look forward to the impact he will have on the whole organization.”

He began his career at Pitney Bowes, prior to serving as the Branch Manager for Phoenix-Hudson Health Services, a provider of physical and occupational therapy services to hospitals and clinics. Mr. Fritz served for four years as the Director of Marketing for a VHA-operated medical call center, and later served as the Vice President, Sales, for IntelliCare (now Sirona) during his years with that provider of medical call center software and services. Most recently, Mr. Fritz led the hospital sales team at CPM for three years prior to serving as the Vice President, Healthcare Sales, for the HealthMedia division of Johnson & Johnson with responsibilities over the managed care, employer, and hospital markets.

He received his BA in History from DePauw University, and his MBA from the Kelley School of Indiana University at IUPUI.

My Health Direct is a web-based solution that organizes open and available health care appointments in the community into a searchable and schedulable inventory of health care services for all enrollees.

We ensure a connection between members and patients to providers at the time of care. This results in reduced costs of care, reduced length of stay, increased member satisfaction, and overall improved continuity of care.

My Health Direct Signs WHIE Contract

Allows for Confirmed Follow-Up Appointments
BROOKFIELD, WI. – September 7, 2010

My Health Direct has signed an agreement with the Wisconsin Health Information Exchange (WHIE), effective as of July 1, 2010, which will allow Milwaukee area individuals who have used hospital emergency departments to access primary care follow-up appointments in the community.

The contract will benefit Milwaukee area residents who are in need of follow-up appointments post-emergency care. The primary goals of this agreement are to reduce emergency department overcrowding, reduce inappropriate use of hospital emergency departments and to promote primary medical homes. The My Health Direct solution connects individuals with appointments that are timely and close to home. “We are very excited to be part of the WHIE’s highly successful deployment here in Milwaukee,” says My Health Direct CEO Jay Mason. “Helping direct patients to the right clinical location at the right time is what our company is all about. Through this relationship with the WHIE, we will make a significant impact on improving access to care and clinical outcomes.”

Joy Tapper, Executive Director of Milwaukee Healthcare Partnership, noted, “The My Health Direct scheduling tool allows Milwaukee health systems to schedule same-day or next-day appointments for emergency department patients who would benefit from a follow-up primary care visit. The scheduling system plays an important role in our community-wide initiative to connect patients with medical homes, improve health outcomes and reduce avoidable ED visits and associated expenses.”

Among the participating hospitals are: Aurora Sinai Medical Center, Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center, Aurora St. Luke’s South Shore, Aurora West Allis Medical Center, Froedtert & Community Health, Inc., Columbia St. Mary’s, Wheaton Franciscan – St. Joseph, and Wheaton Franciscan – St. Francis. All but the Wheaton hospitals have been using MHD for the last few years.

“Communities all around the country are looking at new ways to work together to improve health outcomes. Milwaukee can serve as an excellent example through the work of the WHIE,” states Mason.

My Health Direct, Inc. was founded in 2006 with the mission of transforming the health care delivery system by seamlessly connecting providers and consumers of health care appointments in a community-wide, competitive, web-based marketplace. Today, My Health Direct is a healthcare information technology company that offers a comprehensive, community oriented solution for real-time searching, comparing and scheduling of health care services. My Health Direct’s web-based platform engages all stakeholders in a community and creates interoperability of systems across multiple platforms to allow for coordinated access to care as a solution to the fragmented approach that would otherwise exist.

VP of Client Services Joins My Health Direct Team

Rapid growth causes company to expand key personnel
BROOKFIELD, WI. – August 25, 2010

My Health Direct, a web-based healthcare scheduling solution, announces the addition of Ken Mikesh, Vice President of Client Services, to their management team.

As Vice President of Client Services, Ken has senior level responsibility for enhancing relationships with existing My Health Direct clients and maximizing their strategic use of the My Health Direct platform. He has recently begun expanding the internal services organization to ensure that clients’ needs are being met and expectations exceeded through ongoing internal training, technical support, process improvement and new product identification.

Ken’s diverse healthcare technology experiences include regional and national leadership roles with organizations like RelayHealth, Allscripts and OptimusEMR. Ken is an active member with organizations such as: HIMSS, IL Healthcare Association, MGMA, as well as several state HIE’s. Ken received his degree from Loyola University of Chicago.

“Ken’s career has been distinguished with his solid contributions to support best in class organizations. With Ken leading our Client Services team we are extremely confident that he will have the same impact at My Health Direct,” states Jay Mason, CEO.

My Health Direct, Inc. was founded in 2006 with the mission of transforming the health care delivery system by seamlessly connecting providers and consumers of health care appointments in a community-wide, competitive, web-based marketplace. Today, My Health Direct is a healthcare information technology company that offers a comprehensive, community oriented solution for real-time searching, comparing and scheduling of health care services. My Health Direct engages all stakeholders in a community and creates interoperability of systems across multiple platforms to allow for coordinated access to care as a solution to the fragmented approach that would otherwise exist.

My Health Direct expands with addition of Vice President of Community-Based Alliances

My Health Direct welcomes Marilee Benson to their management team
BROOKFIELD, WI. – August 16, 2010

My Health Direct, a web-based healthcare scheduling platform, announces the addition of Marilee Benson, Vice President of Community-Based Alliances, to their management team.

As Vice President of Community-Based Alliances, Marilee develops strategic relationships and alliances with state and regional associations that are focused on primary care providers, medical home, and community health. Through the development of these relationships, she creates new business opportunities for the company as well as facilitates implementation of My Health Direct in key markets.

Jay Mason, CEO of My Health Direct, noted, “We are delighted to have Marilee join our management team. Her ability to strengthen our partnerships with community stakeholders will have a lasting impact.”

For more than two decades, Marilee has collaborated with a broad array of healthcare professionals to achieve significant strategic and marketing benchmarks. Prior to joining My Health Direct, she was a Vice President, Strategic Markets at Sage Software, one of the leaders of healthcare software organizations with focus on practice management, EHR, and community health. Marilee also had senior sales and product management roles with Carefx and WebMD/Emdeon. She successfully founded and later sold MicroSense, a practice management VAR. Marilee is CPHIMS certified, is active in HIMSS-related events, and has spoken nationally about topics ranging from eprescribing, to ARRA, to the impact of HIT. She resides in Glendale, CA, and received her BS in Microbiology from Texas A&M and her MBA from The University of Dallas.

HIStalk Interviews Jay Mason

Tell me about My Health Direct.

June 2, 2010

We’re a SaaS access management platform that broadly and seamlessly connects patients to healthcare appointments throughout either an entire community or an entire network. Think of it as OpenTable for healthcare.

It’s utilized by hospitals, the managed care plans, and state health initiatives to reduce unnecessary ER visits, to improve continuity of care with patients, and to correspondingly improve access to care for the patients. Those patients are primarily uninsured or covered by Medicaid or maybe one of their other public program counterparts.

Access management systems often do eligibility checking and other revenue cycle functions. Is that different than My Health Direct?
Yes. We take the term ‘access’ literally. We’re talking about access to health appointments and access to care versus access in a broader sense like revenue cycle management programs.

Talk about the ED overcrowding issue.
Two big articles just came out, one in USA Today and the other in The Washington Post. They coincidentally came out on the same day and speak to the same issue: there’s a tremendous amount of overcrowding in the ERs today.

People believe that’s principally due to uninsured patients. Studies show that’s not the case. Unfortunately, uninsured patients avoid care until it’s really bad. They get it when it’s absolutely necessary.

The drivers in overuse of emergency departments within the urban setting is patients who don’t have the knowledge and the skills and the resources to know what their options are to get care like you and I, who may be commercially insured. Not knowing what their options are, they’re going to the ER. The majority of times, it’s for for non-emergency conditions. They’re using it as a clinic.

We aggregate the appointment availability in the entire community with the community clinics and other participating physicians on a real-time basis. We make it available via a search engine through My Health Direct’s Web site for those people who are interacting with the patient.

A discharge planner or a nurse or physician in the ER who’s interacting might say, “We put a cast on your arm, but we need to get that thing taken off in four weeks. Instead of you coming back to the ER to take it off, let me find you an appointment in your neighborhood and schedule that appointment now so we can get your cast off.”

It’s amazing how many appointments show up to do things just like that — to get a script filled or a cast taken off or sutures removed. We all know the right setting for that stuff is an ambulatory setting, hopefully a low-cost one or at least one with a lower cost than the hospital ER.

Practices never seem to be open during convenient hours, with nobody staying open past 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. Is there really enough capacity in the system to handle patients who don’t have the luxury of going during normal working hours?
You would be amazed how much capacity there is in a community. When we first started this thing four years ago, we really thought the problem is probably there are just not enough appointments.

What we found is there’s a ton of locations and they’re not very efficient as far as their model is concerned. We find a lot of unused and inefficient capacity in a community where we’re able to collect it, aggregate it, and drive volume to it and maximize the efficiency of what might be smaller community clinics or free clinics or independent docs.

The advantage to the clinic is that our system allows them to really operate. My Health Direct is a front-end revenue cycle management tool. A clinic might say, “Gee, I really need about 45% of my practice to be Medicaid. I’m willing to take 15% charity and the rest has to be cash.” They can load that into our system and we actually deliver that payer mix according to what their requirements are. It allows a doc to manage
their portfolio of community-based care and know they’re not going to be inundated with something that they don’t want.

Specialists stopped taking ED call because they couldn’t get any paying patients. Do specialists and imaging centers really want to compete for ED referrals?
Their fear is that they’re going to get too much bad business. I don’t want to be inundated, as a PCP or a specialist, with too many charity patients. I’m willing to take my fair share, but don’t give me more than I think is reasonable.

That’s the problem is a lot of physicians, a lot of centers, elect not to participate because of either that experience or that fear. So, we said, “What a minute. If there’s a way to do a load-leveling or logistics management here and spread it widely and appropriately and allow the physician to have control.”

Who pays for your service?
We’re a community-based solution ultimately. Our clients are made up of hospitals, managed care plans, and then various public access programs or the initiatives. Those are all customers, currently, that pay for services with My Health Direct.

Who recruits the providers who will take the referrals?
We have provider relations folks who go out in concert with our clients. A hospital ER might say, “Look, there are six clinics within two miles of here.” They identify them and they work with us to get in front of those clinics and we can put them on a managed care plan. Then they say, “Yes, these are contracted facilities. We’d like to get these 37 clinic locations on.”

They identify, we work with them. We go together and we get them on the system. It’s a SaaS model, so this is a pretty easy implementation process for clinics.

Does your system go out in real time and poll the locations for open scheduling slots? How does that work?
We’ve got two methodologies to gather that information. Low-tech and high-tech, for lack of better terms.

The low-tech solution is there are, unfortunately, still a fair number of practices that are operating either on paper or an Excel database. We give those clinics our SaaS scheduling module that they can use to run their practice. It’s a nice improvement for them. It’s not a full PM system. It’s not intended to be, but for small practices who really are struggling to get to that next step, it’s a nice tool. We can maximize the throughput
even though they may be a small clinic.

Or, for a higher-tech solution, we’ve built spiders into the major practice management systems. We can drop those in and, on a real-time basis, read the calendars of those major practice management systems.

How do you assure that they won’t be double-booked, once in your system and again on paper?

A lot of the low-tech practices actually do most of their business via walk-in. They don’t do a lot of appointment making, probably because they don’t have a practice management system to schedule it. A lot of the FQHCs — the Federally Qualified Health Centers — probably 80% of their business is walk-in, so we’re not running into scheduling conflicts on the low-tech solution because generally speaking, as I said, they’re working on a first-come, first-served basis.
Some people might not want to be seen by a doctor who’s so available that he or she will take automatically scheduled ED patients. Who makes the quality decision on the providers?

The hospitals, when they’re the client. They’re controlling what clinics are on the system and what clinics they want to interact with. Similarly, the managed care plans are doing that. We don’t have a quality assurance process to make the determination what clinics are in or not. It’s our partners, really, that are directing that.
Is there feedback? Let’s say it’s a hospital ED that makes the appointment. Do they know or care that the person actually kept the appointment?

Oh, yes, absolutely. It’s critically important. We really designed this thing on the floor of the ER with the help of a lot of overworked, underpaid nurses. Some of the feedback we got was that they want to increase the show rate. They want to make sure that people are showing for these appointments.

We’ve been able to document that we’ve increased the show rate tenfold from the old system — the old system being the nurse hands you a piece of paper with a couple of clinic names on it and says, “You need to go to one of these.” About 5-8% of the time, patients will actually follow up. The other, they’re not doing anything, and unfortunately, they show up back at the ER with complications to their conditions.

We confirm appointments with each clinic. At the end of every week, we ask the clinic, “Hey, here are the 42 patients we sent you. Please click this box and let us know if they showed, if they didn’t show, or if they rescheduled.” We aggregate all that data and feed it back to the hospitals and the health plans.

Why would they be more likely to show through your system? Because they’ve already got a confirmed appointment versus “Go make yourself an appointment?”
To a degree. Some of the criteria we use to find an appointment are obviously pair-typed. If this is a Medicaid patient, we need to find a physician who’s taking not only Medicaid in general, but who’s contracted with the plan that they’re in. That’s the first cut.

Then we look at the neighborhood they’re in. We want to get in close proximity to their home. We look at provider language. Many times that’s a barrier, so we add that. If public transportation is needed, we make sure that the provider offices that we’re selecting are on a bus or a light rail route. We have other criteria such as provider gender or religion, if that’s a preference for the patient.

You take all those things combined, much like OpenTable does. You find a provider that’s most culturally competent to what the patient’s needs are. That, and getting a confirmed appointment that’s printed off in the consumer’s language are the game-changers that allow us to find the right location. That’s why we’re getting the show rates that we are.

Unlike OpenTable, just so I’m clear, the patient themselves is not interacting with your system. Is that correct?

Not today. We are in Beta with a couple clients and we’re opening up a direct-to-consumer tool as well. Not for Medicaid patients, but actually for commercially insured patients.
If you did that, would you follow the OpenTable model of allowing people to rate their satisfaction?

Yes. We’ve got a feedback loop built in.
With OpenTable, you see reviews and the price range and all the other factors that made their experience whatever it was. That would be interesting, where you didn’t have just anonymous reviewers, but those who actually confirmed their appointments just as someone made the OpenTable reservation.

That’s where we’re going. That’s kind of the future for the second half of this year is we want to be able to use it in an advocate model like we are today. Someone using it on behalf of a patient, be it an ER staff member or a managed care caseworker.

Ultimately, we want to get this into the consumer’s hands. It’s an easy to use tool that, for a hospital or health system, can help move market share. For the consumer, is a great differentiator in the market. I mean, everybody always complains, “Gee, it’s easier for me to order a book on Amazon or order tickets for a movie than it is for me to communicate in any way with my doctor. Why can’t I just get the appointment that I need?” That’s really where we’re heading with the next phase of our evolution.

You had a CMS contract with the State of Connecticut to reduce inappropriate ED visits. What was the result of that?
CMS provided some grants to states a couple of years ago. We were working with the State of Connecticut to write their grant and they were fortunate enough to get that.

We’re working with the state, the primary care association, the hospital association. We’ve picked about eight clinics and six hospitals throughout the state that were in desperate need of what we do, and it’s worked out great. We’ve been able to move those non-emergent patients — either if they’re triaged, or for follow-up care — to community clinics. We’ve got a tremendous show rate. It’s worked particularly well. It’s one of the

more successful CMS-funded initiatives.

If you were going to use that, or other experience as a selling point, what are the numbers that would get someone’s attention to the strategic use of MyHealthDIRECT?
On a visceral basis, the ER staff knows what the problem is. They know they’re overcrowded. They know they have non-emergent patients. They know these people aren’t showing where they should show. Just intuitively, what we do makes sense. I think that’s one of the reasons why we’ve been as successful as we are is we’re a pretty simple tool that’s very effective.

But we have done studies with our clients and have found that there is a hard ROI, and that we’ve been able to, because of moving those patients, reduce subsequent ER visits. Additionally, we’ve been able to reduce inpatient confinements because we’ve got those people connected to what we’ll refer to as a Medical Home.
There’s got to be some quality impact as well. Obviously, if the no-show rate goes down when you make an appointment right in front of someone, that whole compliance issue then comes into play. Not just for what it costs or where they go; but whether they get treated at all.
Absolutely. There are clinical aspects along with operational efficiency aspects and financial aspects to what

we’re able to do.

How do you think the whole ED visit and referral pattern will change with whatever healthcare reform changes?
Unfortunately, that is the elephant in the room. There have been a lot of studies. I mentioned the studies that were referenced by the two articles this week, but Medicaid patients are four times as likely to use the ER than a commercially insured patient. They’re using it for a majority of their visits for non-emergent care.

If they reduce Medicaid reimbursement, the result of that is fewer physicians are going to participate in those contracts. If you’re going to increase the rolls of Medicaid recipients by 30 million-plus, you are equally going to see a substantial increase in ER visits. You’re going to have a much bigger gap of supply and demand than we do today.

Today, it’s really significant. I think that’s the unintended consequence of reform is that we’re going to see our ER visits, which last year was 121 million ER visits in the country – it could easily hit 150-160 million visits.

The other trend that’s occurring is that urban hospitals are closing at an alarming rate and so are their ERs. Not only have we seen a substantial increase in ER visits, but we’ve seen a corresponding decrease in the number of ERs. Compounding that with reform and what is going to happen with Medicaid usage, it’s a big issue, a very big issue.

More patients will have insurance, so I assume more providers will accept their referrals. However, it might be a golden opportunity to educate patients about how to properly use healthcare resources since they’re suddenly more desirable with insurance.
If they’re privately or commercially insured, the studies are indicating that those people are connecting with much higher frequency to their primary care physician. It’s the Medicaid population that we really need to think outside of the box and try to find ways to fully engage them in their care and trying to do that early and often.

I think that’s going to be our biggest challenge is the economy and the country. You have to try to engage those people so they’re not using the ER inappropriately and they are getting the care that they need.

MyHealthDIRECT Expands into Connecticut and Arizona

Economy Fueling Demand for Innovative Health Care Connectivity Tool

DELAFIELD, Wis.-July 23, 2009-(BUSINESS WIRE)–MyHealthDIRECT, Inc., creator of a groundbreaking community-wide health care scheduling platform, today announced expansion beyond its Wisconsin base into Arizona and Connecticut. The company’s one-of a-kind Web-based service is used by hospitals to connect Medicare, Medicaid and uninsured ER patients that have non-emergency health care needs with primary care medical facilities in the community. Over the last year, revenues of MyHealthDIRECT have increased over 500%.

“With rising levels of patients using the ER for non-emergent conditions, our Web-based tool is helping hospitals reduce significant overcrowding problems,” said Jay Mason, CEO of MyHealthDIRECT. “With an established relationship with a primary care provider, patients are less likely to return to the ER for non-emergency care.”MyHealthDIRECT appointments for Medicaid and uninsured patients with community health centers. The contract was funded through CMS.

In Arizona, My Health Direct was selected by Banner Health, one of the largest nonprofit integrated health systems in the country, to pilot My Health Direct in two of its Phoenix-based hospitals. The contract is expected to expand to additional hospitals in Banner’s seven-state footprint.

In Wisconsin, MyHealthDIRECT received public funding for “Project Badger,” which expands the company’s operations throughout
the state. Wisconsin clients include Aurora Health Care, Columbia St. Mary’s and Froedtert hospitals. Mason is also expanding MyHealthDIRECT beyond the hospital emergency department. “Health plans, disease management firms and community call centers all benefit from a tool that connects their clients to a health care appointment that is timely, accessible, and appropriate for their medical condition. MyHealthDIRECT is positioned to be a vital common health care scheduling tool throughout entire communities.”

About My Health Direct, Inc.
My Health Direct Inc., based in Delafield, Wis., provides a Web-based solution for clinicians in the ER to re-direct non-emergent patients to the appropriate setting in the community, with a confirmed appointment based on patient needs such as proximity, payor network, public transportation, timeliness, language and specialty. Since 2006, My Health Direct has scheduled more than 25,000 health appointments between hospitals and clinics.

Finding cost savings in unnecessary ER visits

My Health Direct sees growth potential out of health reform
July 17, 2009

The Business Journal of Milwaukee – by Peg Masterson Edquist Special to The Business Journal

The federal economic stimulus law could become a key component in the growth of My Health Direct Inc., a software service company used to reduce unnecessary visits to hospital emergency rooms. “I think it’s a golden time right now for the realignment of the health care system and My Health Direct is a good tool,” said Jim Woodburn, vice president atUnitedHealth Group in Minnetonka, Minn., and a board member of My Health
Direct, which is based in Delafield.

According to the National Association of Community Health Centers in Bethesda, Md., the annual cost of unnecessary trips to emergency rooms is more than $18 billion.

“We want to take care of the first big problem, which is unnecessary utilization,” said Jay Mason, 51, founder and chief executive of My Health Direct.

Using software designed for hospitals, managed care plans and state agencies, the service finds alternative locations and makes appointments for people who enter emergency departments with non life-threatening conditions.

Mason said it also addresses the needs of underinsured and uninsured patients who can be redirected to federally funded neighborhood clinics or nonprofit clinics that are designed to handle this kind of population.

“There is a lot of hidden health care capacity in communities, but they don’t have the knowledge to find it,” he said. Part of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by President Barack Obama in January directs money to federally funded clinics. Mason said the clinics could potentially use the money to upgrade online services to connect with hospitals that use MyHealthDIRECT.

Founded in 2005 under the name of Global Health Direct with an investment of $500,000 by Mason, the service is now used by area hospital systems Aurora Health Care, Columbia St. Mary’s Inc., Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin, as well as hospitals in Phoenix and four cities in Connecticut. The company changed its name to My Health Direct in January.

In Houston, the company services community call centers that direct, find and reserve appointments for the general population.

Dr. Paul Coogan, medical director for the emergency room at Aurora Sinai Medical Center, Milwaukee, said the department has used My Health Direct since 2006 when the hospital was a pilot test site.

“It allows us to make appointments for these patients, many of whom have never before been assigned to a clinic or physician,” he said. “This allows the clinics that get funded federally to capture more patients and helps us decompress our ER.”

Clinics such as Milwaukee Health Services Inc., Milwaukee, give participating hospitals slots for upcoming appointments. Emergency department nurses and/or doctors then input a patients’ profile into the software and are given an appointment to hand to the patient immediately.

Mason, an entrepreneur who sold a successful business that managed a network of chiropractors, received $1.2 million from local investors in 2006 to launch the pilot. Last year, the product was expanded to three hospitals in the Aurora network as well as Columbia
St. Mary’s and Froedtert, which uses the software for inpatient discharge planning. Since 2006, the company has made more than 24,000 referrals from the ER to one of 25 clinics in its network. Sales for 2009 are expected to top $3 million, in what Mason said could be a tenfold increase from the year before.

The company employs four full-time people and a part-time assistant, but that number is expected to grow to 10 by the end of the year.

The company is currently seeking an additional $2.5 million from venture capitalists to expand to 20 markets in Wisconsin by the end of the year and 100 of the largest cities in the country by 2012. Mason hopes eventually consumers can use the software to find health care options in their communities.

“We think we can play a vital role in health care reform,” Mason said.

MyHealthDIRECT

July 14, 2008
Nearly two years ago Jay Mason called me telling me about his plan to create an appointment system whereby hospitals in Wisconsin could re-route their Medicaid patients to community and safety-net clinics. He told me that not only would it relieve ED overcrowding but that it would also allow providers to more efficiently deliver pro-bono care. I didn’t exactly rate highly his chances of success in creating a calendar referral system for Medicaid and uninsured patients, but I suggested that he check in with me when it was up and running. Here’s Jay on what MyHealthDIRECT is doing now, and it indeed sounds encouraging.
Matthew Holt

By JAY MASON

The problems of emergency department overcrowding and increased bad debt affect nearly every urban acute care hospital in the country. Patients who seek care at an ED are four times more likely to be covered under Medicaid or twice as likely to be uninsured than their privately insured counterparts.

In 2006, several hospitals sought a new approach to address some of their most entrenched challenges – overcrowded emergency departments, increasing levels of uncompensated care, and an ongoing imperative to maximize use of its clinical resources. They soon gravitated to a web-based solution called MyHealthDIRECT, which was created by start-up Global Health Direct for use in settings with a highly disproportionate share of the Medicaid and uninsured population.

Prior to adoption of MyHealthDIRECT, these EDs had no effective means of connecting patients with a primary care medical home. Referrals to clinics from EDs were infrequent and impractical, with fewer than 10% of patients referred actually resulting in a scheduled appointment. This had a direct impact on emergency room overcrowding and uncompensated care.

Connecting People To Providers