Press Releases
RELAYHEALTH RESULTS ARE IN: WEBVISIT® A WIN FOR DOCTORS, PATIENTS AND PAYORS
Independent Study Reveals that Online Doctor/Patient Communication Service Yields High Levels of Physician and Patient Satisfaction while Significantly Reducing Cost of Care.
Emeryville, Calif., October 24, 2002 — RelayHealth Corporation (formerly Healinx), the nation's premier provider of Web-based, doctor-patient communication services, today announced the first results of a large-scale independent study. The study, conducted by researchers at Stanford University and UC Berkeley, evaluated the impact of its online communication service on satisfaction among patients and physicians, and on the cost of care, including costs incurred by payors who reimburse doctors for “webVisits” - secure, structured doctor/patient consultations.
Analysis of healthcare claims data for 2,274 study patients - compared to claims for 3,390 patients in a matched control group - revealed statistically significant reductions in the total cost of healthcare. Patients in the RelayHealth treatment group generated costs savings in excess of $1 per patient per month when compared to matched control patients. Both physicians and health plans benefited: physicians received direct reimbursement for the care provided in these non-office based encounters. Reimbursing health plans saw a greater than 5-to-1 return on investment, suggesting a dramatic opportunity to reduce costs while concurrently improving patient and physician satisfaction. Survey results demonstrated high levels of satisfaction with the service among patients and physicians. A majority of both physicians and patients expressed a preference for this mode of communication for addressing non-urgent health matters.
The study was conducted in California and Connecticut with the participation of Blue Shield of California, the Blue Shield of California Foundation, self-insured employers within the Silicon Valley Employers Forum, an affiliate of the Pacific Business Group on Health, and ConnectiCare. Study design and results were created and analyzed by independent University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University-based researchers.
“The results of our preliminary claims analysis showed cost savings for study sub-populations in both California and Connecticut, as well as strong statistical significance when analyzed in the aggregate” reported Laurence Baker, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Health Research and Policy and Chief of Health Services Research at the Stanford University School of Medicine, who led the team analyzing study results. “In addition, the survey results showed strong satisfaction among the physicians who used the service. Most of the physicians surveyed found the service satisfying, easy to use, easy to integrate into their practices, and preferred it over office visits for non-urgent patient needs,” added Baker.
“RelayHealth online consultations improve care while saving time and money for patients and physicians,” commented Bruce Bodaken, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Shield of California. "In light of these strong results, Blue Shield will work with RelayHealth to expand reimbursement for doctor/patient webVisits across both our PPO and HMO product lines.”
“A Web-based communication system addresses significant challenges that the medical community has faced for years,” explains Dr. Eric Liederman, Medical Director for Clinical Information Systems at UC Davis Health System, whose organization participated in the study and continues to offer communication via the Web to patients. “This is not e-mail, but a secure Web-based communication system built around medical office workflow. It seamlessly connects doctors, patients and pharmacies. As a result, it enables doctors to enhance patient communication while improving efficiency in routine tasks such as appointments, lab results and medication refills. A system has added value when it allows doctors to get compensated for their time and expertise when providing medical advice to their patients online. We have doctors who were at first skeptical about this new mode of communication, but now would never go back to the old way of doing things.“ Patients and participating employers benefited as well: a substantial majority of all patients, rated the service favorably compared to a phone call or office visit, both in terms of convenience and quality. Over two-thirds of these patients reported an improvement in access to their own physician. Patients also reported a significant decline in the likelihood of missing work for minor medical issues.
“Our members participated in the pilot because they want to see innovative technologies used to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare received by their employees,” said Stirling Somers, Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Employers Forum. “This study shows that online consultations using RelayHealth improve doctor-patient communication while reducing costs.”
“These results confirm what we hear daily from our thousands of users,” affirms Giovanni Colella, MD, RelayHealth's president and chief executive officer. “RelayHealth works. It's more efficient than the phone, and safer than non-secure e-mail. It improves convenience while enhancing the most important relationship in healthcare: the doctor/patient relationship.” Colella adds “we've known since we started that getting doctors reimbursed for time spent online with patients would be critical to gaining their acceptance - now we have scientific evidence of economic benefits, which will spur more payors to reimburse. This is clearly a win-win-win for doctors, patients and payors. It comes at an important time as our nation faces the prospect of spiraling healthcare costs.”
About the RelayHealth webVisit® Study
The RelayHealth webVisit study was an independent study sponsored by RelayHealth and conducted
by University of California, Berkeley and Stanford-based investigators. Participants included:
Blue Shield of California; the Blue Shield of California Foundation, ConnectiCare, GE Power
Systems, Stanford University, the Silicon Valley Employers Forum whose members include Adobe
Systems Incorporated, Cadence Design Systems Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., NEC Electronics Inc.,
Oracle Corporation, and Seagate Technology; Aetna and Cigna HealthCare. Conducted between February
2001 and May 2002, the study evaluated the effect of the RelayHealth service on health care
utilization and costs, patient satisfaction, and physician satisfaction. Participants included
282 physicians and 3,688 patients in California and Connecticut. An executive summary of the
study findings can be downloaded at www.relayhealth.com or
by contacting the company at 1-866-RELAY-ME.
About RelayHealth
RelayHealth (formerly Healinx) is the premier provider of secure online healthcare communication
services linking patients, healthcare professionals, payors, and pharmacies. RelayHealth's
Web-based, doctor-patient messaging platform connects doctors and their patients efficiently,
affordably, and securely. Tuned for the group practice environment, the RelayHealth® service
improves and streamlines healthcare delivery and access through modular features built around
clinical structure, practice workflow, and reimbursement featuring the webVisit clinical
consultation. More secure and efficient than telephone or e-mail, RelayHealth combines HIPAA-ready
messaging and eScript end-to-end electronic prescribing for the most seamless, comprehensive
and powerful messaging platform available to healthcare professionals and their patients.
For information, visit www.relayhealth.com.
