Press Releases
STANFORD HOSPITAL & CLINICS LICENSES RELAYHEALTH SERVICE TO SECURE DOCTOR-PATIENT COMMUNICATIONS
Expanded commitment follows participation in landmark webVisit® Study
Emeryville, CA, June 18, 2003 — RelayHealth Corporation, the nation's premier provider of Web-based, doctor-patient communication services, today announced Stanford Hospital & Clinics, will license and co-brand the RelayHealth® service. The service will be used initially by the medical centers affiliated primary care clinics, Stanford Family Practice and Stanford Medical Group.
As part of the newly signed agreement, RelayHealth will integrate its service to the group's electronic medical records system, making online doctor-patient messages sent using RelayHealth a core part of the medical record.
The agreement follows the recently completed RelayHealth webVisit study. Stanford Hospital & Clinics-in tandem with several other leading California healthcare organizations-participated in the independent study, which found statistically significant reductions in healthcare costs and high levels of satisfaction among both patients and physicians who had access to the RelayHealth service during the study period. According to researchers, patients with RelayHealth reported improved access to their physicians. Physicians surveyed found RelayHealth easy to use and reported a preference for webVisits over office visits when assisting patients with non-urgent medical needs. An executive summary of the study findings can be downloaded at www.relayhealth.com.
"Both our own experience with the RelayHealth service and the findings of the webVisit study were very positive," said Joseph Hopkins, M.D., chief of family practice at Stanford Hospital & Clinics. "The future of healthcare depends on improving quality of care, creating clinical efficiencies, and enhancing relationships-benefits we believe we can achieve through improved communication with patients."
Recognizing that physician use of e-mail to communicate with patients was growing, and that e-mail lacked the security, workflow, and reimbursement features required for healthcare, Stanford selected RelayHealth to secure their online communications. RelayHealth helps medical practices manage the growing volume of online communications through a sophisticated workflow engine, while helping them to meet federal guidelines established by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA privacy guidelines, which are designed to protect the privacy of individually identifiable health information, go into effect on April 14, 2003.
Dr. Paul Ford of Stanford Medical Group (SMG) regularly communicates with more than 600 patients through the RelayHealth service. "Not only have our patients embraced online communications, but it's helped our physicians and staff be much more efficient," said Dr. Ford. "With the clinical structure and routing rules of the RelayHealth service, I can focus on practicing medicine-dispensing medical advice, following up on recent visits, and managing new symptoms-and route administrative tasks directly to the SMG staff."
Known worldwide for advanced patient care, Stanford Hospital & Clinics offer care in more than 100 specialties and administer more than 500,000 clinic visits annually. The hospital and its physicians consistently rank among the top in the nation in surveys by consumers and healthcare professionals. Patients come to Stanford from all over the world, often for specialized procedures unavailable elsewhere.
"To be selected by Stanford Hospital & Clinics, one of the world's leading academic medical institutions, is a great honor," said Giovanni Colella, MD, president and chief executive officer of RelayHealth. "It tells us we've built a service with the power, versatility, and clinical features to satisfy healthcare organizations with the most discriminating standards."
Many of the U.S.'s leading medical groups and integrated delivery networks have selected and licensed the RelayHealth service. Other RelayHealth clients include: University of California at Irvine Medical Center, the only university hospital in Orange County; Catholic Healthcare Partners (CHP), the largest health system in Ohio and one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in the United States; Community Health Network, an Indianapolis-based integrated delivery network with more than 1,100 affiliated physicians; Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network; California-based Hill Physicians; and MedStar Health System, located in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area.
About RelayHealth Corporation
RelayHealth 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—like
the webVisit clinical consultation—which tackle complex issues unique to the healthcare
market, including clinical structure, practice workflow, and reimbursement. 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.
