Press Releases
Premera Blue Cross and Virginia Mason Medical Center Introduce Online-doctor-visit Pilot to Microsoft Employees
Secure Internet Technology from RelayHealth Corporation Allows Patients and Doctors to Communicate Online and Conduct Online Medical Consultations
Mountlake Terrace, WA, November 22, 2005 — Virginia Mason Medical Center and Premera Blue Cross announced today they are collaborating on the first pilot program in the Northwest to offer Web-enabled doctor visits in an open, PPO environment. The pilot will be offered to a selected group of Microsoft Corp. employees and dependents.
The pilot will reimburse physicians for online medical consultations with established patients seeking non-urgent care. The pilot is supported by California-based RelayHealth Corporation. RelayHealth provides a Web platform built on Microsoft technology that includes secure software and Web sites for online doctor-patient communications, including webVisits® - a clinically structured online process for non-urgent care.
Unlike e-mail, webVisits will allow patients to go online via a secure Web site using a password and respond to a set of questions tailored to their specific conditions, which will produce a patient history similar to the one developed when arriving at a doctor's office for an in-person visit. Once completed, this information will be sent to the physician's office. The physician will respond to the patient with his or her recommendation.
The 18-month pilot will launch on January 1, 2006, with the participation of 100 Virginia Mason physicians. The pilot will be available initially to Microsoft employees who are established patients of the participating Virginia Mason physicians.
"At Virginia Mason we are continuing to look for innovative ways to provide service and quality care for our patients. This pilot project is just such an opportunity," said Marnee Iseman, vice president at Virginia Mason.
Based on the results of the pilot, Premera will explore expanding its use of Web-based patient consultations to additional physician practices and member groups.
"The Pacific Northwest has among the highest Internet penetration in the country," said Roki Chauhan, MD, Premera's vice president for medical services and medical director for quality. "Premera Blue Cross is in the enviable position of being able to partner with innovative companies like Virginia Mason and Microsoft to explore ways to reduce costs and improve quality of medical care," Chauhan said.
"Employees in other parts of the country who have used the RelayHealth service to contact their doctor were 50 percent less likely to report having missed work than those that did not use the service," Dr. Chauhan said. "By offering these on-line medical consultations, Premera hopes we can assist our employer customers in increasing productivity, reducing costs, and improving employee satisfaction."
About Premera Blue Cross
Our mission is to provide peace of mind to our members about their health-care coverage. We
provide health insurance and related services to more than 1.3 million people. Premera Blue
Cross has operated in Washington since 1933, and Alaska since 1957. Premera Blue Cross is
an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
Premera Blue Cross is a member of a family of companies based in Mountlake Terrace, Washington,
that provide health, life, vision, dental, and long-term care insurance, and other related
services. www.premera.com
About Virginia Mason Medical Center
Virginia Mason Medical Center, founded in 1920, is a non-profit comprehensive regional health
care system that combines a primary and specialty care group practice of nearly 400 physicians
with a 336-bed acute care Seattle hospital. In addition, Virginia Mason has a network of
clinics located throughout the Puget Sound area, and manages Bailey-Boushay House, a nursing
residence and adult day health program for people living with HIV and AIDS. Virginia Mason
also has an internationally recognized research center, Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia
Mason.
About RelayHealth Corporation
RelayHealth is the premier provider of payor-reimbursed secure online healthcare communication
services linking patients, healthcare professionals, health plans, and pharmacies. A secure,
clinically structured productivity platform for the medical office, the RelayHealth service
is an emerging online communication standard, interfacing with both commercial and custom-built
electronic medical record systems through the company's Interoperability Toolkit. Research
studies show RelayHealth reduces phone traffic and increases physician productivity through
modular features like the webVisit® clinical consultation and
eScript electronic prescribing — one reason
leading health plans nationwide increasingly reimburse providers who use the RelayHealth
service. For healthcare consumers, RelayHealth improves convenience, access and communication
with their own doctors. For information, visit www.relayhealth.com.
