Press Releases

Horizon Family Medical Group Selects RelayHealth for Secure Online Communication Services

Progressive Orange County Family Practice Group Provides Online Service to its Patients

Florida, NY, March 9, 2006 — Horizon Family Medical Group, P.C., an Orange County, NY leader in family medicine and women's health, and RelayHealth Corporation, the nation's premier provider of secure online communication services for healthcare, announced an agreement today to make the RelayHealth service available to its patients. The service is initially available at HFMG's Florida office, and they anticipate introducing secure communication to its eight other locations within the next year.

"Our decision to offer our patients RelayHealth was an easy one," said James Olver, Horizon's Administrator. "The service is straightforward, secure, and user-friendly for both providers and patients. It also fits into our overall strategy of using the Internet to help our patients obtain information about our services."

Dr. John Dermigny, Medical Director of the Florida office added: "We anticipate increased service levels, instant and accurate documentation of all communications, and reliable electronic prescribing of medications. Our patients will be pleased with the ease with which they will be able to obtain lab results and prescription renewals, and with the overall convenience and improved communications with our physicians."

With RelayHealth's eScript™ electronic prescription service, Horizon's physicians will be able to write prescriptions and authorize refills for established patients online. Options for medication strength and form are presented to the prescribing physician as part of the service. Resulting prescriptions are securely transmitted to virtually any pharmacy in the U.S., automatically screened for drug interactions, and reviewed for formulary compliance prior to submission.

A study published in February, 2005 in The Journal of General Internal Medicine reported that medical practices using RelayHealth experienced 18% fewer phone calls than comparison practices.1 A companion study published in the Spring issue of The Journal of Healthcare Information Management found that practices using RelayHealth saw a 10% boost in physician productivity.2 An increasing number of New York Health Plans cover the RelayHealth webVisits® as a reimbursed benefit. While New York is one of the first states with two such health plan programs, the number of health plans offering similar webVisit reimbursement programs is growing nationwide, particularly in California, Massachusetts, and Florida.

1Liederman, E, et al. The Impact of Patient-Physician Web Messaging on Provider Productivity. Journal of Healthcare Information Management 2005; 19; 2: 81-86.

2Liederman, E, et al. Patient-Physician Web Messaging The Impact on Message Volume and Satisfaction. Journal of General Internal Medicine 2005; 20 (1)

About Horizon Family Medical Group
Horizon Family Medical Group is based in Orange County, NY and is focused on prevention and keeping patients of all ages healthy. The Family Practice Division is comprised of board certified physicians, certified nurse practitioners and physicians assistants trained and licensed to practice family medicine. The Women's Health Division of The Horizon Family Medical Group is comprised of Board Certified Physicians and Nurse Practitioners who are uniquely qualified to serve the Health care needs of women and their families. For information about Horizon Family Medical Group, visit www.horizonfamilymedical.com.

About RelayHealth Corporation
RelayHealth is the premier provider of secure, online healthcare communication services. The RelayHealth platform connects patients, clinicians, payers and pharmacies to improve clinical productivity, create administrative efficiencies, reduce costs and enhance patient satisfaction. Medical practices can quickly deploy RelayHealth to realize immediate results such as increased physician productivity and reduced phone volume. With the RelayHealth Interoperability Toolkit, practices can also integrate RelayHealth with most major commercial or custom electronic medical record and practice management systems. RelayHealth's robust suite of solutions for the medical office includes secure messaging featuring the webVisit, and end to end e-prescribing through eScript. The RelayHealth communications platform also enables care management and continuity of care through tools such as a Patient Health Record that interoperates with physician and payer clinical systems. For more information, visit www.relayhealth.com.