21 Healthcare Companies Achieve Semi-Finalist Status for
Innovations in Healthcare^SM ABBY Awards

-- Honorees Come From Across the U.S. and Canada  

--- 12^th Annual Awards Event to be held April 28, 2010

Santa Ana, CA — February 23, 2010 — Twenty-one innovative healthcare companies have been selected as Semi-Finalists for the 2010 Innovations in Healthcare^SM ABBY Awards, to be presented at the 12th Annual Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards Event, on April 28, 2010, hosted by the Adaptive Business Leaders (ABL) Organization. These awards honor companies which have proven ways to lower the cost of providing quality healthcare through their medical or information technology, or innovative approaches to the delivery of healthcare. 

Each of the Semi-Finalists -- divided into the categories of medical/biotechnology, healthcare information or telecommunications technology, or approach to the delivery of healthcare -- must have demonstrated that they are:
- innovative   
- approved for use in the U.S. marketplace
- have clinical and financial metrics that prove their product or service reduces the cost of providing quality healthcare

Nine ABBY Award Finalists (three from each category) will be announced in the near-future. Then, the ABBY Award winners will be voted on and revealed at the Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards Event to be held in Newport Beach, CA, the afternoon of Wednesday, April 28, 2010.

Semi-Finalists in the Innovative Approaches to the Delivery of Healthcare category are:

Torrance, CA’s HealthCare Partners and California Hospital Medical Center (CHMC) have developed a hospitalist program that has significantly improved the management of patient flow, quality of care patients receive, and expediency with which care is provided at CHMC. For example, since December 2008, there have been dramatic decreases in readmission rates for heart failure and acute care patients.

Sacramento, CA’s HopkinsMD’s proto-type influenza vaccination clinic in the Sacramento International Airport has vaccinated more than 2000 travelers and airport employees in the last two seasons of influenza. Furthermore, the clinic provided educational materials to many more travelers at a major metropolitan airport that hosts more than 25,000 travelers daily.

Prince Frederick, MD’s Maryland eCare – a collaboration of seven independent Maryland hospitals and an area insurer – is addressing critical care physician shortages by bringing tele-ICU technology that provides supplemental, specialized care to rural ICUs, connecting physicians, nurses and patients via voice, camera and data feeds, enabling hospitals to provide specialized care around the clock.

Westlake Village, CA’s Specialists On Call provides hospitals nationwide with immediate 24/7 access to expert emergency-trained neurologists via telemedicine, having performed over 10,000 such consultations in less than five years – the majority for stroke patients. Considering that time lost is brain lost in most neurologic emergencies, timely and appropriate care is paramount, or patients faced far worse outcomes, complications, and longer lengths of stay.

Denver, CO’s TabSafe Medical Services has developed a simple, patented, tech-based solution to assist people – particularly seniors – to manage and adhere to their prescribed medication regimens. TabSafe stores and dispenses medications for users according to a prescribed schedule. It also gives visual and audible reminders, can re-order meds, collect vital signs, and upload encrypted data to a website for authorized physicians and family members to view.

Austin, TX’s WhiteGlove House Call Health is a membership-based primary healthcare provider whose services are available to members in their home or workplace, 365 days a year, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. In addition to a reasonable annual membership fee, members pay a flat $35 fee per house call, which includes medical care, generic prescription medications, over-the-counter remedies, foods and beverages.

Semi-Finalists in the “Innovations in Healthcare Information Technology and Telecommunications Technology” category are:

San Diego, CA’s A-Life Medical’s Actus® 6.0 product is a web-based, natural language, “intelligent assistant” to the health information workflow within physician practices, improving both the productivity and accuracy of the medical coding and billing process and correctly representing the procedures using standard terminology in electronic patient records.

San Diego, CA’s Awarepoint’s Real-time Awareness Solutions help hospitals map their mobile equipment and resources throughout the enterprise; monitor usage and interaction; measure utilization and efficiency; and provide data for process improvement, assisting hospital administrators in managing multi-million-dollar budgets, and achieve other benefits.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada’s Diversinet Corporation’s AllOne Mobile solution allows healthcare organizations to securely extend their reach to patients on their smart phones. The software auto-detects what type of mobile device the patient has and generates the right download package automatically; the user can access their personal health records and communications by entering a PIN number; and all communications are double encrypted for security.

San Clemente, CA’s LifeModeler’s human simulation program, LifeMOD, is a virtual human model, complete with all bones, joints and muscles, which can virtually perform any human activity. Surgeons are now using LifeMOD to create a computer model of their patients before surgery, enabling them to explore surgical strategies, component selection and fit on the musculoskeletal model; and patients can see a model of themselves with the new implant.

Princeton, NJ’s PeriGen’s clinical decision support system addresses preventable medical errors in hospital obstetrics departments. The technology integrates patient information streaming from IT systems within the hospital, with the patient’s history and vitals, to provide clinicians with constant updates on their patient’s changing condition. The system continually evaluates the patient’s condition against 6,500 best practices, resulting in better patient outcomes.

San Francisco, CA’s Practice Fusion’s free, web-based Electronic Health Record system is available to any physician in the U.S, eliminating barriers to adoption by making it accessible from any Internet-connected computer. Practice Fusion’s system includes charting, scheduling, e-prescribing, lab integrations, reporting, billing, secure messaging and an integrated Personal Health Record for patients. Currently, over 25,000 users and one million patients are utilizing it.

Pleasanton, CA’s Sajix, Inc. addresses a major challenge faced by clinics and Emergency Departments alike: getting "temporary" users authenticated and "up" on their electronic medical records systems. Sajix’ "emergency user access functionality" allows managers to monitor and track all the activities or changes performed by the temp -- enabling a quick intervention, should they go beyond practice or departmental protocols.

Melville, NY’s Sequel Systems’ SequelMed EHR combines practice, document and medical records management into one fully integrated system, uniquely offering a phased-in approach whereby users are steadily acclimated to new processes while the technology itself is customized to meet the specific needs and workflow of the particular practice.

Carlsbad, CA’s XIFIN Inc. provides revenue cycle management for laboratories and diagnostic service providers via a "Software-as-a-Service" model, yielding improved revenue capture and a first-pass claim acceptance rate of 97% or better. XIFIN has processed more than 150 million claims for a variety of diagnostic service providers.

Semi-Finalists in the “Innovations in Medical/BioTechnology” category are:

Menlo Park, CA’s Acclarent’s Balloon Sinuplasty™ devices provide physicians with the tools to perform sinus surgery through the natural opening of the nose, providing the ability to access the sinuses with fewer traumas without removing tissue and bone, resulting in rapid symptom relief and reduced post-operative pain and discomfort for patients.

Port Washington, NY’s Advanced Cardiac Scan‘s Multifunction Cardio Gram is a non-invasive, clinically proven methodology to detect Coronary Artery Disease. This risk-, stress- and radiation-free test is able to detect myocardial ischemia more accurately and at earlier stages than traditional methods. It can be performed in physician offices, EDs, urgent cares and SNFs. It takes only 82 seconds for the test and results are ready in less than 10 minutes.

Palo Alto, CA’s CollabRx ONE is a personalized research program that provides oncologists with insights that can help guide their therapy decisions based on the specific genomic characteristics of each patient’s tumor. CollabRx ONE is an end-to-end offering, from arranging for tissue samples to be sent to approved labs, to using computational and systems biology to identify mechanisms driving the cancer as well as candidate therapies, to working with oncologists.

Bristol, TN’s King Pharmaceuticals’ FDA-approved EMBEDA® is an opioid pain medication that utilizes novel technologies designed to make it tamper- and abuse-resistant. Although chronic pain is the number-one cause of adult disability in the U.S. and the most common reason Americans access the healthcare system, many physicians don’t prescribe opioids fearing abuse and dependency. EMBEDA®’s special properties help reduce drug liking and euphoria when tampered with by crushing or chewing for non-therapeutic uses. When taken as directed, EMBEDA® relieves pain over an extended period of time while the special properties pass through the body with no observed clinical effect.

Calabasas, CA’s Rx Timer Cap is a cap that fits on an original prescription bottle, replacing the standard closure with one incorporating a digital LCD read-out that tells patients exactly how long it’s been since they took their last dose. The mere act of opening and closing the container resets its hour/minute timer, so just looking at the cap tells the patient the information they need to know to make an informed medication administration decision.

Irvine, CA’s VQ OrthoCare’s BioniCare Knee System is a non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical, non-surgical treatment option for osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. It delivers a pulsed electrical signal to the knee through two electrodes held in place on the inside of a joint unloading brace, developed specifically to treat OA and mimics the naturally occurring signal present in a healthy knee joint. It’s been a life-changing treatment option for 50,000+ U.S. patients.

ALL OF THE FACTS ABOUT THE ABBY AWARDS:

 

12^th Annual Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards and Event Ceremony

April 28, 2010 – Radisson Hotel, Newport Beach, CA

Three 2010 ABBY Awards will be given, which honor innovative companies in the healthcare industry that are currently providing proven ways to lower the cost of providing quality healthcare through their medical or information technology, or innovative approaches to the delivery of healthcare.   

Nine ABBY Award Finalists (three in each category) will be selected in three categories:

Innovative Approaches to the Delivery of Healthcare
Innovations in Healthcare IT and Telecommunications Technology 
Innovations in Medical / BioTechnology

ABBY Award Winners will be selected (by secret ballot) by ABL Members after viewing presentations by the President or a senior division executive from each Finalist company. 

Attendance is open to ABL Members and their guests, as well as non-Member senior executives of healthcare providers and payers, therapeutic, diagnostic, medical device and healthcare information and services firms.

Hosted by the Adaptive Business Leaders (ABL) Organization:

In April, ABL will celebrate its 12th Annual Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards Event, honoring healthcare industry leaders whose products and services are not just innovative, but are truly reducing the cost of providing quality healthcare. Past ABBY Award nominees and winners have included companies that have made breakthroughs and transformative advances in medical devices, diagnostics, therapeutics, information technology and electronic solutions, as well as organizations that have applied innovative systems and technology to providing care and coverage, decreasing the numbers of uninsured, and engaging healthcare consumers more actively in their care and health status.

Past ABBY Award winners have included: Accuray, Inc.; Alameda County Medical Center; Aperio Technologies, Inc.; BeWell Mobile Technology Inc.; Blue Shield of California; Care Level Management; Dakim, Inc.; Diversa Corporation; eHealth, Inc.; Epocrates Inc.; eV3, Inc.’s Neurovascular Division; FoxHollow Technologies, Inc.; Gen-Probe, Inc.; Health Allies; Health Hero Network, Inc.; I-Flow; IPC - The Hospitalist Company; InSight Health Services; InTouch Health; Kaiser Permanente's eHealth Initiatives; M*Modal, Inc.; Masimo Corporation; Memorial Health Services; Osmetech Molecular Diagnostics; Refractec; Santa Clara Family Health Plan; Silverado Senior Living Center; Sutter Health's eICU; Trizetto Group; Vocera Communications; and WorkWell Systems, Inc. 

About the Adaptive Business Leaders Organization:
ABL supports the needs of its Member CEOs by providing a place for top-level executives to draw on the experience, knowledge and skill sets of their peers in a vertical industry, personal advisory board – “multi-coach approach” – setting. Members meet once a month for a half-day Round Table meeting with a group of peer senior executives from non-competing companies. Members also gather several times a year at workshops and conferences to exchange ideas and connect with other chief executives. ABL's Chief Executive Leadership Development Round Table program is offered in California's Greater Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Clara Counties. More information can be found at http://www.abl.org and http://www.abl.org/IIH2010.htm .