Nine Healthcare Companies Named Finalists for Innovations in Healthcare^SM ABBY Awards, to be Presented April 28th 

Santa Ana, CA, March 9, 2010 – Nine innovative healthcare companies have been named Finalists and will vie to win three 2010 Innovations in Healthcare^SM ABBY Awards 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 innovative approaches to the delivery of healthcare, or medical or information/telecommunications technology. 

The nine Award Finalists (listed below) – three each in three categories -- have demonstrated that they are: innovative; approved for use in the U.S. marketplace; and have clinical and financial metrics that prove their product or service reduces the cost of providing quality healthcare.

These ABBY Award Finalists were selected from dozens of nominees by a peer selection committee. ABBY Award Winners will be selected via secret ballot by ABL Members, after viewing presentations at the April 28^th Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards Event made by the CEO or senior division executive representing 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.

Also at the Event, Debra Reisenthel, Founding CEO of Novasys Medical Inc., will receive ABL’s 2010 “Leadership in Innovation” Award and make the Keynote presentation. She is being honored for leading her company to exceptional success in the women’s healthcare market. Read more about it here.

Now in its 12th year, ABL’s Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards Event recognizes organizations that have demonstrated transformative advances in enabling quality healthcare at a lower cost, resulting in decreased numbers of uninsured, and engaging healthcare consumers more actively in their care and health status. Details about the Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards Event can be found at www.abl.org/IIH2010.htm.

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

Torrance, CA’s HealthCare Partners who, together with California Hospital Medical Center and local FQHCs, have developed a hospitalist program that has significantly improved the management of patient flow, quality of care medically indigent patients receive, and expediency with which patient care is provided. Since December 2008, there have been dramatic decreases in readmission rates for heart failure and acute care patients.

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.

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. 

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 – in words (using standard terminology) and graphics – in electronic patient records.

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.

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.

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 minimally invasive 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.

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.

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 setting. Members meet once a month for a half-day Round Table session with a group of industry peers from non-competing companies. Members also gather several times a year at workshops and conferences to exchange ideas and connect with other CEOs. ABL's Chief Executive Leadership Development Round Table program is offered in California's Greater Los Angeles, Orange, San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Diego Counties. More information can be found at http://www.abl.org.

Contact:
Laura Grant, Events Director, at (714/245-1427) or  

Mimi Grant, President, at (714/245-1425) 
Adaptive Business Leaders (ABL) Organization, www.abl.org