Largest Hospital in Missouri Using Mobile to Improve Patient Communication and Reduce Missed Revenue

Boca Raton, FL– October 11, 2011– 3Cinteractive®, a leading provider of cloud-based mobile software and services for the Fortune 1000, announced Barnes-Jewish Hospital has launched a mobile appointment abandonment solution to reduce missed or canceled appointments which cost the hospital revenue and hinder the delivery of proper care to patients. Barnes-Jewish Hospital at Washington University Medical Center is the largest hospital in Missouri and the largest private employer in the St. Louis region.

Barnes-Jewish has been recognized on the honor roll of America’s Best Hospitals for 19 consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report. Continuing its tradition of offering cutting edge care, Barnes-Jewish has integrated mobile into its existing patient management system, in an effort to better communicate with patients.

Effective communication is key to solving many of the challenges that face health systems today. Mobile offers the potential to greatly reduce communication barriers through the delivery of personalized, one to one interactions with patients, leading to better health outcomes and reduced health care spending.

With “no show” rates in the U.S. as high as 35%, missed appointments can cost the typical hospital millions annually in lost revenue. When secondary costs such as lost staff productivity and unnecessary future medical care are accounted for that number soars even higher. Mobile appointment abandonment solutions help:

• Reduce missed or canceled appointments

• Backfill canceled appointments

• Minimize lost revenue

• Boost staff efficiency

• Increase patient satisfaction

• Improve patient medical outcomes

The initial launch of Barnes-Jewish’s appointment abandonment solution was in their OB/GYN clinic and will soon be rolled out to other medicine and surgical ambulatory clinics. This is the first step in Barnes-Jewish’s initiative to leverage the reach and power of mobile technology. Barnes-Jewish is partnering with 3Cinteractive (3Ci), which provides mobile health solutions for some of the most respected names in healthcare. 3Ci’s mHealth solutions currently touch millions of patients a month.

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White Paper Provides Strategies and an Actionable Roadmap for Healthcare Organizations Interested in Launching an mHealth Initiative into the Hispanic Community

ROSWELL, GA and BOCA RATON, FL- September 27, 2011- HolaDoctor®, a global leader of Hispanic health programs, products and services and 3Cinteractive®, a leading provider of mobile software and services for the Fortune 1000, announced the release of a white paper on the promise and potential of using mobile communication for improving the health of U.S. Hispanics. The paper entitled, “Improving the Health of Hispanics Using Mobile Technology”, provides an overview of mobile health (mHealth) and why it is uniquely appropriate for the Hispanic population. The paper addresses the pros and cons of available mobile technologies, presents a case study of the ROI for improving medication adherence among Hispanic diabetics using mHealth, and provides a live, custom mobile demo.

During the past decade, the nation’s Hispanic population has grown to 50.5 million, making it the largest minority population in the U.S. and the country’s fastest growing demographic group. Hispanics have higher rates of certain costly chronic conditions (e.g. diabetes) and significantly lower medication adherence — a combination that is leading to increased medical costs for employers, health plans and governmental programs. In addition, the severe shortage of trained, culturally and linguistically competent healthcare providers represents a significant barrier to effectively serving this burgeoning population.

On the positive side, mobile technologies and health-related mobile initiatives have been embraced by Hispanics. Almost 90% of Hispanics own a mobile phone and 45% own a smartphone, versus 27% for whites. Nearly twice as many Hispanics have used their mobile device to look for health information and Hispanics are much more receptive to receiving health related text messaging than non-Hispanics. The white paper highlights the potential of mobile to help change behavior by delivering personalized, highly tailored communications via a platform widely used and highly trusted by Hispanics.

“Our paper provides an easy-to-understand update on the fast evolving field of mobile health and clear guidance on the innovative strategies that healthcare companies can use to impact behavior among Hispanic patients via mobile platforms,” said Dr. Dirk Schroeder, Executive Vice President at HolaDoctor, as well as a lead author of the paper. “Improved medication adherence through mobile-based communications personalized to the linguistic and cultural preferences of Hispanic patients, for example, will lead to better health outcomes and reductions in health care spending.”

“Public and private health plans are all looking for innovative solutions to reduce the incidence of diabetes and more effectively manage it. Absent innovations like mobile health, a third of the U.S. population born this past decade will have diabetes in 35 years. This is an exciting new approach to address the diabetes epidemic,” said Dr. Kenneth Thorpe, Professor of Health Policy at Emory University and co-author.

“Achieving appropriate access to care, diagnosis of disease, and successful intervention requires effective communication between providers and patients. To communicate effectively, we must meet people where they are, both culturally and physically,” added Barry Hix, General Manager of Healthcare Solutions at 3Cinteractive, and co-author of the paper. “There is great potential for healthcare leaders to improve clinical and economic outcomes by creating and sustaining a meaningful conversation with Hispanics via their mobile phone.”

“Improving the Health of Hispanics Using Mobile Technology,” (PDF) is available for download on 3Cinteractive’s website.

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The 11th Annual International IHPM Health & Productivity Conference is taking place April 4-6, 2011 in Orlando, FL. 3Ci’s VP of Industry Relations, John Styers and Executive Director of Healthcare Solutions, Barry Hix will be in attendance to present on the panel: Mobile Technology and Health Improvement.

Nearly everyone in the US recognizes the inefficiencies of our healthcare system today. In 2012 it is projected that we will spend $3.1 trillion on healthcare, by 2016 that will increase to $4.3 trillion, or 20% of the U.S. GDP.

The world’s population is aging and expenditures for healthcare are increasing at an unsustainable rate. Technology companies in concert with innovative healthcare institutions are creating new approaches that will serve patients in a more cost- efficient manner.

This session will explore how mobile health (mHealth) can provide all the players in healthcare a means to connect with patients in a way never before possible. Allowing them to drive behavior changes and improve health outcomes while also addressing operational efficiencies and reducing wasteful spending.

Leading mHealth organizations 3Cinteractive, Rush Hour Digital and 4G Biometrics will present compelling use cases to illustrate how mobile is already being used to make healthcare more effective and efficient. The use cases will touch on using mobile to improve staffing efficiency, increase health education and drive compliance with diabetes treatment regimen.

For more information on IHPM text “IHPM“ to 34343 (Msg & Data Rates May Apply). The IHPM mobile program is powered by 3Cinteractive.

If you would like to meet John and Barry at the event, 3Ci will be in booth #7. Or if you would like to schedule a meeting at IHPM or learn more about 3Ci’s mHealth solutions, please email us at sales@3Cinteractive.com.

In January, 3Cinteractive joined President Donna Shalala and her team at the University of Miami for the Global Business Forum. The 2011 Global Business Forum focused on the business of health care and served as a call to action for thought leaders and change agents from public and private sectors of healthcare.

The following white paper, Seniors, Mobile Technology, and Health Care:  Is grandma “hip” yet?, provides a review of 3Ci’s presentation at the Global Business Forum. The presentation was developed and delivered by Barry Hix, 3Ci’s Executive Director of Healthcare Solutions, who served as a speaker at the forum’s panel session on “Elderly Adopters: Older Adults and the Promise of Health Care Technologies”.

The paper examines the potential for mobile communication to serve as a relevant and powerful bridge to connectivity, to education, and to behavioral change across senior populations.

The primary questions addressed in the paper include:

• Are seniors utilizing mobile communication technology today?  Tomorrow?
• What are the clinical and economic implications of increased adoption of mobile technology?
• What are the forces driving the adoption of mobile communication across seniors?
• What does this mean for marketers of healthcare services to seniors?
• Should marketers of services to seniors begin thinking about their mobile strategy today?

To download the white paper click: http://3c.vg/senior

The HIMSS11 Annual Conference & Exhibition is taking place February 20-24, 2011 in Orlando, FL. 3Ci will be in attendance to discuss the benefits mobile healthcare can have on health IT. This conference is widely acknowledged as featuring the most complete collection of educational sessions, the largest and most extensive technical exhibition, and the strongest networking opportunities in the healthcare IT industry. More than 27,000 people attended the 2010 HIMSS conference, and even more are expected to attend in 2011.

Keynote speakers include:

• Robert Reich, Economist and Former Secretary of Labor
• Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services
• David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Department Of Health and Human Services
• Michael J. Fox, Actor and Author
• Richard Boyd, Chief Architect, Lockheed Martin Virtual World Labs

For more information on the conference or to learn how to register visit the HIMSS11 website.

If you would like to learn more about 3Ci’s mHealth solutions, or schedule a meeting with 3Ci at HIMSS11, please email us at sales@3Cinteractive.com.

John Styers, 3Cinteractive’s Vice President Corporate Strategy and Industry Relations will call on his years of carrier experience and thought leadership in mobile health to moderate the “Secured Messaging and the HIPPA Issues around Mobile Solutions” roundtable on January 19, 2011 in New York City at the Mobile Healthcare Communications conference.

Consumers and professionals are increasingly using their mobile devices for healthcare information. They are also interacting with healthcare providers and colleagues on their mobile phones. Eighty-five percent of U.S. consumers have cell phones and growing versus only 65% of Americans, which have broadband access. The divide between mobile use and broadband Internet access is increasing. Additionally, it is not just a consumer-focused trend as Manhattan Research reports that 70% of physicians say personal data assistants (PDAs)/smartphones are “essential” to their practice. This conference will demonstrate the best case studies of how major healthcare brands are connecting with consumers and professionals through mobile communications.

If you would like to learn more about 3Cinteractive’s mHealth solutions, or schedule a meeting with John at the conference, please email us at sales@3Cinteractive.com.

For more information on the conference and to register visit the Mobile Healthcare Communcations conference website.

3Cinteractive® has partnered with the University of Miami to sponsor one of the featured panels at the 2011 Global Business Forum, taking place January 12 – 14, 2011.

The focus of the forum is The Business of Health Care: Defining the Future and 3Cinteractive is sponsoring the panel on Telehealth, Robotics and Ubiquitous Computing: The De-Institutionalization of Health Care. Barry Hix, 3Cinteractive’s director of healthcare solutions, will serve as a panelist on The Aging Population: Economic and Ethical Issues Surrounding the Shift in Demographics.

The business and delivery of health care and the policies affecting the health care sector are among the most pressing issues faced by global organizations and their leaders today. The University of Miami’s 2011 Global Business Forum will bring together some of the most influential leaders in business and government, along with hundreds of professionals from across industries, for three days of forward thinking on these critical issues.

The Forum will include keynote addresses by some of the world’s most prominent business and government leaders including:

• Jeffery Immelt, CEO, General Electric Co.
• Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Donna E. Shalala, president, University of Miami
• Dr. Arthur Agatston, author, The South Beach Diet
• James Forbes, head of global principal investment, Bank of America
• Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

3Cinteractive hopes to see you at the Global Business Forum. If you would like to learn more about 3Cinteractive’s mHealth solutions or to schedule a meeting at the Global Business Forum please email us at sales@3cinteractive.com..

For the complete event schedule and to register visit the University of Miami Global Business Forum website.