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Kaiser Permanente and Microsoft Empower Consumers to Take Charge of Their Health


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Pilot program will allow voluntary data exchange from Kaiser Permanente’s market-leading personal health record to Microsoft HealthVault.


OAKLAND, Calif., and REDMOND, Wash. — June 2008 — Kaiser Permanente and Microsoft Corp. today announced that the two companies will pilot health data transfers between Kaiser Permanente’s My Health Manager and the Microsoft HealthVault consumer health platform. Pairing two leaders in online health innovation, this pilot program is expected to unveil new strategies for expanding consumer access to online health information and management tools.

The pilot program will extend the functionality of the successful Kaiser Permanente personal health record, My Health Manager. Already, My Health Manager’s more than 2 million users have convenient and easy online access to clinical information and health management tools, including e-mailing your doctor, online prescription refills and appointment scheduling. Connecting My Health Manager to the HealthVault platform will allow users to combine personal health information from Kaiser Permanente and a wide range of health and wellness management applications and devices such as blood pressure monitors.

“Providing new ways to manage their health online is one more way we can engage consumers in their care,” said Anna-Lisa Silvestre, vice president of Online Services at Kaiser Permanente. “We believe that Microsoft HealthVault will be a valuable supplement to our expanding set of online features.”

“We’re very pleased to work with Kaiser to deliver innovative online health services focused on improving the quality of care and the health and wellness of individuals and families,” said Peter Neupert, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group. “As the universe of online health applications continues to grow, people will learn how technology can empower them and their trusted providers to make the most informed decisions about their health and care.”

HealthVault is designed to support Kaiser Permanente’s transfer of My Health Manager data in adherence with federal standards and includes advanced safeguards to help protect members’ personal information. HealthVault is built on the principle that people should have a copy of their own health information, have control over it and have the ability to privately share information with whomever they choose in a security-enhanced environment. In consultation with consumer privacy experts, Microsoft developed and implemented industry-leading health privacy commitments and stringent privacy principles for health technology providers connecting with HealthVault.

HealthVault automatically imports and exports using standards that are meaningful in the healthcare industry, such as WC3 eXtensible Markup Language (XML), HL7 Continuity of Care Document (CCD), ASTM Continuity of Care Record (CCR.), Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) and Common Connectivity Device.

A distinction between Kaiser Permanente’s online health tool and others offered by insurers is the range and relevance of the information itself: In addition to containing benefits and eligibility information, My Health Manager also is powered by both clinical data entered by physicians, going much deeper than the standard claims-based PHRs on the market. For example, consumers can not only see a record of a test that they had, but also the result of that test and, in some cases, direct feedback from their doctors about the result. Since both the patient and physician use the data in My Health Manager, consumers are actively using their Kaiser Permanente PHR to communicate with their physician and support their health goals.

Kaiser Permanente’s 156,000 employees will be eligible to participate in the pilot program announced today. Participation in the employee pilot is voluntary and is designed to help ensure that the functionality allows easy access to individual personal health information, as well as enhancing the ability to manage that data. If the pilot is successful, the program will be expanded to include Kaiser Permanente’s more than 8 million members.



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