TELUS licenses Microsoft HealthVault to launch TELUS Health Space, Canada’s first consumer e-health platform

TELUS Health Space, powered by Microsoft HealthVault, will help people make better health decisions

Toronto, ON – TELUS today announced that it has signed an agreement with Microsoft Corp. in which TELUS is granted the exclusive license to host and operate the HealthVault platform for the development of a consumer-focused e-health service in Canada. The service will be called TELUS Health Space, powered by Microsoft HealthVault.

The service will be the first of its kind in Canada, letting Canadians manage and store their personal health information and have access to applications like personal health record, chronic disease management, pediatric care and wellness products that will allow better management of their health and the health of their family.

“What was once thought impossible is now a reality. Canadians have been demanding the ability to manage their health electronically and soon they will be able to do it with a life-long record provided by TELUS,” said Francois Cote, President of TELUS Health Solutions. “We are very excited to be working with Microsoft because of their clear commitment to healthcare, their track record in delivering world class software solutions and ability to attract leading application providers to their platforms.”

Building on a long-standing relationship, this collaboration combines the rich technology and health expertise of TELUS and Microsoft to deliver a comprehensive consumer-focused e-health service for Canadians,” said Phil Sorgen, President, Microsoft Canada. “This marks the first international deployment of Microsoft HealthVault, which accelerates the move toward an online, patient-centric healthcare system, and which will improve the health and wellness of our country’s citizens.”
TELUS Health Space will make the service available to organizations such as governments, health regions, hospitals, insurers and employers, who would like to offer the service to their constituents. TELUS will operate Health Space’s infrastructure and securely host all stored health data in Canada to help ensure consumer privacy.

“As both the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario and as a patient, I applaud TELUS and Microsoft for taking this important first step in making a platform for consumer-focused e-health applications available to health care providers and other organizations,” said Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. “I urge these providers to actively pass on the benefits of these services to individual patients. As the health care system transitions from paper-based records to electronic health records, it is essential for patients to become an active part of this process. The services envisioned in Canada’s first consumer e-health platform will give patients the tools to manage their own health care through electronic access to comprehensive, patient-centred health information. Let the new era of accessibility begin.”

TELUS, with the collaboration of Microsoft, will proactively solicit developers, application providers and device manufacturers to join the service and provide consumers with tools that will help foster dynamic, trusted and personalized healthcare. Currently, there are already over 60 companies delivering online solutions for the HealthVault platform in the U.S., spanning health care providers, health plans, medical devices and pharmacies.

About Microsoft HealthVault
Microsoft HealthVault is a personal health application platform designed to put consumers in control of their health information. HealthVault provides a privacy- and security-enhanced foundation on which a broad ecosystem of providers can build innovative health and wellness solutions such as personal health records, disease management, fitness, weight loss and other Web applications. HealthVault can be used to collect and store health information that would otherwise reside in disparate systems and transfer the information between a variety of providers’ health services and systems. It enables the reuse and free flow of interoperable and transportable personal health information.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

About TELUS Health Solutions
TELUS Health Solutions, backed by Emergis, represents a unique set of technology, expertise and resources to help transform how information is used in the healthcare industry. TELUS Health Solutions has years of expertise in successfully implementing healthcare applications and information communication technology processes through industry leading solutions and consulting services to customers in Canada and around the world. It is backed by more than 1,500 TELUS Health Solutions team members including healthcare professionals. For more information, please visit telushealth.com.

About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.7 billion of annual revenue and 11.6 million customer connections including 6.1 million wireless subscribers, 4.2 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video. In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed $137 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered more than 2.6 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Nine TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead our local philanthropic initiatives. For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.