Methodology Gives MCOs Highly Descriptive Analyses of Risk Factors

WAYNE, Pa., April 2 /PRNewswire/ --

MEDecision, Inc., a market leader in medical management software, today announced the general availability of its latest product, CaseAlert. The software system enables managed

"CaseAlert represents a new level of sophistication in case and disease management software. As an industry, we've moved beyond worrying about identifying patients with a given diagnosis. The overwhelming challenge facing care managers today is the stratification of patients by risk level to allow the assignment of the appropriate intensity of case and disease management resources," said David St. Clair, chairman and chief executive officer of MEDecision.

"CaseAlert's predictive methodology identifies those patients who are currently or are likely to be at risk. The product then goes one step further, automatically stratifying members to enable optimal assignment of care management resources. CaseAlert provides highly descriptive patient profiles to support efficient and productive case and disease management screening," St. Clair added.

According to Dianne Cosgrove, clinical systems manager, Orlando Regional Healthcare, "The software is very actionable. It enables us to quickly identify high-risk patients and get them into the proper disease management programs. CaseAlert found members for our disease management programs that our traditional methods missed. In fact, 85% of the members in our hypertension disease management program were identified using the CaseAlert methodology."

CaseAlert processes information from Oracle data repositories. It is compatible with current MEDecision products and other claims and care management software systems. CaseAlert can help MCOs manage costs and outcomes by identifying at-risk patients and helping to determine the level of intervention required for those patients. It uses clinically sophisticated algorithms to segment patient populations and produce actionable information for MCO case managers.

All of MEDecision's products, including CaseAlert, can be tailored to meet the individual needs of health management organizations and to link with existing medical management software. The products also are designed to protect the confidentiality of patient records in compliance with evolving federal standards, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

About Orlando Regional Healthcare

Orlando Regional Healthcare, a 1,870-bed private, not-for-profit organization was established in 1918. The hospital system serves more than 540,000 Central Florida residents and 4,500 international patients annually. Physicians are independent contractors and are not employees of Orlando Regional Healthcare or its subsidiaries. As a community-owned organization, Orlando Regional reinvests its profits into many one-of-a-kind, specialized services like Central Florida's only Level I trauma center and statutory teaching hospital. U.S. News & World Report ranked Orlando Regional Healthcare as one of the nations' best hospitals and Fortune magazine recognized Orlando Regional as one of the Top 100 Companies to Work for in America.

Clinical Systems is a multidisciplinary team responsible for providing comparative data analysis for the corporation, and specifically for Healthchoice. Since its formation in 1984, Healthchoice has been one of the leading health plans in Central Florida. Owned by Orlando Regional Healthcare, their goal is to provide members with quality care while maintaining affordability. The staff and health care providers work together to develop and provide the latest in preventive care medicine and disease management programs, helping to safeguard and improve the community's health. Healthchoice is one of the only community-based and locally-owned managed care plans in Florida. More information is available at www.orlandoregional.com or www.healthchoiceorlando.org.

About MEDecision

MEDecision, a privately owned company founded in 1988, is a market leader in clinical decision support software solutions for medical management. The firm specializes in systems that link patients, providers and payers in an information network to improve overall health outcomes and reduce costs. MEDecision customers include multiple Blue Cross and Blue Shield organizations, complex health management organizations, integrated delivery networks, Medicaid managed care organizations, major insurance carriers and specialty managed care firms.

MEDecision's software products are being used to improve the quality of healthcare and reduce both administrative and unnecessary clinical costs for approximately 30 million people - one in every seven Americans with health insurance. MEDecision's award-winning software solutions include integrated case, disease and utilization management, high-risk patient identification, Internet authorizations, provider profiling and quality analysis.

For more information about CaseAlert and MEDecision's other care management products, please call 610-254-0202, email Marketing@MEDecision.com or visit www.MEDecision.com.

MEDecision is a trademark of MEDecision, Inc. Other MEDecision product names and logo are also trademarks or registered trademarks of MEDecision, Inc. Other product and brand names are trademarks of their respective owners.