HealthBanks Adds In-Depth Healthwise Consumer Health Information to Physician-Customized Web Sites; Information Therapy to Help Improve Doctor-Patient Relationships, Communication

Business Wire,  Sept 16, 2003  

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Health/Medical & Business Editors

BOISE, Idaho & BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 2003

More than ever before, physicians are using online resources to support and improve patient care. HealthBanks, a physician-patient communication innovator, announced today that it has added the Healthwise Knowledgebase to its physician-customized health education programs at www.healthbanks.com to help clinicians and patients build better relationships.

HealthBanks develops online health education programs for physicians, customized for their practices and protocols. These wired physicians encourage their patients to use the information at their Web sites to increase understanding of and participation in their care.

Physicians who use the HealthBanks Patient Education Network provide their patients with information therapy, or information "prescriptions," before and/or after their appointments. These prescriptions are part of the HealthBanksRx(SM) service, which directs patients to specific, relevant Healthwise Knowledgebase topics. Patients can also search the full Healthwise Knowledgebase at their physician's Web site. Additionally, physicians use innovative HealthBanks technology to post online messages that complement the existing medical information (MDNotes(SM)), and they also record and post customized audio messages (HBAudio(SM)).

"There is a lot of debate about where patients should go to get accurate health information on the Internet," said Jim Robinson, president and CEO of HealthBanks. "Hopefully our new partnership with Healthwise will end that debate as more and more patients realize that they can get gold-standard health information customized by the one source they trust the most -- their own physician -- at www.healthbanks.com."

HealthBanks' medical director, Dr. Michael Bihari, said, "Patients can now get health information they trust from the person they trust -- their own doctor. HealthBanks has created an online learning environment for the medical consumer that has been enhanced by the addition of the Healthwise Knowledgebase. The information is comprehensive, current, credible, and free of any advertising or bias."

Patients of HealthBanks' physicians have unlimited access to the award-winning Healthwise Knowledgebase, which contains more than 5,000 evidence-based topics on health conditions, medical tests and procedures, medications, and everyday health and wellness issues.

New, multi-image illustrations give people a step-by-step understanding of complicated procedures, ranging from knee replacement surgery to placement of ear tubes.

"People receive better health care when they work as partners with their doctors," said Healthwise President and COO Gene Drabinski. "HealthBanks' technology along with Healthwise information will help patients understand their conditions, treatment options, and questions. This improves both health decisions and doctor-patient relationships."

Nationally recognized physician experts from throughout North America review all information in the Healthwise Knowledgebase to assure its accuracy and currency. The Knowledgebase has received URAC Health Web site accreditation, certifying that Healthwise information is up-to-date, reliable, and trustworthy.

About Healthwise

Healthwise, Incorporated, is a nonprofit organization that has been helping people make better health decisions since 1975. Every year people make more than 49 million health care decisions with Healthwise English and Spanish handbooks and online content. The new "intelligent" Healthwise Knowledgebase is indexed for online information therapy to help organizations get the right information to the right person at the right time. For more information, visit www.healthwise.org and www.informationtherapy.org, or call 1-800-706-9646.

About HealthBanks

HealthBanks is a unique online relationship network company, which connects patients, physicians, pharmaceutical companies, and the health care community. HealthBanks generates measurable results by working with pharmaceutical companies to provide HealthBanks' award-winning educational services to physicians and their patients -- thus improving the quality of health care nationwide. For the pharmaceutical industry, HealthBanks provides an effective strategic marketing investment connecting the four key constituencies in their markets: brand managers, sales teams, physicians, and patients. HealthBanks generates measurable results for its sponsors by creating a high-quality communication channel between patients and physicians, improving sales representatives' relationships with their physicians, and providing marketing teams with a powerful research channel directly to their target customers. HealthBanks, Inc., is a privately held company based in Burlington, Massachusetts.

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