Alere Medical Chooses HC Innovations, Inc. to Provide Care Management for Tufts Health Plan Medicare Preferred Members

HC Innovations, Inc. (OTCBB: HCNV) announced today that it has entered into a three-year contract with Alere Medical, Inc. to provide care management for Tufts Health Plan Medicare Preferred members. Care management will be provided through Enhanced Care Initiatives, Inc. (ECI), an HC Innovations subsidiary.

"Our program represents true integration of care, combining our community-based intense medical management programs for the medically frail complex patient with Alere's highly developed disease-centric interventions, connecting directly into the physician's office," said HC Innovations Chairman & CEO David Chess, MD. "The interventions are driven by unique software, coordinating interventions, prompting care guidelines and facilitating communications. This is an important opportunity to improve the health care and quality of life for Tufts Health PlanMedicare Preferred members, while also reducing costs."

"Alere choose to partner with HC Innovations because of their on-the-ground presence in supporting each patient's compliance and adherence with their physician's treatment plan," said Timothy J. Moore, MD, MS, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Alere. "This is a natural extension of Alere's philosophy on the importance of connecting patients with caring professionals to empower them to lead healthier lives."

The Easy Care Program works directly with patients and their physicians to fill in the care gaps which result in patients' decline and resultant hospitalization. The community-based program is driven by nurses and nurse practitioners who visit the patient in the home and in the physician's office, and together develop a plan to keep the patient well. The program focuses on the most frail and costly subset of patients, and leverages advanced software and technology to drive outcomes. "The medical team and physicians are there to educate and motivate the patients; our software has been built to continually assist the practitioners in prompting and reinforcing healthy behaviors and treatments," said Dr. Chess.

The program will work in concert with the array of medical and disease management programs currently offered to members of Tufts Health Plan Medicare Preferred. Dr. Jonathan Harding, medical director for senior products, said, "The Easy Care Program is a critical program that provides direct, in-person support to patients with complex medical needs. In offering this program to our members, we aim to provide additional support to our physician partners who oversee these patients. The Easy Care model will bring better outcomes for our members." Tufts Health Plan Medicare Preferred currently has more than 80,000 members.

About HC Innovations Inc.

HC Innovations creates value and cost savings for HMOs, nursing homes, and insurance companies (government and private) by identifying niche markets with high medical costs and implementing proprietary solutions to help control those costs. HC Innovations combines proprietary state-of-the-art information systems with highly trained nurses and nurse practitioners to improve health conditions with hands-on care. The results are improved patient outcomes and a dramatic reduction in care costs. Headquartered in Shelton, Connecticut HC Innovations currently provides services for Medicare, Medicaid, sub-acute care and specialty-needs programs in Connecticut, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Illinois and Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.hcinnovationsinc.com or call (203) 925-9600.

About Alere Medical, Inc.

Alere Medical Incorporated is a leader in specialized disease management services focusing on select high cost diseases to maximize clients' return on investment. Alere produces unequalled clinical and cost saving results, by precision targeting the patients who will benefit most from specialty interventions. Alere's integrated care monitoring system identifies and monitors all medium- and high-risk patients, and prioritizes those patients to facilitate efficient workflow. With published outcomes that exceed those of any competitor, Alere Medical's disease management programs result in improved clinical outcomes for patients, and guaranteed savings for clients.

Alere Medical has received NCQA Patient Oriented Full Accreditation for its Heart Failure Disease Management Program (2004-2007), and is also ranked #61 on the Inc. 500 list of America's fastest-growing private companies (2005). For more information, visit www.alere.com or call (775) 829-8885.

About Tufts Health Plan

Tufts Health Plan is a Massachusetts-based health plan nationally recognized for its commitment to providing innovative, high-quality health care coverage. The plan supports its members and employers with an array of physician and clinician led medical management programs. These programs use evidence-based medicine to design coverage that supports proven approaches to providing care and improving quality. Tufts Health Plans, HMO, POS and Medicare Advantage plans maintain Excellent accreditation status from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. And, Tufts Health Plan HMO has been recognized as a Distinguished Health Plan by J.D. Power and Associates, for providing "An Outstanding Member Experience." Tufts Health Plan is the first health plan in Boston to earn a J.D. Power and Associates award for 11 years, for outstanding member satisfaction or service excellence.