URAC names FONEMED as a finalist in Best Practices in Consumer Empowerment and Protection Awards

Washington, D.C. Nov. 29, 2007  - Today URAC announced that a distinguished panel of judges has selected FONEMED and Florida Hospital Systems Centra Care as a finalist for its inaugural Best Practices in Consumer Empowerment and Protection Awards competition.  The nation-wide competition attracted entries detailing innovative and proven programs that are enhancing patient safety and giving consumers more control over their health care.  Winners represent health plans, pharmacy benefit management organizations, health care management companies and health information technology companies.

FONEMED will showcase its winning Exposure Hotline for Patient Safety with Florida Hospital Systems Centra Care at the Best Practices in Consumer Empowerment and Protection Conference and Exhibit, March 25-26, 2008

Ken Bleakley, CEO of FONEMED, stated: “We are excited about pairing the highly sophisticated programs developed by Florida Hospital Systems Centra Care with FONEMED’s advanced call center technology and services. Healthcare workers and patients exposed to infectious fluids, diseases and unusual substances now have a single point of contact to deal with their urgent situations. URAC’s high standards have been invaluable in shaping the program.”

“The Best Practices awards and conference will be an opportunity for leaders in health care management to find out what premier companies are really doing to advance consumer protection and empowerment,” said Alan Spielman, URAC’s president and CEO.  “This is a first-of-its-kind conference with national scope that includes entries from health care management organizations big and small, across the health care spectrum.”

Entries were judged by a distinguished panel of judges, chaired by epidemiologist Thomas W. Wilson, Ph.D., DrPH, Trajectory HealthCare, LLC. The panel included the best and most widely recognized experts in program evaluation, care coordination, health information technology, employer and purchaser decision making and patient safety.  Entries were blinded, then reviewed and scored by the judges based on objective criteria.   

About FONEMED (www.fonemed.com)

FONEMED® uses communications technology to provide individuals with round-the-clock, telephone or web-based access to medical advice, information, products and services. It provides outsourced services from its health information call center, accredited by URAC. It also supplies the tools, technology, and know-how to operate proprietary Health Information Centers as installed or hosted systems. FONEMED’s medical and information technology staff designed its new web-based operating platform specifically to support a broad range of interrelated medical activities such as the Exposure Hotline.

About Florida Hospital Systems Centra Care

Florida Hospital is affiliated with the Adventist Health System, the largest not-for-profit, Protestant healthcare organization in the United States, employing over 43,000 persons. Centra Care is the urgent care component of the Adventist Health System’s Florida division.

About URAC

URAC, an independent, nonprofit organization, is well-known as a leader in promoting health care quality through its accreditation and certification programs. URAC offers a wide range of quality benchmarking programs and services that keep pace with the rapid changes in the health care system, and provide a symbol of excellence for organizations to validate their commitment to quality and accountability. Through its broad-based governance structure and an inclusive standards development process, URAC ensures that all stakeholders are represented in establishing meaningful quality measures for the entire health care industry. For more information, visit www.urac.org.

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