Houston, Texas, May 24, 2000 (PRIMEZONE) -- MediQuik Services, Inc. (OTC:MDQK), today announced that it has selected Confer Software's eProcess technology-the ConferWeb(TM)Platform 5.0 XML-as the IT backbone for MediQuik's Advantage Plan(TM) disease management solutions. MediQuik will develop Internet-based disease management programs on the ConferWeb Platform, leveraging its highly scalable and adaptive architecture to help streamline health management processes and improve the quality of care delivery.
MediQuik selected the ConferWeb Platform as the foundation for its disease management programs because it is the healthcare industry's most advanced Internet-based process automation technology. Leveraging XML (eXtensible Markup Language) technology to securely coordinate the processes and complex interactions among the many healthcare constituents, the ConferWeb Platform enables organizations to improve health management, while reducing overall costs.
"The ConferWeb Platform will allow us to leverage the most advanced Internet-based technology in healthcare to increase the efficiency of our Advantage Plan programs while improving communication among health plans, physicians and consumers," said Robert Teague, M.D., senior vice president and chief medical officer of MediQuik Services. "In addition, we will be able to increase caseloads, reduce costs and dramatically improve customer service and the quality of care delivered to Advantage Plan program members. Given the flexibility and scalability of the platform, we also will have the ability to enhance and increase our existing business and services, while expanding into new areas of health management."
Through its Advantage Plan disease management products, MediQuik enables health plans to deliver better care to large populations of chronic disease patients at significantly lower costs. In the case of the Diabetes Advantage Plan, the company bundles pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and educational materials for direct delivery to the patient's home, and provides disease severity stratification, patient monitoring and ongoing consultation services to the health plan.
"After deploying our diabetes disease management solution on the ConferWeb Platform, we will extend the technology to integrate our Web-based business-to-consumer self care applications," said Dale Toney, vice president of Internet business development for MediQuik. "We also plan to build upon Confer's eProcess technology as a central application to coordinate our internal, enterprise systems and integrate the systems of our partners and future acquisitions."
The ConferWeb Platform 5.0 XML serves as the foundation for all Confer eProcess applications for health management. The ConferWeb Platform 5.0 XML simplifies access to the data that resides in a customer's existing systems, allowing organizations to extract critical information to best manage care delivery processes, including the determination and analysis of outcomes and costs. By leveraging XML as a universal data interchange format and combining it with an integration gateway that supports MQ Series, TCP/IP and DCOM, the ConferWeb Platform 5.0 XML unifies the disparate information systems within and across healthcare organizations to allow for cohesive business-to-business and business to consumer activities. The ConferWeb Platform 5.0 XML also has architecture that provides high scalability to handle processes involving millions of consumers and hundreds of thousands of business-to-business trading partners
"MediQuik's Advantage Plans for disease management help improve the care delivery and quality of life for those health plan members who suffer from chronic diseases, and are estimated to drive 80 percent of healthcare costs according to industry analysts," said Dale Sakai, president and chief executive officer of Confer Software. "By building its disease management programs on the ConferWeb Platform, MediQuik is further bolstering its efforts to improve health management processes utilizing the most sophisticated eProcess technology available to healthcare organizations today. The end result will be the ability to offer the highest level of care to Advantage Plan program members, while generating a rapid return on investment for MediQuik and its customers."
About Confer Software
Based in Redwood City, Calif., Confer Software empowers the healthcare industry to realize the vision of eCare-the use of Internet-based applications to optimize health management. Confer's Web-based applications for disease management, case management, utilization management, and self care, interoperate on its patented ConferWeb(tm) Platform-the healthcare industry's first Web-based eProcess technology. The ConferWeb System securely coordinates the interactions among health plans, providers, suppliers, and healthcare consumers in the context of a health management process, enabling improved quality of life, while drastically lowering medical and administrative costs.
About MediQuik
MediQuik is a rapidly growing chronic disease management company providing cost savings to managed care organizations through supply, personal health management, and individually tailored education to improve self-management. By providing high quality healthcare resources to the patient, MediQuik's goal is to reduce the cost of chronic disease while improving the wellness of the chronic disease patient.
This press-release contains certain forward looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Investors are cautioned that all statements included in this press release which concerns the company and its operations, other than statements of historical fact, are forward looking statements. Although the company believes that forward looking statements contained herein are reasonable they are based on numerous assumptions, any and all which could be inaccurate, and therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included herein will be correct or accurate. The inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by the Company or any other person that the objectives and plans of the Company will be achieved.
For more information about MediQuik Services and our disease management solutions, please visit www.mediquik.net, or call 713-888-1919.