LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - Mar 12, 2012) - Farzad Mostashari, M.D., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said Friday, March 9th in Los Angeles, "It is time for patients to ask for copies of their electronic medical record and download them. We do it for every other aspect of our lives but healthcare." In an article in Saturday's Los Angeles Times, Mostashari also said that "patients should take matters into their own hands." MMRGlobal, Inc. (
In response to the article, MMRGlobal Chairman and CEO Robert H. Lorsch said, "MyMedicalRecords meets the objective of the National Coordinator for Health IT, specifically, to get patient records in the hands of patients today. In 2009, the Federal Government passed the HITECH Act committing $27 billion to help contain costs of a healthcare system buried in paper from which very little has been accomplished. Since the creation of MyMedicalRecords, we have spent more than $20 million to create our internationally patented MMR solution that meets the national objective to get Personal Health Records into the hands of the patient without changing the workflow of a medical office. As a result, we believe that MMR represents a tremendous opportunity for healthcare professionals and investors alike with a pipeline of billions more to be invested from the government to get systems into the main stream of healthcare. The greater the success of that effort the more patients would be connected to their healthcare professionals using systems like those deployed by MMR."
MMRGlobal's products and services move medical records from any healthcare professional to the patient in seconds using a universal consumer-centric Personal Health Record. MMR services connect to the most advanced Electronic Medical Record systems in the world, or a plain old ordinary fax machine in a sole practitioner's private office. The system also allows secure sharing of patients' personal health information with all their medical providers. Regardless of the technology, the system enables medical records to be instantly deployed electronically to a patient or their physician anywhere in the world. New patient accounts can be activated in less than a minute, at a cost of pennies a day. It does not matter if a patient is being treated at the Cleveland Clinic, employing one of the most advanced EMR systems in the world, or in an office using plain paper files, completely eliminating the need for standardization.
The Los Angeles Times article on Mostashari also reported that critics say billions of dollars are being spent on EMR systems that are poorly designed and that in most cases cannot communicate with other systems. Major companies such as General Electric Co. and Microsoft Corp. as well as a host of smaller software firms are all attempting to seize on this massive technology opportunity.
MMR has been instrumental in the creation of a consumerized Personal Health Record. This year the Company is being instrumental in bringing eHealth to retail with the launch of its Prepaid Personal Health Record card which it plans on selling in retail locations nationwide. Working in eHealth through both the Bush and Obama administrations, MMR has participated in important healthcare panels and education forums as a participant or sponsor involving presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich; former House Majority Leader, Richard A. "Dick" Gephardt; former U.S. Congressman and first Under Secretary of Homeland Security, Asa Hutchinson; and former Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Hector V. Barreto. In addition and shortly following Katrina, President George W. Bush presented MMR a special award from the U.S. Small Business Administration for its efforts to create the MyMedicalRecords Personal Health Record and MyEsafeDepositBox for disaster preparedness.
Lorsch added, "We always knew the day was coming when it would be very clear that everyone would need to have a PHR. As a result, over the past five years I have had the opportunity to discuss the blueprint for Personal Health Records with former HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt and David Brailer, M.D. after he was selected as the first National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. I also met with former National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal, M.D. and maintain a relationship with senior staff in the office. It was just a matter of time before the current National Coordinator for Health IT, Farzad Mostashari, made it clear that doctors and hospitals need to do more to make records available to patients and that patients themselves need to ask for copies of their medical records. I am proud that MMR is ready to respond to the market in a way that allows both doctors and patients to instantly share information to improve care and reduce costs."
Mostashari also noted that as of 2010, only 19% of hospitals could share patient information electronically with outside physicians. He acknowledged that for physicians to spend the time necessary to improve that statistic it costs money and that payment reform must support the digital push of medical records sharing. MMR is already responding to this issue by offering the MMR Stimulus Program to help doctors offset a significant portion of those costs by offering MMRPatientView and PatientView upgrades to the office (www.mmrpatientvideos.com).
About MMRGlobal, Inc.
MMRGlobal, Inc., through its wholly-owned operating subsidiary, MyMedicalRecords, Inc. ("MMR"), provides secure and easy-to-use online Personal Health Records ("PHRs") and electronic safe deposit box storage solutions, serving consumers, healthcare professionals, employers, insurance companies, financial institutions, and professional organizations and affinity groups. The MyMedicalRecords PHR enables individuals and families to access their medical records and other important documents, such as birth certificates, passports, insurance policies and wills, anytime from anywhere using the Internet. MyMedicalRecords is built on proprietary, patented technologies to allow documents, images and voicemail messages to be transmitted and stored in the system using a variety of methods, including fax, phone, or file upload without relying on any specific electronic medical record platform to populate a user's account. The Company's professional offering, MMRPro, is designed to give physicians' offices an easy and cost-effective solution to digitizing paper-based medical records and sharing them with patients in real time through an integrated patient portal. MMR is an Independent Software Vendor Partner with Kodak to deliver an integrated turnkey EMR solution for healthcare professionals. Through its merger with Favrille, Inc. in January 2009, the Company acquired intellectual property biotech assets that include anti-CD20 antibodies and data and samples from its FavId®/Specifid™ vaccine clinical trials for the treatment of B-Cell Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. To learn more about MMRGlobal, Inc. and its products visit www.mmrglobal.com.
Hector V. Barreto, Richard A. Gephardt and Asa Hutchinson serve on MMRGlobal's Board of Advisors.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in nature, whether or not such statement relates directly to the Company's future performance, management's expectations, beliefs, intentions, estimates or projections, constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some can be identified by the use of words (and their derivations) such as "need," "possibility," "offer," "development," "if," "negotiate," "when," "begun," "believe," "achieve," "will," "estimate," "expect," "maintain," "plan," and "continue," or the negative of these words. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the risk the Company's products are not adopted or viewed favorably by the healthcare community and consumer retail market; rollout and sales of the prepaid personal health record cards; business prospects, results of operations or financial condition; risks related to the current uncertainty and instability in financial and lending markets, including global economic uncertainties; timing and volume of sales and installations; length of sales cycles and the installation process; market acceptance of new product introductions; ability to establish and maintain strategic relationships; relationships with licensees; competitive product offerings and promotions; changes in government laws and regulations and future changes in tax legislation and initiatives in the healthcare industry; undetected errors in our products; possibility of interruption at our data centers; risks related to third party vendors; risks related to obtaining and integrating third-party licensed technology; risks related to a security breach by third parties; risks associated with recruitment and retention of key personnel; maintaining, developing and defending our intellectual property rights; marketing and exploitation of our patent portfolio; uncertainties associated with doing business internationally across borders and territories; and additional risks discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company is providing this information as of the date of this release and, except as required by law, does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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