Martin's Point Health Care Wins First Place in National Healthcare Technology Award Program

Breakthrough interactive, Web-based service improves patient care and communication

PORTLAND, Maine -- Martin's Point Health Care, Maine's largest primary care practice and the first health care practice in the state to use the Internet to create a cyberlink between patients and their doctors, won first place in the coveted Healthcare Innovations in Technology Systems (HITS) "Partnership in Technology" national awards program.

Martin's Point and MediVation, the Needham, Mass.-based company that developed the automated Web-based service for Martin's Point, received the award at the annual Healthcare Informatics Expo and Conference held in Chicago, May 24-25.

The HITS awards, created in 1992 by the Henry Ford Health System, honor partnerships of healthcare organizations and technology vendors for the creative use of new or emerging technology to improve the quality of patient care. Martin's Point Health Care received its award for providing relevant health information through Internet-based personalized Web pages for patients.

Martin's Point won in the 'outpatient organizations' category. The second place award went to the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles and Nortel Networks for using telemedicine to provide remote care to inner city residents.

The award is the latest in a flood of national attention given the interactive service, called Patients Personal Points, since it debuted at Martin's Point last fall. The service allows patients to discuss medical issues, request prescription refills and appointments, and seek and receive health care information ö confidentially ö all with the click of a mouse on their personal computers ö 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Champions of innovation

Martin's Point initiated the program after concluding the Internet could be used as a tool to help patients take better care of themselves. "We saw how other industries were using the Internet to communicate with their customers and we knew we could do the same with our own patients," said David Howes, M.D., president and CMO of Martinâs Point. "We wanted to provide additional opportunities for our patients to communicate with their doctors so that physicians can better serve their patients."

Michael Cataldo, president and CEO of MediVation, added, "The partnership between MediVation and Martin's Point is a success because Martin's Point is an innovative practice that understands the value of patient communication and the need for enhanced doctor-patient relationships."

The Patients Personal Points program, available to Martin's Point patients in Brunswick and Windham, Maine, and Newington, N.H., and later this year at the practice's largest facility in Portland, utilizes Web technology for interactive and confidential communications that are initiated by either the enrolled patient through their personal medical Web page or by facility staff, all in a tightly secured area on the Martin's Point Web site, www.martinspoint.org. So far, more than 2,000 patients are registered at the three sites.

"Because the service resides in our site, we control the content but the patient pages are automatically created - without physician or staff interaction - following the patient visit to the doctor's office," Dr. Howes said. "The patient-specific Web content is based on the patient's diagnosis and treatment information that is captured within our practice management system."

When launched, Martin's Point was the first primary care practice in Maine, the second in New England ö and the third in the country ö to offer this particular interactive electronic communication service.

Real winner is the patient

Dr. Howes said the HITS technology award allows Martin's Point to stand out as a leader and promotes organizational pride and external recognition. "But most importantly we are responding to our patientâs desire for better access and tools for communication," he said.

Cataldo agrees. "The HITS award proves that vendors and healthcare practices are all in this together, but in the end the true winner is the patient."

About Martin's Point Health Care
Martin's Point Health Care, Portland, Maine, is a non-profit organization with a group of more than 30 primary care physicians and 260 healthcare professionals serving 44,000 patients in four locations in Maine and New Hampshire. Martin's Point specializes in primary managed care with a special emphasis on patient education and effective patient/physician relationships.

About MediVation
MediVation is a Needham, Mass.-based company that specializes in the delivery of Web services connecting physician practices to their own patients. MediVation delivered the industryâs first electronic provider-patient interface (ePPi) in 1998 and is the industry's leader in providing automated provider patient communication.

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