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LifeMasters Announces Internet-Based Disease Management Initiative

San Francisco, Calif., October 27, 1998 - The role of the personal computer and the Internet in helping chronically ill patients to achieve improved health status while reducing healthcare costs will be evaluated in a yearlong study conducted by LifeMasters Supported SelfCare, Inc.. The announcement of the study was made today at Intel’s Internet Health Day in San Francisco.

The Lifemasters study, which began this month, compares three groups of Medicare patients diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). The groups consist of a traditional care group, a telephonic Interactive Voice Response (IVR) intervention group and an Internet PC intervention group.

Patients in the Internet intervention group are supplied with a PC, an Internet service connection, a phone line and computer training and maintenance. By accessing their personal Web site, patients enter their vital signs and symptoms including blood pressure, heart rate and weight into the computer on a daily basis. Patient confidentiality is protected through the use of passwords and data encryption. Data servers reside on LifeMasters’ secure internal network.

Upon noticeable changes in a patient’s daily record, a LifeMasters nurse will contact the patient for information verification. The nurse will then issue an exception report to the patient’s personal physician, who will be notified by facsimile, e-mail, or telephone of potential health problems. Patients also receive coaching and encouragement through regular telephone calls and emails from their LifeMasters nurse.

"Compliance is enhanced, and costs arising out of disease-related emergencies are reduced among patients currently enrolled in LifeMasters’ telephonic program," says LifeMasters President and

Chief Executive Officer, Christobel E. Selecky. "We believe that connected patients are more

empowered to take an active role in improving their own health," Selecky continued. "The Internet study will provide further evidence that technology enables physicians, other healthcare professionals and HMOs to reduce healthcare costs while providing greater quality of care."

"For a long time, technology in healthcare always represented a trade-off between quality and cost," said Steven McGeady, vice president of Intel’s Content Group and director of the Internet Health Initiative. "Internet-based disease management can improve the health and lifestyle of the chronically ill while lowering the long-term cost of their care. The Internet and the PC link these patients into a network of support and care that goes far beyond what was previously possible. We applaud Lifemasters’ pioneering work in this area."

The personal Web site also provides patients with educational news and information related to their condition. Internet chat rooms give patients additional support by offering interaction with healthcare professionals and others with chronic illnesses. The technology also prompts patients to take their medications and to comply with other daily routines prescribed by their physician.

The study marks the introduction of LifeMasters’ Internet-based. Currently, LifeMasters uses its Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to monitor patients with CHF, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and diabetes - the three most prevalent chronic conditions among Medicare patients.

The use of technology in disease management provides many benefits including the ability to monitor large numbers of patients with multiple diseases; the flexibility to customize the program to each patient’s needs and condition; easy expansion across the country; an increase in nurse efficiency by 67 percent through the automation of data collection and paperwork; and immediate communication of potentially catastrophic changes in the patient’s condition.

The Lifemasters program has already been demonstrated to significantly reduce cost and emergency hospitalizations for seniors with chronic disease. A group of CHF patients enrolled in the LifeMasters program through a large Northern California-based managed care organization, experienced a 25.3 percent reduction in healthcare expenditures, even after including the cost of the LifeMasters program.

Dr. Richard J. Moore, a San Francisco internist, has used LifeMasters’ IVR patient monitoring service for the past year. "It is this type of proactive intervention that keeps patients out of the hospital. It’s a win-win situation for the patients and physicians."

"As an example, I currently have a heart failure patient who I monitor daily with the assistance of the LifeMasters program," he says. "Prior to enrollment in the program one year ago, this patient experienced three emergency hospitalizations in a 12-month period. Now, I can oversee this patient daily - not just during occasional office visits. In addition, the patient has become an active participant in his own well-being and has not been hospitalized since his enrollment," reports Dr. Moore.

According to 1998 statistics from the American Heart Association, it is estimated that 4.9 million

Americans suffer from CHF at a cost of more than $20.2 billion annually in emergency room visits, hospital admissions, and disease-related complications. In addition, CHF is the single most frequent cause of hospitalizations in people age 65 and older. About 400,000 new cases of CHF occur each year.

Internet Health Day was developed by Intel to provide a forum for news and discussion surrounding the fast-emerging Internet Health industry and market. The ability of the Internet to deliver health-related information, products and services is enabling new benefits for consumers and new opportunities for the healthcare industry and Internet entrepreneurs. Internet Health Day is co-sponsored by the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

For More Information Contact:

Denise Apcar LifeMasters, Inc (650) 829-6217 pr@lifemasters.com