Alere Medical, Inc. Recipient of DMAA's Recognizing Excellence in Disease Management Award.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

RENO, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 15, 2003

Alere's Innovative Use of Technology Improves Lives of Patients

with Heart Failure while Reducing Healthcare Costs

Alere Medical, Inc., the leader in care management and remote monitoring of patients with advanced heart failure, today announced that it is this year's recipient of the Disease Management Association of America's (DMAA) award for Best Enabling Tool for Disease Management. The award recognizes Alere Medical's at-home heart monitoring program's ability to significantly reduce unnecessary hospitalizations and improve the quality of life for patients with advanced heart failure.

"We are honored to receive DMAA's award for Best Enabling Tool," said Ron Geraty, MD, CEO of Alere. "We believe the Alere Heart Monitoring Program is the best solution for patients with heart failure and are excited to have it nationally recognized for successfully improving lives and reducing healthcare costs."

Alere Medical is the first healthcare organization to combine a unique blend of emerging information technology, patient-empowering education, and the nurse-patient relationship to improve the daily lives of people with heart failure. The Alere Heart Monitoring Program is a cost effective and efficient method of at-home daily monitoring of patients with advanced heart failure. The program is designed to give physicians timely access to the biometric and symptomatic information needed to enable early clinical intervention for the most seriously ill CHF patients before costly re-hospitalization is required. It is also designed to educate the patient about heart failure and to provide the necessary support a patient needs to make the required lifestyle changes to better self manage their illness.

The Alere Heart Monitoring Program works by placing the Alere patented DayLink(R) monitor in a patient's home to gather biometric and symptomatic information, such as daily weight and shortness of breath, on the patient. The information is forwarded electronically, 24 hours a day, to Alere's proprietary database attended by cardiac-trained nurses via the Internet. The nurses analyze trends that may indicate a change in the patient's health status and, if indicated, notify the treating physician. The need for clinical intervention therefore can be assessed by the physician and, when necessary, escalated prior to serious episodes that could result in emergency room visits or hospitalization.

About Alere Medical, Inc.

Alere helps patients with heart failure manage their illness through a unique combination of at-home monitoring, patient empowering education and nurse-patient relationships. Alere is the first company to monitor data daily from patients in their homes, and deliver information to doctors complete with RN assessment. Alere's technology delivers actionable information from objective findings and patient symptoms. This helps patients follow and doctors improve treatment plans for a better quality of life. The result is reduced hospitalizations, cost savings, and positive clinical outcomes. Alere Medical is connecting, caring and empowering. Founded in 1996, Alere is headquartered in Reno, Nevada with technology development based in Concord, California. For more information, visit www.alere.com.