Future HealthCare Provides New Web-based Care Management Modules.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--(BW HealthWire)--April 19, 1999--

Future HealthCare, Inc. today announced a contract with AccessCare, a pediatric network of 25 practices across the state of North Carolina, to implement Future HealthCare's new Web-based Asthma and Disability Care Management modules.

The modules are part of Future HealthCare's SecureDATA(sm) product suite and will collect and monitor clinical resources and outcomes for the targeted patient populations. Using standard Web browsers, AccessCare physicians and local care managers will have instant access to essential information for treating and educating the targeted patient populations.

The new modules build upon Future HealthCare's secure Web-based information system used by AccessCare for tracking utilization and verifying eligibility of their over 80,000 member Medicaid population. Using the new Asthma and Disability Care Management modules, AccessCare physicians and care managers will access clinical indicators, patient history, care management plans, and patient education materials. The system will also alert the clinicians to variations in a patient's treatment plan based on clinical rules integrated into the product.

Steve Wegner, MD, President of AccessCare, stated, "We are delighted to expand our partnership with Future HealthCare. Using information to manage and educate our patients is essential in order to improve the health of our population. With SecureDATA(sm) and the Internet, we have already begun to see results in terms of improving care and reducing inappropriate utilization. Our new relationship with Future HealthCare provides physicians and local care managers with evidence-based information to improve care, education, and patient compliance for two targeted patient populations - pediatric asthmatics and our disabled population."

"This is the first system in North Carolina to use the Internet for concurrent, clinical data collection," explained David C. Kibbe, MD, MBA, and Chief Executive Officer of Future HealthCare. "The SecureDATA(sm) product suite allows organizations like AccessCare to utilize targeted clinical data -- clinical quality indicators, patient history, or health status questionnaires -- easily and economically. The physicians and care managers can communicate and access the data in 'real time' from any location where they can plug their computer into a telephone line."

Future HealthCare, Inc. (http://www.futurehealthcare.com) builds customized and secure Web-based solutions for care management and outcomes research. The SecureDATA(sm) product line integrates evidence-based measures and rules in order to provide real time information for managing specific patient populations. All SecureDATA(sm) products meet or exceed the requirements of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) and the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) by using multiple layers of authentication and authorization security. These layers incorporate state-of-the-art security including user identification and log-ins, certificates, 128-bit data encryption, and site access restriction. Future HealthCare is a subsidiary of The Medical Mutual Group of North Carolina.

AccessCare, a pediatric independent practice association with contracts to manage the Medicaid population in North Carolina, is a statewide network of providers and medical practices in North Carolina committed to improving the quality and cost effectiveness of care for all of its patients.