EMERYVILLE, Calif., June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- RelayHealth, the nation's premier provider of secure online communications linking physicians, patients, and payors, announced today that McKesson and Cisco have made strategic investments to expand RelayHealth's product and service offerings. McKesson, a Fortune 15 company, is the nation's leading healthcare IT provider, and Cisco is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet.
RelayHealth provides a secure, Web-based service that facilitates clinically sound, non-urgent care online. Patients can conduct online medical consultations called webVisits(R), communicate regularly with physicians, schedule appointments, receive lab results, request referrals and maintain personal health records using the service. RelayHealth is the only service of its kind to be the subject of multiple independent studies documenting healthcare cost savings, improved practice productivity and both physician and patient satisfaction. In addition, RelayHealth is the only service to enable reimbursement for webVisits, through a growing roster of leading health plans.
"We are extremely pleased to have the support and confidence of healthcare and technology leaders like McKesson and Cisco," said Giovanni Colella, MD, CEO, RelayHealth. "The demand for our services continues to surpass our most ambitious expectations. This round of financing will allow us to expand into new markets and continue to improve healthcare productivity and the healthcare experience for all parties."
For McKesson, the investment in RelayHealth is closely aligned with its expanding focus in ambulatory and physician office automation to drive quality, safety and practice efficiency. By offering RelayHealth's solution in concert with McKesson's Horizon Ambulatory Care(TM), McKesson's goal is to deliver a unique solution that automates physician offices and connects physicians to their patients, their payors and the local medical community. McKesson and RelayHealth have also entered into a joint development agreement to enhance these systems and co-develop new physician- and patient-focused systems that accelerate ambulatory automation and telehealth at-home connectivity.
As physician office automation accelerates, McKesson is focused on automating the entire administrative and clinical process. In addition to higher-quality care, McKesson is working to help physician customers cut costs and drive incremental revenue while delivering a comprehensive ambulatory electronic health record and an industry-leading practice management solution.
"McKesson's Horizon solution is highly differentiated to address the workflow issues so critical to the efficient practice of medicine in ambulatory settings, including connectivity for e-prescribing, claims submission and hospital services such as central scheduling and laboratory test processing," said Sunny Sanyal, group president, clinical solutions for McKesson Provider Technologies. "By working closely with RelayHealth, we will be able to extend McKesson's strategy and impact by connecting the physician and patient to proactively manage and drive care."
Noting RelayHealth's multi-constituent appeal in the marketplace, Sanyal said that McKesson is excited to offer RelayHealth's unique services to all of its customers. In addition to providers, McKesson expects RelayHealth to be of interest to its large payor customer base. "McKesson's leadership in the payor market will help to accelerate payor receptivity, system acceptance and reimbursement," Sanyal said. "Together, we'll work to build a highly differentiated solution that will improve satisfaction -- for the physician community, patients and payors."
The company plans to market the RelayHealth service to physician groups through its McKesson Provider Technologies Division and to health plans through its McKesson Health Solutions Division.
For Cisco, the investment in RelayHealth supports the company's ongoing commitment to combine industry expertise with successful, network-based solutions, and represents an innovative example of the transformative power of the Internet to connect key constituencies and drive value to all parties involved.
About McKesson
McKesson Corporation is a Fortune 15 healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes and improving the quality and safety of patient care. Over the course of its 172-year history, McKesson has grown by providing pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information, visit us at www.mckesson.com.
About RelayHealth Corporation
RelayHealth is the premier provider of payor-reimbursed secure online healthcare communication services linking patients, healthcare professionals, health plans, and pharmacies. A secure, clinically structured productivity platform for the medical office, the RelayHealth service is an emerging online communication standard, interfacing with both commercial and custom-built electronic medical record systems through the company's interoperability toolkit. Research studies show RelayHealth reduces phone traffic and increases physician productivity through modular features like the webVisit(R) clinical consultation and eScript(R) electronic prescribing-one reason leading health plans nationwide increasingly reimburse providers who use the RelayHealth service. For healthcare consumers, RelayHealth improves convenience, access and communication with their own doctors. For information, visit www.relayhealth.com.
RelayHealth CorporationCONTACT: Briana Pompei of RelayHealth, +1-510-428-7853, orbriana.pompei@relayhealth.com; or Paul Adams of McKesson, +1-404-338-3414,or paul.adams@mckesson.com; or Elizabeth McNichol of Cisco,+1-408-525-4434, or emcnicho@cisco.com