SAN JOSE, Calif. and EMERYVILLE, Calif., July 13 /PRNewswire/ -- RelayHealth Corporation, the nation's premier provider of online doctor-patient communication services, today announced that Santa Clara County Individual Practice Association (SCCIPA), managed by Pacific Partners Management Services, Inc. (PPMSI), has licensed RelayHealth patient services, enhancing the options already available to physicians via their self-service Access Express Web portal.
SCCIPA, an individual practice association with more than 800 physicians, serves 110,000 HMO patients in Santa Clara County. The RelayHealth service will be rolled out initially to 50 SCCIPA primary care and OB/GYN practices. Patients of enrolled doctors can use RelayHealth for routine services such as scheduling appointments, getting lab results, and refilling prescriptions, as well as for clinical consultations using the RelayHealth webVisit(R) service.
Secure webVisits allow patients with non-urgent medical needs to engage in a clinically structured online dialog with their own physician -- in many cases enabling the patient to avoid an unnecessary trip to the office. Physicians are reimbursed for RelayHealth webVisits by a growing number of health plans locally and nationwide, including Blue Shield of California.
"We're pleased to work with RelayHealth to extend patient care securely into the online environment," said SCCIPA CEO, Larry Bonham MD. "Based in Silicon Valley, our patients will appreciate the convenience of the service as well as the ability to access information and care support online, any time," adds Bonham.
For the past four years, SCCIPA physicians have been using the self-service PPMSI Web portal to improve their office workflow, with demonstrated personnel savings and patient service efficiencies. Access Express (formerly named PPMSI Online) allows them to communicate online with their management company for instant answers to inquiries about eligibility, physician referrals and payment history. It also reports lab results and supports electronic claims submissions. SCCIPA physicians can now access RelayHealth's secure, patient communication services directly through their Access Express Web portal.
"SCCIPA has been a leader in deploying Internet-based services to improve healthcare processes," says Giovanni Colella, MD, president and chief executive officer of RelayHealth. "We are proud to add them as a client organization, and look forward to increasing the benefit we can bring to SCCIPA providers and their patients through the webVisit reimbursement contracts we are closing with California-based health plans," adds Dr. Colella.
About RelayHealth Corporation
RelayHealth is the premier provider of secure online healthcare communication services linking patients, healthcare professionals, payors, and pharmacies. RelayHealth's Web-based, doctor-patient messaging platform connects doctors and their patients efficiently, affordably, and securely. Tuned for both the individual and group practice environments, the RelayHealth(R) service improves and streamlines healthcare delivery and access through modular features -- like the webVisit(R) clinical consultation -- which tackles complex issues unique to the healthcare market, including clinical structure, practice workflow, and reimbursement. More secure and efficient than telephone or e-mail, RelayHealth combines HIPAA-ready messaging and eScript(R) end-to-end electronic prescribing for the most seamless, comprehensive, and powerful messaging platform available to healthcare professionals and their patients. For information, visit http://www.relayhealth.com/.
About Santa Clara County Individual Practice Association/ SCCIPA
Santa Clara County Individual Practice Association is a San Jose-based medical group or individual practice association that links over 800 private physicians and 110,000 HMO patients to most large California HMOs and Medicare+Choice plans including Aetna, Blue Cross CaliforniaCare, Blue Shield of California, CIGNA Healthcare, Great West Healthcare, Health Net, Seniority Plus, PacifiCare and Secure Horizons. SCCIPA is owned and managed by independently practicing physicians located throughout Santa Clara County. http://www.sccipa.com/
About Pacific Partners Management Services, Inc. & Access Express
A leader in managed care information technology, Foster City-based Pacific Partners Management Services, Inc./ PPMSI, is a management services organization (MSO) that provides contracting, financial and administrative services to medical groups and IPAs with over 200,000 health plan members. http://www.ppmsi.com/
First introduced in May 2000, the proprietary Access Express software (formerly named PPMSI Online) allows physician offices to communicate online with their management company for expedited referrals, authorizations and inquiries about HMO member eligibility and claims/capitation tracking. For health plans and MSOs, Access Express also improves utilization review productivity and workflow with automated protocols and guidelines, integrated case management and quality measure tracking. Access Express is currently used to manage over 500,000 health plan members. It is marketed to health plans and medical groups by PPMSI's software division, Health Access Solutions. http://www.healthaccesssolutions.com/
RelayHealth CorporationCONTACT: Briana Pompei of RelayHealth, +1-510-428-7853, orbriana.pompei@relayhealth.com; or Bebe Hoppe of SCCIPA, +1-650-358-3131, orbhoppe@ppmsi.com
Web site: http://www.ppmsi.com/
Web site: http://www.sccipa.com/
Web site: http://www.relayhealth.com/
