NEW YORK AND NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., Dec. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD), the leading source of health information, today announced at the mHealth Summit that it is expanding the beta program for its Patient Instructions feature, which enables physicians who use Medscape Mobile to securely send education and instructions on thousands of conditions, procedures and drugs to their patients who use the WebMD app for iPhone, or access WebMD on a PC or other mobile device. The company also previewed a forthcoming version of its WebMD app that leverages the 2net™ Platform from Qualcomm Life, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), to enable health-conscious consumers to access and manage wireless health data from a wide array of fitness, wellness and medical devices directly from the app.
To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: https://www.multivu.com/mnr/60050-webmd-accelerates-consumer-provider-connectivity-personalized-mobile-app
"WebMD is partnering with innovative companies like Qualcomm and developing new products and services like Patient Instructions to make health information more actionable and accelerate consumer-provider connectivity," said David Schlanger, Chief Executive Officer at WebMD. "As consumers and providers assume more financial risk for the provision of care, WebMD believes that facilitating this kind of engagement is essential to producing quality outcomes and reducing the cost of care."
Qualcomm Life and WebMD first announced plans to enable consumers to upload biometric data to WebMD in an effort to proactively manage health and fitness, as well as chronic health conditions such as obesity and diabetes, at the HIMMS conference in March 2013. WebMD will introduce its new app and set of services that deliver personalized content and actionable insights, as well as a new online storefront where consumers will be able to purchase a variety of biometric devices from the industry's leading providers, in the first quarter of 2014.
"WebMD is uniquely positioned to facilitate consumer-provider connectivity and accelerate the roll-out of quantified health solutions to the masses," said Bill Pence, EVP, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer, WebMD. "Our Patient Instructions functionality will enable consumers and their providers to jointly manage their care, and our partnership with Qualcomm Life will provide consumers with a more personalized WebMDexperience that makes biometric data more actionable."
Patient Instructions
As part of the expanded Patient Instructions beta, Medscape providers can simply select from a set of over 4,200 clinically reviewed patient instructions and provide them to patients securely and confidentially by enabling patients to access and review the information in the WebMD app or in their browser. In addition, providers can manage lists of patients and save favorite instruction sets for easy retrieval during the course of their daily workflow. WebMD expects to expand this capability over time to allow for more customization and other types of information and services to be sent securely to patients.
WebMD initiated the Patient Instructions beta in September 2013 to a limited number of Medscape Mobile physician users, and early feedback regarding features, functionality, workflow and the overall user experience confirmed strong interest in, and demand for, this capability. The beta is being expanded now to provide WebMD with additional feedback, which will be used to inform future product enhancements. You can view an animation that further illustrates how WebMD's Patient Instructions feature works via the following link:
https://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/MNR/60050_1206.mp4.
About WebMD
WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD) is the leading provider of health information services, serving consumers, physicians, health care professionals, employers, and health plans through our public and private online portals, mobile platforms, and health-focused publications.
The WebMD Health Network includes WebMD Health, Medscape, MedicineNet, eMedicineHealth, RxList, theheart.org, Medscape Education, and other owned WebMD sites.
All statements contained in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements, including those regarding: our expectations concerning market opportunities and our ability to capitalize on them; and the benefits expected from new products or services. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are based on our current plans and expectations, and they involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to be different than those described in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include those relating to: market acceptance of our products and services; relationships with customers and strategic partners; and changes in economic, political or regulatory conditions or other trends affecting the healthcare, Internet and information technology industries. Further information about these matters can be found in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: https://www.multivu.com/mnr/60050-webmd-accelerates-consumer-provider-connectivity-personalized-mobile-app
SOURCE WebMD Health Corp.
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