Non-Adherence Leads to $290 Billion in “Otherwise Avoidable Medical Spending” Annually; Partnership to Increase Medication Adherence Comes at Critical Time

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- MedTera^™, an integrated marketing solutions company dedicated to improving education, promotion and communications in the healthcare, life sciences and pharmaceutical industries, today announced its formal partnership with HealthPrize Technologies, a web-based software company that motivates people to fill and stay on prescription medications. The partnership brings together MedTera’s online and offline educational resources and HealthPrize’s online, interactive platform to educate people about their chronic diseases and incentivize them for taking their medications as prescribed. With non-adherence leading to $290 billion in otherwise avoidable medical spending each year¹ and the issue being the fourth leading cause of death in the United States², the partnership comes at a critical time for this healthcare crisis.

“There are two critical factors that need to happen to ensure positive patient outcomes: access to high-quality, high-impact educational tools and sticking to prescription medication regimens,” said David S. Duplay, MedTera’s president and a member of the HealthPrize Advisory Board. “Educating patients and rewarding them for their positive behavior is a powerful combination – and I’m excited to see the successful patient stories that will result from our partnership with HealthPrize.”

The MedTera and HealthPrize partnership will provide patients and their caregivers with dimensional tools, online resources and mobile applications to help them better understand and manage their diseases. Patients will then earn points, play games and have chances to win various prizes for adhering to their medication schedule and refilling their prescriptions on time.

“The healthcare industry is in a state of flux and it’s more important than ever that resources are available to people in order to help improve self-management skills when it comes to taking their medication and ensuring continuous and long-term wellness,” said Tom Kottler, CEO and co-founder of HealthPrize. “Combining MedTera’s educational resources with HealthPrize’s innovative motivation and engagement program will successfully ensure the long-term health of patients – benefiting not only them, but employers, health plans, pharmaceutical firms and healthcare providers.”

The partnership takes MedTera’s recently launched Rookies @ Risk and Heart2Heart programs to the next level by offering incentives for good behavior. MedTera has studied “rookies” – or patients new to therapies for chronic diseases – and found that 30 to 78 percent of them stop taking their prescribed medicines within 30 days. In response to this, MedTera designed the Rookies @ Risk program, which provides easy-to-use and quick-to-learn digital tools for patients to understand their diagnoses and the treatments prescribed to them and manage and track their health accordingly. The Heart2Heart program provides educational resources to patient caregivers – family members and friends – to offer guidance, help them embrace their role, and add a layer of support for patients on the road to medical compliance and improved health.

MedTera’s life-long learning platform, which includes the Rookies @ Risk and Heart2Heart programs, provides interactive dimensional pieces, web sites and smartphone applications for medical and allied health professionals and patients that help to improve patient education and bring quality back to the healthcare industry.

HealthPrize’s unique combination of medication tracking and refill verification, coupled with an interactive online program, rewards and educates consumers, increasing motivation and engagement to drive greater medication adherence and increase medical literacy. The HealthPrize “Engagement Engine,” a web-based software solution, provides users with tangible benefits that accrue as they engage with the system and take their medications as prescribed. Benefits include awards points (similar to a credit card or airline mileage loyalty program), chances to win sweepstakes, chances to play games and compete in monthly contests.

MedTera and HealthPrize will be exhibiting at the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) Annual Meeting (booth #1133) in San Antonio, Texas, Aug. 4-7, 2010.

About HealthPrize Technologies

HealthPrize Technologies provides an innovative approach to addressing the medication non-adherence problem with a program that offers financial incentives, fun, and education. The HealthPrize “Engagement Engine,” the heart of the HealthPrize system, integrates concepts from behavioral economics, neuroscience, consumer marketing, gaming and psychology, bringing scientifically and commercially proven motivational techniques to healthcare to increase long-term adherence to prescribed medications and treatments regimens.

About MedTera^™

MedTera^™ is an integrated marketing solutions partner dedicated to improving education, promotion and communications in the healthcare, life sciences and pharmaceutical industries. By designing and executing innovative, comprehensive marketing programs tailored to healthcare marketers and their agencies, MedTera empowers more effective brand relationships with patients, care givers and physicians. What MedTera does every day contributes to enriching, prolonging and saving people’s lives. Its full-service solutions are highly interactive and incorporate physical and digital media components to create a dynamic experience that engages audiences, ensuring greater brand awareness, improved patient compliance, expanded market share and increased ROI. The company is headquartered in New York and operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Structural Graphics.

¹ New England Healthcare Institute, “Thinking Outside the Pillbox,” August 2009

² Centers for Disease Control, National Vital Statistics 2002

CONTACT:

MedTera Media:
Articulate Communications Inc.
Megan Garnett, 212-255-0080, ext. 14
mgarnett@articulatecomms.com

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