StayWell Custom Communications Aligns With Leading Online Decision Support Care Company

 EVANSTON, Ill., Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Custom health communications
company StayWell Custom Communications (SCC), a division of MediMedia USA,
has announced an exclusive strategic alliance with Self Care Decisions,
LLC, the leading provider of decision-support care guides for consumers via
the Internet and mobile applications.

    Through this strategic alliance, StayWell Custom Communications will be
offering a range of online applications for health care providers and payor
organizations designed to guide consumers to the appropriate response to
common health care issues. These tools will be offered by SCC in addition
to the already impressive and industry leading collection of solutions
currently being used by its hundreds of health care clients. The Self Care
Decisions tools, which can be custom branded to the sponsoring client
organization, provide people with decision support and care advice for
common health symptoms and minor injuries via the Internet and their
handheld devices.

    The applications include:



    --  HouseCalls Symptom Checker - an online decision support and care advice
        tool

    --  SymptomMD - the new iPhone/iTouch application that puts symptom decision
        support in a consumer's pocket
    All of the above are based on medical protocols written by acclaimed
authors Dr. Barton Schmitt and Dr. David Thompson, endorsed and distributed
by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and currently used by more than
10,000 physician practices and 400 nurse advice help lines nationwide. The
tools provide valuable information to consumers to help them self-manage
their own health care, reduce unnecessary office visits, save them time,
worry, calls to physicians, and avoid after-hour trips to urgent care
facilities.

    "Self Care Decisions' range of patient information solutions is a
perfect complement to our robust online content offering and provides our
clients with a way to deliver to their consumers valuable, action-oriented
information to improve their health while fully supporting our clients'
objectives," said StayWell Custom Communications president and CEO Trent
Sterling.

    Consistent with SCC's approach to all its solutions, clients who use
these online tools have the ability to package and brand each solution to
their own organization to make it a totally custom offering. The
iPhone/iTouch application can even be programmed to guide consumers to the
sponsoring organization's selected providers for care.

    "Partnering with StayWell Custom Communications is a natural fit for
our organization. They are a clear market leader in health content and
online solutions and we're thrilled to be able to support their robust
client offering," said Sue Altman, Chief Operating Officer of Self Care
Decisions, LLC.

    About StayWell Custom Communications (SCC)

    StayWell Custom Communications is the leader in custom health content
solutions delivered via a variety of sophisticated technology platforms.
Our interactive offerings include robust web platforms, online health
libraries, e-mail marketing programs, and an extensive range of multimedia
tools including video, podcasts and animations. The company serves hundreds
of clients representing several channels in the healthcare industry:
hospitals and health systems; health plans; employers; and retail
organizations. StayWell Custom also offers a comprehensive range of print
and print/interactive integrated solutions to meet a broad range of
clients' marketing and communication needs.

    SCC is a member of the StayWell family of companies, which includes
Krames, StayWell Health Management, StayWell Consumer Health Publishing (A
Harvard Medical School Strategic Alliance), Vitality Communications,
StayWell Productions and StayWell Safety Solutions (a Red Cross Strategic
Business Alliance). StayWell, which is a division of MediMedia USA,
represents the largest patient education and consumer health information
publisher in North America.

    For more information visit http://www.staywellcustom.com.

    About MediMedia

    Headquartered in Chatham, NJ, with 1,500 employees in offices
throughout the U.S., MediMedia changes consumer and professional behaviors
through superior engagement, education and end-user preferences. Our health
information services group creates, publishes, distributes, and syndicates
on and off-line health information to help consumers make informed health
decisions on behalf of a variety of sponsors, including providers - both
hospitals and physicians, payers, and online media companies. Our health
management services group provides population health management services
which help consumers lower their health risk, enabling employers to lower
their risks, utilization and ultimately their health care expenses. And
finally, our professional segment derives its revenues from providing
online/off-line professional promotion, engagement, and education services
targeted to healthcare professionals and their patients

    MediMedia is a Vestar Capital Partners portfolio company.

    About Self Care Decisions, LLC

    Self Care Decisions, LLC licenses world-class decision support care
guides for use by consumers via the Internet and mobile applications.
Hospitals, health plans and physician practices use their content to
support their patients and plan members with decision-making tools and self
care knowledge. The care guides are updated on an annual basis, based upon
recent medical literature, recent national guidelines, quality improvement
projects, research, expert reviews and feedback from users.

    For more information, visit http://www.selfcare.info and http://www.SymptomMD.com.