Patient Engagement Systems® Adds DPS Health’s Virtual Lifestyle Management Service to its Suite of Tools for Health Plans and Medical Groups to Better Manage Patients with Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease

Patient Engagement Systems® Adds DPS Health’s Virtual Lifestyle Management Service to its Suite of Tools for Health Plans and Medical Groups to Better Manage Patients with Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease

<0> Frank Public Relations WorldwidePeggy C. Frank, MBA818.735.3591 </0>

Patient Engagement Systems® announced today it has enhanced its suite of patient engagement and clinical decision support tools for patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD) with the addition of DPS Health’s Virtual Lifestyle Management (VLM) service. Together, this enhancement underscores PES’s commitment to help health plans, medical groups and providers improve outcomes and lower the costs associated with treating patients with chronic conditions.

By enhancing the Patient Engagement Systems’ solution with the VLM service, PES customers will now have access to lifestyle coaching and behavior change services integrated directly with population monitoring, analytics and communication.

Benjamin Littenberg, MD, medical director, Patient Engagement Systems, said, “PES’s patient engagement suite of tools, clinical analytics and decision support solutions combined with DPS Health’s proven online obesity lifestyle management and personalized coaching, will enhance patient engagement to further reduce costs and improve outcomes for individuals with diabetes and chronic kidney disease.”

Patient Engagement Systems is a leader and innovator in creating effective care management programs and solutions which support and enhance a providers’ management of high-cost patients, such as those with diabetes and chronic kidney disease.

Based on the National Institute of Health’s landmark Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), DPS Health’s Virtual Lifestyle Management service is an evidence-based, year-long online weight management program that successfully engages individuals to improve their physical activity and nutrition habits to achieve lasting weight loss. VLM combines online education, guided self-discovery, barrier mitigation, goal setting, monitoring and tracking, with internet-based coaching for a comprehensive weight loss program that directly addresses critical needs of those at-risk for chronic diseases.

“Obesity is a driver for many poor outcomes and increased costs for individuals with, or at risk for diabetes and other common conditions such as metabolic syndrome, hypertension, and early renal disease,” said Neal Kaufman, MD, DPS Health Chief Medical Officer. “VLM has been developed specifically to counteract these complications, and deliver on the goals of driving significant weight loss, improving diabetes outcomes and delivering a positive return on investment.”

Patient Engagement Systems® (PES) is a nationally recognized healthcare services company dedicated to supporting its customers’ goal of helping people with chronic diseases, specifically diabetes and chronic kidney disease, improve their health, and reduce costs. PES provides medical groups, IPAs, health plans, health systems and government agencies with a suite of automated patient engagement tools, timely clinical decision support and the analytics needed to better identify, manage and monitor these high-cost patients. PES’s signature platforms include the Diabetes Patient Engagement System℠, a chronic care management and patient engagement technology developed and tested in a five-year National Institutes of Health funded study that verified care process improvements and cost reductions, the Chronic Kidney Disease Patient Engagement System℠ and the ESRD Prevention Program℠. PES is an IBM Global Entrepreneurial Partner, and is a 2011 URAC Bronze Awardee for Best Practice in Health Care Consumer Empowerment and Protection.

Founded in 2004, DPS Health enhances the capacity of organizations to improve the health of their obese members, employees and/or patients through research-proven, web and mobile self-management support interventions.