WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 - URAC's Board of Directors has approved comprehensive revisions to nine of the organization's health care management accreditation programs.

The new standards support consumer empowerment through an emphasis on health care literacy. The Health Standards Committee met numerous times to ensure that this and other major health care policy issues were addressed in the revised standards, and consulted focus groups that included industry experts and other stakeholders.

Douglas Metz, DC, chairman of URAC's Health Standards Committee and chief health services officer for American Specialty Health:

"The Core Standards help organizations define quality systems and set the framework for continuous quality improvement. The new standards both advance the consumer focus in health care management and continue to raise the bar on organizational quality improvement efforts."

Information is key to empowering consumers to manage their own health care, yet it is often difficult for consumers to find in a format that is easy to understand. The introductory health literacy standard now included in URAC's Core Standards requires organizations to:

• Put consumer materials in plain language
• Assess the use of plain language in consumer documents
• Provide information and guidance on health literacy to staff who write consumer materials

In addition, URAC's new Disease Management Standards include a requirement for accredited organizations to establish a framework that systematically provides the right information at the right time to the consumer. The standard calls for accredited organizations to:

• Have a plan addressing the delivery of health information to consumers
• Proactively provide accurate, comprehensive information that is easy to use
• Evaluate consumer health information for accuracy and appropriateness for the population served

Joshua Seidman, Ph.D., president of the Center for Information Therapy:

"URAC's new disease management information therapy standards send an important message that high-quality, chronic care management requires a patient-centered approach. These standards set an important quality bar for disease management; for DM to work, it must be supported by the proactive delivery of information targeted to a consumer's moment in care and tailored to his or her individual needs."

The revised Core Standards also address issues in health care designed to promote greater efficiency in the health care system, such as support for interoperable health information technology. New standards also require the use of national quality measures, where they exist, as benchmarks for quality improvement projects.

CITRUS HEIGHTS, Calif., Aug. 4 - Lake Pointe Medical Center announced today that it has installed its new Smart card-based patient access system called "LifeMed(TM)" at the hospital.

The LifeMed(TM) Smart card software system has been developed for hospitals to quickly and accurately identify patients and help manage them through the admissions process. Patients with the Smart card will have the ability to view and contribute to their overall medical records, giving the provider a more complete medical picture.

BLOOMFIELD, N.M., July 10 - Life Record Inc. announces a family of software solutions for the iPhone to help people manage their health.

The first application, EmergenKey, allows a person to keep all of their vital health information and their emergency contact information on their iPhone in the event something happens that they cannot communicate with emergency medical staff. EmergenKey uses patent pending technologies to automatically report to your emergency contact that something has happened to you along with your location while providing life saving information to emergency personnel.

EVANSTON, IL, June 18 /PRNewswire/

Custom print and online health communications publisher StayWell Custom Communications (SCC), a division of MediMedia USA, has announced a strategic alliance with HealthMedia, Inc. to bring its clients the industry-leading, innovative online behavior change programs that work in concert with its custom health information and engagement solutions.

HealthMedia's online intervention programs for health and wellness, disease management, behavioral health, and medication adherence will be an integral part of SCC's next generation private health portal suite. The new StayWell Custom Health Portal is a highly personalized, engaging health information solution for health payers looking to improve the health and wellness of their populations.

SAN ANTONIO, REDMOND, Wash. and DETROIT, June 23 /PRNewswire/

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Covisint, which is a subsidiary of Compuware Corp. (Nasdaq: CPWR) and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) have announced a major eHealth initiative to enhance the health care experience for patients and practitioners alike.

Innovative solution gives more control to patients and provides two-way medical record access and collaboration

The new eHealth information exchange is a revolutionary approach designed to reduce costs and improve the quality of care while putting patients in control of their medical records. It allows consumers using Microsoft(R) HealthVault(TM) to share information with authorized physicians and health care providers connected to AT&T Healthcare Community Online.