Health Wizz Unveils Enhanced Mobile Platform To Help People Organize Personal Health Records

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Health Wizz, an innovative technology company with a mission to enable people to securely and efficiently manage their health information, unveiled significant enhancements to its free mobile application. Originally released in 2017 and available on Apple's App Store and Android's Play Store, the Health Wizz mobile platform allows people to aggregate, organize, share, donate or trade their medical records. The app will be piloted at Cape Fear Valley Hospital in the next few months. 

Many people are not aware that their most important asset - medical data - is scattered all over. Shreds of it reside in multiple medical institutions and in the hands of many people. Physicians, hospitals, and medical labs all have traces of our health records. It is our most valuable data, yet essentially nobody in the U.S. has access to their longitudinal, birth-to-now, medical record. Limited interoperability between medical organizations, data hacking, ransomware attacks, bureaucratic bottlenecks and data brokers who sell our data without our knowledge or consent - the list of issues with current medical health record keeping is long.

The current "one-size-fits-all" healthcare model is undergoing a huge transformation, including such significant breakthroughs as precision medicine and personalized drugs. Having control over their medical data empowers patients to actively and intelligently manage their health and wellness. It is also crucial to research because once compiled, this clinical, environmental, and genetic data can be used to solve most pressing precision medicine challenges, such as  developing cure for cancer. However today, many patients cannot access or share their own health information due to lack of interoperability and researchers do not have a central location to compile, analyze, or access critical data.

The Health Wizz platform allows people to reclaim the rightful ownership of their personal health information. It enables people to download, aggregate, and standardize all their health records on their mobile phone. Even more, people are now able to share their medical data with multiple parties, including research organizations and pharmaceutical companies that are conducting clinical trials, all while ensuring data integrity and protecting patient's privacy. Most importantly, unlike with other record keeping systems, it is the people who manage what, where, when and who has permission to access their data.

"The current state of healthcare is not patient-centric," stated CEO of Health Wizz Raj Sharma.  "Despite years of rhetoric, patients have never been at the center of the U.S. healthcare system. They are not viewed as collaborators, and have very little say in their own medical care. The only way this will change is if patients demand access and control of their medical data. When patients have a copy of their health records they become more aware and engaged. And engaged patients are healthier patients, as studies overwhelmingly demonstrate."

This shift of control from health providers to patients is already happening. Four out of every five patients say they want to own and control their health data, 79 percent say they want to have digital access to it. With the new Health Wizz secure mobile platform they finally can.

How It Works: Health Wizz Mobile Platform Features and Enhancements

• The "digital file cabinet" for medical records feature includes easy to use navigation and search capabilities for users to collect, file and tag their medical records on their mobile device. 
• The social connectivity feature of this version of the app ushers in a new era of digital health where users create and become part of their 'social health network.'
• Combining the social aspects of health with the ability for users to create their own health-related challenges and campaigns provides powerful incentives to be and to stay healthy. For example, users can chip in a participation fee in the form of OmPoints to a "Challenge Purse" and compete to win OmPoints from the purse.
• The digital wallet connectivity with the blockchain enables users to bundle and share their health records in a secure and seamless way while earning OmPoints.
• Institutions, such as Hospitals and Pharmaceutical companies, can fund health-related campaigns or research, create cohorts and invite them to participate. They can reward participants with OmPoints for taking part in clinical trials or for adopting a healthy lifestyle.
• Users will be able to redeem OmPoints they have accumulated over time for Amazon Gift Codes or other gift cards which they can use for purchases.

OmPoints: Get Rewarded For Getting Healthier
After downloading the free app, users can start accumulating rewards points in the app's wallet by competing in health related challenges (e.g. walk 10,000 steps every day for 30 days or lose 10 lbs in 60 days). Users can set up their own challenges, invite other people from their address book to compete and contribute to a prize fund from which the prizes are awarded. Users can also find an external sponsor - such as an employer or their health insurance company -  to fund their competitions or donate proceeds to charity of their choice. In addition, users will be able to purchase OmPoints directly from the app's wallet. Once the user has accumulated at least 550 OmPoints, they can cash them for a $50 Amazon gift card.

"We're excited to present an easy to use instrument to help organize your data that also provides people with rewards they actually want," said Sirish Bajpai, CTO of Health Wizz. "The digital rewards points are incorporated into the app to boost the 'Health Network' effect, incentivize user participation and allow people to benefit from sharing their data."

Health Wizz For Chronic Disease IT Management Program at Cape Fear Valley Hospital
During the next few weeks, 30 patients of the Cape Fear Valley Hospital in Fayetteville, North Carolina, will be enrolled into the Chronic Disease Management program that will utilize the enhanced capabilities of the Health Wizz platform and will be piloting the app. The pilot will run 60 days.

The first pilot will focus on Medicare beneficiaries with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), with the goal of reducing hospital readmission in first 30 days of discharge and improving out-patient care, including streamlined communication between different caregivers.

Chronic disease management is one of healthcare's biggest challenges. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than half of Americans are currently living with at least one chronic disease, while one in four adults has two or more. In addition to negatively impacting quality of life of patients and their families, the costs of caring for the individuals with chronic diseases are staggering.

CDC approximates that eighty-six percent of all health care spending covers people with chronic medical conditions, while the direct medical costs for chronic diseases and conditions exceed $750 billion annually.

"Eighty-six cents of every dollar spent on healthcare goes to treating or managing a chronic condition," said Michael Nagowski, Chief Executive Officer of Cape Fear Valley Health. "Technology tools like Health Wizz help to reduce inefficiencies and improve the ability to proactively identify risks and coordinate care, enabling health professionals to better treat and manage chronic diseases."

"The Health Wizz platform allows providers to conduct outreach and consistent follow-up, monitor and manage patients more effectively in their homes, while cultivating a deeper understanding of chronic diseases," said Dr. Nitin Desai, chief medical officer of Health Wizz, who is overseeing the pilot. "It will allow patients to collect data, deliver more accurate and timely information to the point of care, and help clinicians understand how to better treat their patients."

After conclusion of the pilot, Health Wizz and Cape Fear Valley Hospital will accumulate user input to analyze patient experience and care improvement. 

About Health Wizz
Health Wizz is an innovative technology company that provides consumers with the necessary tools for aggregating, organizing and sharing their medical health records over the blockchain. Founded  with the belief that "It is Our Body, Our Data", Health Wizz is on a mission to empower people to better manage their health and medical records. Health Wizz is a member of The Health Record Banking Alliance (HRBA) and is a founding member of HL7 FHIR Foundation. For more information on Health Wiz, please visit healthwizz.com.

Contact Information:

Janna Nallet
Spark PR for Health Wizz
[email protected]

SOURCE Health Wizz

Related Links

http://www.healthwizz.com

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