300 subscribers wanted for beta test of personal electronic health record

The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) announced today its strategic relationship with Quebec-wholly-owned Medical.MD to provide Quebecers with MedforYou, a personal electronic health record, launching simultaneously a call for 300 subscribers to evaluate the beta site. MedforYou will be available to the rest of Canada and people around the world in the near future.

“Giving Quebecers a Web-based logbook in which to track their health and a host of features that can inform and influence their lifestyle choices is a new way for the McGill University Health Centre to make a difference in people’s lives, stated the Hon. Arthur T. Porter, MUHC Director General and CEO. “Health education is naturally part of our dedication to “The Best Care for Life” and I am thrilled that MedforYou will extend the continuum of patient care we provide to Quebecers of all ages, from Montreal and Abitibi-Témiscamingue to Nunavik and other McGill RUIS regions.”

Since June 2008, the McGill University Health Centre has been working with the creative information-technology experts at Medical.MD on a state-of-the-art personal electronic health record. MedforYou 1.0 is the initial product. It will provide real-time, interactive support to subscribers who wish to monitor their health and/or that of their family, as well as make lifestyle choices, including nutrition and exercise, likely to have a positive effect on their well-being.

“Medical.MD is honoured to be associated with the MUHC in this vital health initiative,” highlighted Pierre Ducros, Chairman of the Advisory Board at Medical.MD. “The MUHC’s leadership and commitment to purposeful innovation fit perfectly with the acclaimed savoir-faire and goals of the MedforYou team.”

MedforYou’s designer is Medical.MD’s Chief Technology Officer, Philippe Panzini, whose international reputation for excellence covers a number of sectors including the film industry which recognized his software development talent with an Academy Award.

Unlike the electronic health records being developed by the Government of Quebec for the Ministry of Health and Social Services’ network or hospital medical records, MedforYou functions like an interactive Web site with a billboard-like welcome screen and easy-to-navigate menus, vocabulary prompts and features that should allow any individual, Web-savvy or not, to manage his or her personal electronic health record.  Initial promotion begins with the beta test involving the first 300 subscribers to register at https://www.medforyou.com [1].

The MedforYou features to be reviewed include:

“MedforYou is an essential complement to the electronic patient record being implemented in our hospitals today,” noted transplant surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Barkun, Director of General Surgery and Chief Clinical Officer of the Informatics Transition at the MUHC. “It will empower healthy Quebecers and patients with health and wellness tools. I believe people will find the scheduling function really helpful and having such a means to organize their basic personal health information will undoubtedly improve communication with healthcare professionals.”

Feedback on the beta site will be gathered between July and September 2009. During this time, additional features will be completed. MedforYou 1.0 will be available to the public as of October 2009 with enhancements planned for next year. Medical.MD has initiated discussions with TELUS Health Solutions to onboard MedforYou to its new consumer health platform: TELUS Health Space, Powered by Microsoft HealthVault.

About the MUHC The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) is a comprehensive academic health institution with an international reputation for excellence in clinical programs, research and teaching. Its partner hospitals are the Montreal Children's Hospital, the Montreal General Hospital, the Royal Victoria Hospital, the Montreal Neurological Hospital, the Montreal Chest Institute and the Lachine Hospital. The goal of the MUHC is to provide patient care based on the most advanced knowledge in the health care field, and to contribute to the development of new knowledge. www.muhc.ca [2]

About Medical.MD Medical.MD has developed the Personal Electronic Health Record (PEHR) under the name MedforYou. The company sees advances in computer science and wireless technology as the foundation for the introduction of a higher quality of health documentation that is both more useful and reliably secure. Building expertise in leading edge software will transform the promise of personal internet electronic health records into reality. Our goals are to enable users to more easily maintain their health, support users in correctly following their treatment, improve communications between patients and physicians, and facilitate the understanding of symptoms, illness, treatment and recovery.

About TELUS Health Solutions TELUS Health Solutions, backed by Emergis, represents a unique set of technology, expertise and resources to help transform how information is used in the healthcare industry. TELUS Health Solutions has years of expertise in successfully implementing healthcare applications and information communication technology processes through industry leading solutions and consulting services to customers in Canada and around the world. It is backed by more than 1,500 TELUS Health Solutions team members including healthcare professionals. For more information, please visit telushealth.com [3].

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For more information, please contact:

Rebecca Burns

Communications Coordinator

MUHC Public Relations and Communications

514-843-1560