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Marquette General Medical Group Selects Phytel

Dallas, Texas-based Phytel announced that Marquette General Medical Group has deployed Phytel's Proactive Patient Outreach, an automated care coordination and population health management system, to improve the delivery of preventive and chronic care and achieve patient-centered medical home designation through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Marquette is focused on providing residents of the Upper Peninsula and Northern Great Lakes Region with the highest level of primary and specialty patient care, medical education and health-related services. The group consists of 140 providers, as well as more than 400 support staff.

"This past spring, we piloted Phytel's registry and health management program with two of our primary care clinics," said Dr. Fritz Hoenke, medical director at Marquette General Medical Group. "As a result, we have seen a dramatic increase in our patients returning to the clinic for recommended care, with most patients responding to outreach communication within five days. Phytel provides us with an ideal set of tools to help deliver personalized, patient-centered care to our entire patient population and their families throughout the care continuum."

Phytel's Proactive Patient Outreach system creates an electronic registry of patients who require preventive and chronic care, based on nationally validated, evidence-based protocols and data from the organization's electronic health record and practice management system. The technology identifies gaps in care, triggers automated messaging about recommended visits, tests or procedures, and tracks the results, including quality outcomes data for quality reporting.

"Our patients and providers have given us such positive feedback on Phytel, which has led to our decision to roll out the registry to all of our 13 primary care sites by mid-November," said Scott Tuma, vice president of physician practices at Marquette.

"Maintaining a patient-centered medical home recognition is an ongoing process. Physician-led population health management has become critical to achieving this model," said Steve Schelhammer, CEO of Phytel. "Phytel provides leading healthcare organizations like Marquette General Medical Group with the ability to better monitor preventive care and chronic care management across their entire community. This enables physicians to engage patients as active participants in their health, driving compliance and improving the overall quality of care."

MGMG consists of approximately 140 Marquette General Health System employed providers, as well as support staff of over 400. Marquette General Health System comprises Marquette General Hospital, a 315-bed Regional Medical Center, clinics, and offices in 13 communities. MGHS employs approximately 2,600 people throughout Michigan's Upper Peninsula and northeastern Wisconsin.

A teaching hospital with a medical staff of more than 200 doctors in 65 specialties and subspecialties, Marquette General is also a Level II Trauma Center, a 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospital 2006, 2007 and 2008, and houses a designated Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence.

Comprehensive services include cardiac care, cancer care, neurosciences, rehabilitation, behavioral health, imaging, vascular, surgery, women's & children's, and home health. Marquette General is home to the regional Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and is a nationally recognized leader in telehealth technology.

Phytel's population health management system optimizes the value of the physician-patient encounter, and ensures a more proactive care model to improve the health of a patient population. Its comprehensive care coordination tools help care teams identify gaps in recommended care through integration with electronic medical record and practice management systems. A registry of over 15 million patients nationwide uses evidence-based chronic and preventive care protocols to manage gaps in care delivery, track compliance, and measure quality outcomes and financial results. Phytel also helps physician practices achieve the patient-centered medical home model and Accountable Care Organization model, while assisting with meaningful use guidelines. For more information, visit www.phytel.com.

(c) 2010, WWJ Newsradio 950. All rights reserved.

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