MedicAlert® To Provide Digitized Health Records to Members

Turlock, CA. April 25, 2006 –MedicAlert, the market leader in Personal Health Records and providing critical medical information in emergencies, today announced an agreement with MyMedicalRecords.com^TM, a pioneer of Internet-based Medical Record and Vital Document storage headquartered in Los Angeles, California to provide patient-specific medical information in a digitized and encrypted format. The digital patient records will supplement the traditional paper records that are diffused nationwide.

Nearly 85% of medical providers rely on archaic paper charts for record keeping. The patient is required to recall their pertinent medical information, often in times of an emergency.   Moreover, in an emergency, it can be virtually impossible for a physician to find out about a patient's allergies or medications, view their latest lab results or anticipate complications based on their medical history if their paper records are locked in a physician’s office. 

With this new service offering, MedicAlert members can provide their doctor with access to the patient's medical history, what drugs he or she may be taking, and other information that may affect care. More importantly, doctors can obtain care records of a patient received from other doctors, whether the latter are in the hospital or not.  Experts estimate that national digital health records could save the United States $78 billion in annual healthcare costs and reduce the number of deaths due to medical errors by at least 70 percent.

"Our members are our paramount concern at MedicAlert, and we are committed to their safety," said Paul Kortschak, President and CEO of MedicAlert. "Our enhanced service offerings in partnership with MyMedicalRecords.com will empower health care consumers and medical professionals by facilitating access to vital medical records that previously were in a paper format.”

MedicAlert will offer consumers an easy-to-use, secure web-based product that allows documents to be transmitted by fax where they are digitized and converted to a PDF format, instantly converting an ordinary paper medical record to a digitized format in MedicAlert’s repository.  This means that a lifetime of paper records can be transferred to a member’s personal health record.

“Having fast access to comprehensive medical information in an emergency saves lives and reduces medical costs,” said Robert H. “Bob” Lorsch, Chairman and CEO of MyMedicalRecords.com.  “The collaboration between MedicAlert and MyMedicalRecords.com gives millions of MedicAlert members the peace of mind that knowing any important medical document can be readily available to doctors and first responders during an emergency.”

Every subscriber to this new service will be given their own personal local or toll-free telephone number. This number can be used to receive both faxes and voice messages. Every document faxed to this number or voice message left becomes a new digitized record in the subscriber’s password-protected account.  All documents faxed into and stored in the MedicAlert system are encrypted when accessed and they are displayed in unalterable PDF images. 

Consumers will also receive a series of "authorization stickers" imprinted with their number to give to their doctors so that pursuant to HIPAA guidelines, they can easily deliver medical records upon the patient’s request using a fax machine available in any office. In addition, patients and their caregivers can also fax records to their account using any fax machine.

About MedicAlert®
MedicAlert Foundation is a non-profit healthcare informatics organization dedicated to providing services to our members that protect and save lives. MedicAlert services are built around a repository of health information that enables members to manage their personal health records while maintaining security, privacy and confidentiality. As the trusted third party custodian of comprehensive personal health information, the MedicAlert repository can provide critical medical information to responders 24 hours a day anywhere in the world. The premium we place on patient confidentiality has earned the trust of 4 million members and the healthcare community worldwide.

Founded in 1956, MedicAlert is headquartered in the United States and has international affiliates in nine countries. Additional information about MedicAlert is available at www.medicalert.org

About MyMedicalRecords.com, Inc.
MyMedicalRecords.com, Inc. is a privately held corporation based in Los Angeles that empowers consumers to take greater control of their personal health by providing them with a virtual safe deposit box for storing, managing and sharing their medical records and other important documents in a simple and easy-to-use manner. For more information or to take a multimedia Flash tour of the Web site, visit www.mymedicalrecords.com.

###