PWeR and Medical Education
Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Automation through 21st century technologies has been fundamental to the transformation of all major industries in the U.S. New business models that leverage the breadth, speed and accuracy of technologies have flourished everywhere from finance to retail. These business models, processes and technologies are now mature and their advantages and limitations are well understood. Notwithstanding this trend, however, there are some notable exceptions. Healthcare has been a laggard industry with regard to transformation; it is second only to the food processing industry in the least information technology investment per capita. The healthcare industry is ridden with inefficiencies, excessive transaction costs and quality deficiencies.

Studies have shown that only 17% of physicians have functioning digital systems for patient records management. Transformation of the healthcare industry begins with the physician. Primary Care Physicians are charged with understanding a patient's overall health and wellbeing and yet often they are required to 'fly blind' without access to all the real-time information gathered by their specialist peers, hospitals and other care providers. The ultimate price is paid by the patient, as no one has the 360 degree view of their overall health creating lower quality and wasting resources. No one is empowered to be in charge. In response to the new opportunities derived from the growing interest, our investor, The Quantum Group, has developed and launched PWeRTM (Personal Wellness electronic RecordTM). This state-of-the-art platform integrates the most fundamental functions of healthcare into one Web based, open, patient-centric service. Electronic Medical Records, Personal Health Records, scheduling, billing, e-prescriptions, e-labs, disease management and practice management are all integrated with the synchronization of a supply chain. The patient is at the core of this architecture - his or her medical records follow him or her from doctor to doctor, provider to provider, and country to country. In essence, the patient has become the product in the service chain management process. It is considered that this transition will significantly reduce unnecessary costs and procedures, and will result in the improved quality of patient care.

This platform will also be very useful to have a much more efficient curriculum management, faculty information, and faculty development. The launching of PWeR in July of 2008, demonstrated a consistent and strong interest from doctors, clinics, health departments and legislators who are interested in technological, community based solutions for healthcare. PWeR's launch at a non-profit free community clinic with 25,000 patient visits each year confirmed the viability of Web-based, interactive, secure and HIPAA compliant services that even part time volunteer doctors use and value. And at the present time all the qualified primary care physicians of the Renaissance Health Systems (another investor of PBMC) have been offered free access and use of PWeR. Additional elements of the system will include:

• Continuing medical education
• Patient education
• Disease management
• Patient health record keeping
• Case management
• HMO plan administration
• Accounting system
• A/R financing reporting and reconciliation
• Management and clinical reporting
• Data transfer from hospitals and labs to physicians