Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc. Collaborates with HGE Health to help Providers improve the Pulmonary/COPD Health Status of its Members

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa., Dec. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- HGE Health, a healthcare technology company that works worldwide with pulmonologists, primary care physicians and patients, will be contracting with Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc., New Jersey's largest health insurer with approximately 3.4 million members, to collaborate with it on improving the Pulmonary/COPD Health Status of its Members.

With this collaboration, which is being finalized for implementation starting in early 2020, HGE's technology and remote patient monitoring services will help Horizon members better control their pulmonary/COPD issues, greatly reducing clinical exacerbations, ER presentations, hospital admissions and related medical costs attributable to COPD symptoms.

"This is an exciting opportunity for HGE to accelerate data-driven personalized medicine and help physicians better direct the health and disease issues of their patients while supporting health plans in controlling the cost of that care," said Michael J. Markus, PhD, CEO of HGE Health. "Horizon is a proven leader when it comes to providing tools to employers and health care professionals that help them improve the health and well-being of their employees and patients. We're excited to unite our mutual capabilities towards that goal, especially where COPD and pulmonary issues are concerned."

Based in Philadelphia, HGE Health has built an international reputation in the field of COPD and pulmonary medicine, helping COPD, lung transplant and other respiratory patients and their physicians control pulmonary issues.

A growing and devastating disease, COPD is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. An estimated 12.7 million American adults are diagnosed with the condition every year and an almost equal number are believed to be undiagnosed. Hospital discharges related to COPD typically exceed 700,000 in the U.S. alone. The costs of managing COPD in the U.S. have been estimated to be nearly $50 billion annually, including $29.5 billion in direct healthcare expenditures, $8 billion in indirect morbidity costs and $12.4 billion in indirect mortality costs.

The HGE digital platform and technology-enabled services, called HGE Care, allows pulmonary and primary care physicians to remotely care for a patient from anywhere in the nation, and help patients better understand and manage changes in their COPD symptoms. The HGE Care platform identifies early changes in a patient's respiratory symptoms and prompts a patient's own physician to initiate a clinical response, often before patients themselves would have previously sought medical attention. Thanks to daily digital interaction with their healthcare team, patients are better engaged in their own symptom management, and log their symptoms on the HGE Care platform over 80% - 90% of the time. Patients enjoy peace of mind that each day they experience a change from their typical COPD symptoms, their own physician/care team provides same-day feedback, helping patients breathe easier, avoid ER presentations and hospital admissions, and enjoy an improved quality of life, all while reducing overall healthcare cost for patients and health systems.

In collaboration with Horizon and at no cost to its Members, HGE Health will be working with physicians in New Jersey to launch this new program and to identify, onboard, and support Horizon's Members who are living with COPD and that the program would benefit.

"Helping our members achieve their best health means providing them the support and tools they need to effectively manage their health challenges and HGE will give patients living with chronic conditions that affect their ability to breath, like COPD, a direct and real-time link to their doctors," said Robert J. Franzoi, Vice President Healthcare Management for Horizon. "HGE Health will offer Horizon members service and support that makes health care work the way it should. Their innovative service model has been clinically proven to meaningfully improve the lives of the patients it serves and lower the overall cost of care by helping reduce emergency room presentations and inpatient admissions. Better quality care, an improved patient experience, and lower overall costs is exactly the kind of solution Horizon eagerly embraces and we're excited to be among the first health insurers in the nation to contract with HGE Health."

About HGE Health
Headquartered in Philadelphia, HGE Health harnesses its deep experience in chronic disease management and digital health in pulmonary disease, telemedicine and mobile health to develop a clinical services platform that delivers better care faster at a much lower cost for patients, physicians and payors. Built on clinical protocols developed and supported by 16 years of research, the company's technology has compiled the longest-running and world's largest longitudinal data set of COPD symptoms, interventions, and clinical management to help physicians provide care for a geographically and socio-economically diverse COPD and pulmonary patient population.

About Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc
Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc., New Jersey's oldest and largest health insurer, is a tax-paying, not-for-profit health services corporation, providing a wide array of medical, dental, vision and prescription insurance products and services. Horizon Healthcare Services, Inc. serves 3.4 million members with headquarters in Newark and offices in Wall, Mt. Laurel, and Hopewell. Learn more at http://www.HorizonBlue.com.

SOURCE HGE Health