BOISE, Idaho–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Unity Medical, Inc., a premier provider of digital health engagement tools that enhance the patient experience, today announced that Mr. Alistair Rock has been named President effective immediately. In addition to his role as President, Mr. Rock will serve on Unity Medical’s Board of Directors and report to Unity Medical Founder and CEO, Michael Boerner.

“In addition to having a tremendous amount of industry knowledge and expertise, Alistair brings to Unity Medical a strong spirit of innovation and a desire to pioneer not only new product and services, but entire markets”
“Alistair brings over 25 years of executive leadership and a proven track record of achievement to Unity Medical,” said Ron Price, Unity Media Corporation, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Price Associates, LLC. “Alistair’s leadership and experience in the industries of high-performance Investment-Banking and Health Services markets make him a perfect fit and the right President to lead Unity Medical to success, not only in traditional healthcare markets, but new emerging segments where Unity Medical products and services can make a significant impact,” added Mr. Price.

“In addition to having a tremendous amount of industry knowledge and expertise, Alistair brings to Unity Medical a strong spirit of innovation and a desire to pioneer not only new product and services, but entire markets,” said Founder and CEO, Michael Boerner.

“I am honored to be part of the Unity Medical team,” said Alistair Rock. “This is a great company with a highly innovative suite of patient engagement and education platforms, vastly skilled and dedicated employees, and a very bright future. The Unity Medical team has done a great job over the last two years building a company and focusing its approach to the business. I’m excited about the opportunity to lead Unity Medical and continue the momentum of growth by helping our customers be successful.”

Mr. Rock was most recently the Managing Director and Principal for Renaissance Partners LLC where he had full P&L and operational responsibility for Renaissance, an investment-banking and business advisory firm, and subsidiary of KWBH Law. During his career Mr. Rock has advised on over $45 Billion of merger and acquisition deals and has an extensive executive network, particularly in healthcare.

Previous to his appointment as Managing Director, Mr. Rock was the President and Chief Executive Officer of eBDS, a national healthcare technology solutions provider and subsidiary of Highmark Inc., an independent licensee of Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Highmark is one of the largest health insurers in the nation with over 20 million customers nationwide, 20,000 employees, and annual revenue in excess of $13 billion. Prior to being CEO Mr. Rock was Chief Financial Officer for eBDS, and Vice President of Health Services of Operations.

Mr. Rock holds an undergraduate degree from Leicester University, UK, and a Masters in Business Administration (Finance, Strategy and Accounting) from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper Business School, where he was awarded the Marc and Sally Ometto Graduate Fellowship for academic achievement. Mr. Rock was also sponsored and graduated through an Executive Management Program at Ashridge Business School in the UK attaining the highest ranking in the 360 assessment of top global managers.

About Unity Medical, Inc.

Unity Medical http://www.unitymedical.com, an award-winning, innovator of healthcare technology combines HD video production with Web 2.0 tools and high level strategic consulting to create a best-in-class, patient engagement and education platform. The goal of Unity Medical product and services is to connect people and information, increase patient safety, reduce healthcare costs and improve the quality of care. Its clients include leading hospitals, clinics, and healthcare organizations looking for new ways to enhance the patient experience and reduce the overall burden on the healthcare system.

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Walt Disney Pavilion at Florida Hospital for Children and St. Luke’s Health System in Idaho are running pilot programs with customized versions of Unity Medical’s Medical Video jLog application.

Florida Hospital’s application features five animated video sequences that last for two to four minutes. The application also includes an interactive question and answer feature designed to help children prepare for a CT scan. Unity Medical soon will add a similar application for MRIs.

St. Luke’s pilot project initially will include more than 20 programs with content for patients undergoing heart and vascular procedures, as well as those taking part in physical rehabilitation programs.

Patients will be able to view videos and patient testimonials on iPads in the hospital or download the content from home.

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“At Florida Hospital, we are continuously seeking new ways to enhance patient engagement and ultimately patient outcomes. Technology is a critical part of that mix,” said Marla Silliman, administrator of Florida Hospital for Children. “This application will support our patient resource specialists in ensuring that children and their parents understand and feel comfortable with important medical procedures and mitigate any potential fears or concerns they may have.”
The Florida Hospital application consists of an animated sequence of five 2-4 minute videos and interactive Q&A featuring a young boy named Max and his bear friend Buddy as Buddy undergoes a CT scan. Videos are conversational, entertaining, age-appropriate, and provide children with a detailed overview of the procedure. A similar jLog for MRIs will soon be added.
The pilot program with St. Luke’s will initially include more than 20 jLogs, which includes content for patients undergoing heart and vascular procedures, and for those participating in physical rehabilitation programs. Patients can view videos and patient testimonials on iPads in the hospital or download content directly from the iTunes store to their iPad at home, for use anywhere they choose.
“St. Luke’s Health System has worked collaboratively with Unity Medical on a number of Web-based platforms to prepare patients for medical procedures and hospital visits or allow them to interact with health care providers from home – user-friendly technology that patients say helps them feel connected and knowledgeable about their condition,” said David C. Pate, M.D., J.D., President and CEO of St. Luke’s Health System. “We believe the new jLog iPad application will further enhance patients’ experience both at the point of care, and wherever they choose to receive the information.”
“Unity Medical has been fortunate to work with healthcare leaders committed to evolving and improving the medical experience by increasing patient engagement,” said Michael Boerner, Founder and CEO, Unity Medical. “Now with a platform like the iPad that is highly portable, we can offer dynamic, visual and impactful educational tools like jLog that support health care professionals and their mission of serving the patient in the hospital and clinic setting.”
Research has shown that video-assisted patient education can increase patient knowledge and satisfaction and reduce anxieties. jLog was initially developed as a Web-based platform and is now being expanded to mobile technologies including the iPad.
Interviews, b-roll and product demonstrations are available upon request.
About Unity Medical
Unity Medical, an award-winning, innovator of healthcare technology combines HD video production with Web 2.0 tools and high level strategic consulting to create a best-in-class, patient engagement and education platform. The goal of Unity Medical product and services is to connect people and information, increase patient safety, reduce healthcare costs and improve the quality of care. Its clients include leading hospitals, clinics, and healthcare organizations looking for new ways to enhance the patient experience and reduce the overall burden on the healthcare system.
About Florida Hospital
The Walt Disney Pavilion at Florida Hospital for Children is a full-service facility served by more than 70 pediatric specialists, one of the largest panels of pediatric experts in Central Florida and a highly trained pediatric team of more than 600 employees. This unique children’s hospital provides patients with private, family-centered pediatric rooms, a dedicated pediatric emergency department and an Advanced Center for Pediatric Surgery. The recent expansion includes a seven-floor dedicated entrance, three-story lobby, and when completed the Walt Disney Pavilion at Florida Hospital for Children will have a total of more than 200 pediatric beds.
About St. Luke’s Health System
St. Luke’s Health System is Idaho’s largest and only locally controlled health care system employing more than 7,800 people. With hospitals in Boise, Meridian, Ketchum and Twin Falls, St. Luke’s provides patients with unmatched care in specialized medical fields including cancer, heart and vascular, obstetrics, women’s services and children’s health care. To find out more, visit www.stlukesonline.org.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Angela Lewton
angelal@unitymg.com
(208) 867-6808

Lissette Capati
lissette.capati@zenogroup.com
(202) 965-7807

SOURCE Unity Medical, Inc.

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Unity Medical Inc. makes two- to three-minute videos that take expert medical advice and deliver it to patients in a way that feels up close and personal. The videos are part of a suite of Internet tools that can deliver information on everything from chronic diseases to wellness.

Right now, the privately held Unity Medical doesn’t have much competition for its use of Internet technology, founder and CEO Michael Boerner said: “We’ve been presenting and sharing this from coast to coast, and to date we haven’t seen anything quite like it.”

“It has the potential to change how doctors practice medicine,” said Dr. Robert Korn, a weight-loss surgeon at St. Luke’s Clinic for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery who is not an investor in Unity Medical.

Doctors can use the company’s toolbox in a variety of ways. One is to videotape themselves introducing patients to pre-recorded, pre-approved medical content, including videos featuring health care experts.

The experts may tell surgical patients what to expect before and after their operations, or diabetic patients how to take care of themselves, or people with heart disease how to eat or exercise.

The content can be tailored to physician practices, hospitals or other health businesses.

The idea is to deliver information to patients in small doses over time.

One of the company’s tools, “Ask an Expert,” starts like many other online symptom checkers. Patients on a company’s Web site click on an outline of a human body and then click on the body parts that are hurting.

At this point, Unity parts ways with more traditional tools, which require patients to wade through more text to get a list of possible ailments. Instead, a kind doctor in a white coat comes onscreen to tell a mother, say, that he is sorry her daughter is suffering from a painful eye condition.

Below him on the screen are pictures of three eyes, each an example of a particular eye condition. “Which eye looks the most like your daughter’s?” the doctor asks.

Mom clicks on the bloodshot eye, a dead-on match for pinkeye, or conjunctivitis. It’s a common childhood infection easily treated at a doctor’s office, the doctor says. The site then provides names of local physicians.

Unity has produced hundreds of hours of video. Some speakers are actors, some are physicians or other experts. Some videos are filmed at the company’s Eagle headquarters, some elsewhere. The company has more than 50 workers, mostly full-time.

Healthwise, a Boise company that feeds health information to sites all over the Internet, including WebMD, isn’t working with Unity but might someday. “I think that Unity has a great, entertaining platform,” said Leslie Kelly Hall, senior vice president of products at Healthwise.

Unity Medical agrees that text helps patients drill deeper into what’s ailing them but believes the best way to grab them is through video. “I’ve seen research showing people prefer video to written content 5 to 1,” said Boerner, a Boise native who founded Mission Media, a nondenominational Christian media production company in Boise.

Unity Medical recently won the audience award for best new service at a recent Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco. Work on patents is under way.

The initial investment in Unity’s parent company, Unity Media, came from angel investors in Idaho and elsewhere. Unity Media began in April 2006. It focuses on the same technologies as Unity Medical, but is tailored to help large companies with tasks like training workers and communicating with customers.

Unity Medical was born in April with startup funding from its parent. Unity Medical is working to raise an additional $10 million, Boerner said.

The company earns its living by licensing its technologies and its medical content. “We already have substantial revenues,” he said, though he would not say how much. Buyers pay from thousands to millions of dollars, depending on the size of the sale.

Unity Medical has a partnership with St. Luke’s Health System, one of the biggest private employers in Idaho.

“They have some very innovative tools that will really serve the patient better in terms of how they interact with their doctor and their health care provider,” spokesman Ken Dey said.

The software solves some doctors’ dilemmas: They are often too busy to answer patients’ questions, and even when they do, patients who receive upsetting news often don’t remember it later and may have trouble conveying the gist to family members.

An example of Unity Medical’s technology is on the St. Luke’s Web site. An online assessment tool guides would-be patients through the process of finding out if they qualify for weight-loss surgery, which generally is restricted to the morbidly obese – people who are 100 pounds or more above their ideal body weight. Patients plug in their weight and height, then watch as a former news anchor with a script tells them whether they qualify. Viewers also can see patient stories, details of weight-loss surgeries and other bariatric topics.

Patients can share their own questions or comments or send messages or comments to their doctors, Boerner said. If they have the surgery, hours of additional video can be parceled out as patients first undergo surgery and then learn about how to maintain weight loss afterward. Releasing the videos gradually avoids overwhelming patients with too much information too quickly.

The company is working on ways to get the same messages delivered via iPhones and BlackBerrys.

“The real key is you don’t have to remember to come and get it (the video),” Boerner aid. “It comes to you.”

Doctors can arrange to be notified when their patients see the information or take a quiz on it. The completed quiz can be automatically routed to patients’ records.

Korn looks forward to taking fuller advantage of Unity’s programs. Educated patients are happier patients because they can work with their doctors to obtain the best results possible, he said.

“Once they grasp that stuff, they are in the groove,” Korn said.

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“This is a very savvy technology audience, and they really liked Unity’s combination of video, decision support and education tools for health care consumers,” stated Health 2.0 co-founder Matthew Holt.

Building on technology developed for Unity Media Group’s iQuestions Web destination, products like the Wonder Bar, Journey Log, Ask an Expert and Smart Assessment Tool allow providers and patients to access information ranging from medical diagnoses, to guidance on procedures, to mental and physical health counseling.
Unity Medical was selected for its award from among 12 finalists, and judged by audience members representing over 400 technology and health care organizations.
“We’re delighted that the medical industry at Health 2.0 recognized the ability of our technologies to increase patient engagement and reduce the overall burden and costs on the health care system,” stated Unity Medical founder and CEO Michael Boerner.

Eagle technology start-up Unity Medical Inc., announced that the company won the audience award as the best new service at the Launch! competition at the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco. Unity Medical unveiled its suite of media technologies that offer video interaction for health-care professionals. The Launch! audience award was given to the best technology presentation from 12 finalists and judged by audience representatives of more than 400 technology and health-care organizations at the conference.

Compiled by Pat Carson.

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