Cybernet's MedStar™ Device Makes In-home Patient Monitoring Affordable

Single Interface Device Provides Disease Management Professionals with Timely Outpatient Physiological Data

Ann Arbor, Michigan - July 9, 2001 -

Cybernet Medical today announced the general availability of its MedStar™ interface device and accompanying collection server, together called the MedStar System, for improving in-home patient chronic disease management. Purpose-built for disease management companies, the battery-powered and portable MedStar device collects outpatient physiological data from multiple off-the-shelf instruments, such as blood pressure cuffs and weight scales. It then securely transmits the data over a standard phone line to the Cybernet Medical collection server, located at a disease management company's facility, for retrieval and analysis. This process enables a healthcare team to immediately note changes in a patient's condition and make appropriate action recommendations - resulting in fewer patient interventions and emergency hospitalizations.

"Remote healthcare devices can facilitate improved and more cost-effective patient monitoring," noted Stan Bernard, M.D., MBA, a New Jersey-based specialist in e-health business and founder of the journal Disease Management. "With over 100 million Americans now suffering from chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, we must look for new ways to help better manage their care. Some of the obvious benefits for remote biometric monitoring devices include patient convenience and access to real-time data for enhanced treatment planning and patient compliance."

As part of an overall networked disease management system, the patient-friendly MedStar device is small and light - 10 square inches and weighing less than a pound - and operates on standard AA batteries. It connects directly to the off-the-shelf collection instruments a chronic care patient typically has at home. And instead of using a modem that would drain the batteries after a single transmission, it utilizes a proprietary dialing protocol to transmit digitized data over standard telephone lines to the Cybernet collection server.

Recent studies show that only a little more than half of Americans now have Internet access, and the Digital Divide is still very evident when it comes to age and income. Since a potential user does not need access to the Internet for transmitting the MedStar's collected data, the device can be immediately deployed by disease management organizations regardless of patient demographics. An Internet connection is only required for the patient's health care professionals who wish to assess the data to determine if a patient - related action is warranted.

"Since statistics show significant improvements in patient outcomes through closer in-home monitoring, the industry is looking for more affordable and widely-deployable solutions such as MedStar," states Anthony J. Comazzi, Cybernet's chief operating officer. "Unlike other outpatient monitoring systems, our system is user-friendly and cost-effective, enabling health management companies to reap substantial returns on their outpatient monitoring investments while obtaining timely physiological data for analysis. The MedStar technology can also be used by pharmaceutical companies looking to enhance the process and reduce the cost of selecting, screening and monitoring patients involved in clinical trials."

MedStar is available now to health management companies through Cybernet Medical's headquarters at a street price of $250 per unit.

About Cybernet Medical 
Cybernet Medical is an innovative, technology-based company focused on using state of the art systems to augment the way chronic care patients are monitored and diagnosed. Through research - funded by NASA, National Institute of Health, and Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), Cybernet Medical has developed and patented electronic devices, complex network and server systems, database solutions, and Web-based user interfaces for the collection and management of medical data.

Cybernet Medical is a division of Cybernet Systems, a research and development firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich. For more information on Cybernet Medical, visit the company's Web site at www.cybernetmedical.com or call 734-668-2567.

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