Cybernet Medical Partners with Heart Alert to Offer In-home Monitoring for Chronic Care Patients

MedStar™ Provides Heart Alert Technicians with Timely Patient Physiological Data

Ann Arbor, Mich. - July 30, 2001 -

Cybernet Medical, a medical technology research and development company, today announced that Heart Alert has selected Cybernet Medical's MedStar™ data transmission device as a key component of its disease management program. By incorporating MedStar and the corresponding collection server into its cardiac management program, Heart Alert will receive accurate and objective blood pressure, pulse and weight measurements on patients with coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, and other chronic care diseases. This advancement enables Heart Alert to offer proactive treatment action as soon as changes in a patient's physiology are detected, resulting in fewer emergency responses and hospitalizations.

"Heart Alert spent over a year searching for an in-home monitoring device to suit the needs of our cardiac patients: lightweight/portable, easy to use, and able to connect directly with multiple at-home measurement devices," notes cardiologist Barry Silverman, M.D., medical director of Heart Alert. "Cybernet Medical presented us with MedStar, tailor-made to our specifications and exceeding our expectations in reliability and portability."

"Cybernet Medical worked closely with Heart Alert when developing MedStar," explains John Hoggle, CEO of Heart Alert. "Tests on the product have been extremely positive, yielding accurate results with a high degree of reliability. Consequently, we placed an order with Cybernet Medical, which initiates the first use of the MedStar product for real-time assessment and management of Heart Alert's patient population with Congestive Heart Failure. The management of these patients will lead to positive clinical outcomes for the patient, while lowering costs to the healthcare system. We predict that over the next few years, in-home monitoring and patient disease state management will change the way healthcare is carried out."

MedStar works by acquiring data from the connected measurement devices (blood pressure unit and weight scale) and transfers it via telephone line to a data collection server, where it is retrieved by Heart Alert's patient management system.

"Heart Alert's in-home monitoring program, based on Cybernet's MedStar device, creates an effective and specialized program for chronic care patients," notes Anthony Comazzi, COO of Cybernet. "Over $32 billion were spent last year on patients with congestive heart failure alone, but the issue of reimbursement is still key - payors must recognize the improved care chronic disease patients receive through cost-effective in-home monitoring devices."

Upon completion of this trial program, Heart Alert looks forward to a larger incorporation of Cybernet Medical's products into its programs.

About Heart Alert
Georgia-based Heart Alert, Inc. is a clinical information management company designed to provide electronic medical management tools for patients, physicians, payors, and healthcare providers. These tools will measurably increase the quality of patient clinical outcomes while decreasing the incremental cost of direct patient care services throughout the medical/wellness continuum. Heart Alert is accomplishing its mission by implementing a disease management process, which involves injecting technology into patient management, linking the patient to the physician through Heart Alert's clinical information management system. More information is available on the company's web site at www.heartalert.com, or by calling 800-668-8636.

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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