The Kansas City Metropolitan Physician Association and ALR Technologies Announce Diabetes Management Partnership
Collaboration With Pioneering Accountable Care Organization Marks First Commercial Deployment of the Health-e-Connect System
Richmond, VA, July 29, 2014 –ALR Technologies Inc. (OTCQB: ALRT), the chronic care medical device company, announced a commercial partnership with the Kansas City Metropolitan Physician Association (KCMPA), one of the nation’s premier Accountable Care Organizations (ACO). An ACO is a set of health care providers—including primary care physicians, specialists, and hospitals—that work together collaboratively and accept collective accountability for the cost and quality of care delivered to a population of patients. Under the agreement, KCMPA, which has made diabetes management a key focus of its Quality Improvement Plan, will enroll 200 of its patients with Type 2 diabetes into ALRT’s Health-e-Connect diabetes management system. The partnership between ALRT and KCMPA represents the first commercial deployment of ALRT’s Health-e-Connect System and has the potential to be ALRT’s first U.S.-based, revenue-generating, commercial market partnership.
Health-e-Connect is an FDA-cleared and HIPAA compliant technology platform to remotely monitor patient blood glucose data. ALRT’s Diabetes Care Facilitators (DCFs) using Health-e-Connect will alert KCMPA physicians and nurses when a patient’s blood glucose data is out of an acceptable range. In ALRT’s clinical trial, this type of Internet-based remote monitoring was associated with a 1.2% reduction in A1C levels over a 6-month period, from an average of 8.8% to 7.6%. Reducing A1C is valuable to patients, physicians and insurance providers because, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “In general, every percentage drop in A1C blood test results (e.g. from 8% to 7%) can reduce the risk of microvascular complications (eye, kidney and nerve diseases) by 40%.” (2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Page 10.)
KCMPA’s CEO Jill Watson said: “Our goal is to become the premier diabetes management medical group in the Midwest. If we are able to replicate in our patient population the A1C reductions that were exhibited in ALRT’s clinical trials, it will certainly go a long way to achieving this goal.”
In addition, KCMPA physicians will have electronic access to insulin dosing recommendations from the endocrinology practice of Dr. Mayer B. Davidson, a world-renowned specialist and researcher on Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. The Health-e-Connect system makes expert electronic dosing recommendations possible because it gathers patient blood glucose data on a secure website where it can be accessed by clinicians. Remote monitoring of patient blood glucose and regular adjustment of insulin doses are likely to have two beneficial effects: patients may be less likely to discontinue their insulin usage and their insulin dose is more likely to be adjusted to an optimal level.
Beginning January 1, 2015, Medicare proposes to pay physicians for their use of Health-e-Connect. On July 3rd, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed a rule that would allow for reimbursement to physicians who employ “non-face-to-face” chronic disease management. If that reimbursement becomes available to KCMPA physicians on January 1, KCMPA agreed to negotiate a fee to be paid to ALRT for their use of the Health-e-Connect System. Such a scenario would bring ALRT its first commercial revenue.
Another significant partner in this collaboration is the Mid-America Coalition on Healthcare (MACHC) who brought KCMPA and ALRT together as part of their overall mission of improving health outcomes and controlling costs for their member organizations. MACHC CEO, Troy Ross, commented: “We’re proud to bring two of our member organizations together to work on a common goal of improving outcomes for patients suffering from diabetes.”
ALRT’s CEO Sidney Chan said: “We are very gratified to begin the rollout of our technology into the commercial marketplace and are optimistic that this is the first of many future applications, both domestically and internationally, as we approach the revenue-generating stage for our company.”
About KCMPA
Kansas City Metropolitan Physician Association, LLC (KCMPA) is a membership organization/network of participating independent physicians dedicated to clinical practice redesign and quality improvement. Through a comprehensive clinical integration program, KCMPA is building a collaborative, quality driven, physician-led, health care network for the Kansas City Metropolitan area.
About the Mid-America Coalition on Health Care
The Mid-America Coalition on Health Care leverages the expertise, experience, and resources of its multi-disciplinary membership to promote the health and well being of current and future employees and their families in the greater Kansas City area. Through the power of collaboration and utilizing innovative best practices, MACHC provides leadership and acts as a catalyst to effect positive changes for containing health care costs and improving health outcomes.
About ALR Technologies Inc.
ALR Technologies is a medical device company providing remote monitoring and care facilitation for patients with chronic diseases. ALRT has developed the FDA-cleared and HIPAA compliant Health-e-Connect System that collects data from blood glucose meters and uploads to a secure website. Trained Facilitators use the System to effect efficiency of care among patients, clinicians and caregivers to improve outcomes and assist health plans to optimize their quality goals. Currently, the Company is focused on diabetes and will expand its services to cover other chronic diseases anchored on verifiable data.
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Forward Looking Statements
This release contains certain "forward-looking statements" relating to ALR Technologies' business, and these statements reflect the current views of ALR Technologies with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. When used, the words "estimate", "expect", "anticipate", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. There are many factors that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of ALR Technologies and its products to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Further management discussions of risks and uncertainties can be found in the company's quarterly filings with the Securities Exchange.