Medical Web Technologies receives US patent for One Medical Passport solution

Medical Web Technologies, LLC today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued the company patent No. 7,865,373 entitled, "Method and Apparatus for Sharing Healthcare Data." The patent covers the process of guiding a patient through the creation of a structured, online medical history that is securely stored and then distributed to medical facilities and physicians that the patient designates as enabled through the company's One Medical Passport solution.

The invention of this technology is the result of three important trends in the healthcare industry that have emerged over the past several years:

• Medical facilities and physicians are under increasing pressure to do more with less staff and less time.
• The adoption of Internet technology by other industries has raised the bar for the healthcare industry. Patients have come to expect greater convenience and empowerment in all aspects of their lives, including interactions with their healthcare providers.
• Patients' lives have become increasingly more hectic, making free time much more valuable.

According to Stephen Punzak, MD, the founder and CEO of Medical Web Technologies, it is the convergence of these three trends that prompted the development of One Medical Passport. "Preop screenings conducted over the phone are time consuming for nurses, inconvenient for patients, and often prone to errors as patients are rushed and rarely have the necessary information on hand. Leveraging the Internet, we have made the process much more efficient, convenient, and cost effective for patients, medical facilities, and physicians."

With One Medical Passport, patients quickly and easily complete their own preoperative medical history securely via the Internet. The information is then immediately available to nurses, anesthesiologists, and registration staff, as well as the patient's surgeon. In addition to a more efficient preop process, patients benefit from continued access to an online personal health record, which they can easily update whenever needed within One Medical Passport.

Facilities using One Medical Passport report a decrease in the amount of time nurses spend conducting preop interviews, saving as much as 20 - 30 minutes per call (approximately $20.00 or more per patient). Having a patient's complete medical history available in advance of a procedure also eliminates costly day-of surgery delays or cancellations caused by 'surprises'.

Medical Web Technologies has partnered with SourceMedical to speed the adoption of its technology in the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) and surgical hospital segment of the healthcare market, as well as iMDsoft, the leading provider of electronic medical record solutions for the perioperative environment.