Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey to Sponsor Two-Year Pilot With Hackensack University Medical Center to Implant Med
18 July 2006 - 1:39AM
PR Newswire (US)
VeriChip Corporation's Personal Health Record Module Will Host
Horizon BCBSNJ Members' Clinical Information NEWARK, N.J., July 17
/PRNewswire/ -- Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the
state's oldest and largest health insurer, announced today a
two-year collaboration with Hackensack University Medical Center,
its physicians, and the VeriChip Corporation (VeriChip) to implant
FDA-approved microchips in chronically ill patients enabling
emergency room physicians to access those patients' medical record
electronically. The microchips provide immediate access to family
contact information and information about the patients' medical
histories that could mean the difference between life and death in
an emergency. Horizon BCBSNJ will make the new technology,
developed by the VeriChip Corporation of Delray Beach, Florida,
available to select members with chronic conditions. Those members
who participate in the program will agree to have an implantable
radio frequency identification device (RFID), the size of a grain
of rice, placed under their skin. VeriChip calls the RFID a
personal health record module. The information on the module will
include medical information from Horizon BCBSNJ's claim records,
such as lab test data and pharmacy prescription information. This
module emits a 16-digit number that links the patient to their
electronic medical record when a special hand-held scanner is waved
over it. The pilot program will give Hackensack Medical Center
physicians access to the member's electronic medical records and
other vital information in the event the chronically ill member
cannot respond during an emergency. The content of the electronic
medical records will be approved by each member and include
information about their condition, family contact information as
well as lab test data and pharmacy information maintained by
Horizon BCBSNJ. "Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is
committed to utilizing new technologies to improve the health care
experience for our members," said Dr. Richard Popiel, vice
president and chief medical officer for Horizon BCBSNJ. "This
two-year collaboration with Hackensack University Medical Center,
its physicians, and VeriChip will provide cutting edge technologies
that will hopefully save lives and provide measure of comfort to
our members with chronic conditions and to their families." "We are
very pleased that Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is
about to commence its trial of our VeriMed Patient Identification
System," said Kevin McLaughlin, Chief Executive Officer of VeriChip
Corporation. "VeriMed's ability to reliably and securely link
patients to critical medical and emergency contact details will
give VeriMed-enabled emergency rooms access to the information they
need to make critical healthcare decisions." About Horizon Blue
Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield
of New Jersey, with headquarters in Newark, is New Jersey's largest
health insurer, providing coverage to more than 3.2 million people.
Horizon BCBSNJ's company Web site is located at
http://www.horizonblue.com/. Horizon BCBSNJ is an independent
licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. About
VeriChip Corporation VeriChip Corporation, headquartered in Delray
Beach, Florida, a subsidiary of Applied Digital
(NASDAQ:ADSXNASDAQ:-NASDAQ:News), develops, markets and sells radio
frequency identification, or RFID, systems used to identify, locate
and protect people and assets. VeriChip's goal is to become the
leading provider of RFID systems for people in the healthcare
industry. VeriChip sells passive RFID systems for identification
purposes and active RFID systems for local- area location and
identification purposes. VeriChip recently began to market its
VeriMed(TM) Patient Identification System, which is used to rapidly
and accurately identify people who arrive in an emergency room and
are unable to communicate. This system uses the first
human-implantable passive RFID microchip, the implantable
VeriChip(TM), cleared for medical use in October 2004 by the United
States Food and Drug Administration. DATASOURCE: Horizon Blue Cross
Blue Shield of New Jersey CONTACT: Tom Rubino, Horizon BCBSNJ,
+1-973-466-8755, Web site: http://www.horizonblue.com/
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