Press Release

Manasquan, N.J., USA, January 4, 2006 – With industry trends toward disease management (DM) and consumer-driven healthcare, employers and health plans are learning that consumer empowerment is key to improved outcomes.

Health plans and providers are developing toolkits to maximize the potential of education. Healthcare professionals are finding that information, resources and self-help tools are instrumental in fostering DM success and creating a culture of health consciousness among consumers. A Blueprint for Success: How to Construct a Winning Toolkit Strategy, in HIN’s Disease Management Dimension Series, capitalizes on the connection between DM and consumer education with 34 pages of tips and strategies for toolkit effectiveness. First-, second- and third-prize winners from HIN’s summer 2005 toolkit contest lend their expertise, illustrating how effective toolkits can improve ROI in DM programs and support behavior modification. For more information on this new addition to the series, please visit the HIN bookstore.

Chronic care accounts for an increasing majority of healthcare costs, most of which are preventable. DM programs are an emerging solution to the problem. HIN’s 300-page Disease Management Dimensions series examines winning efforts in DM for obesity and depression as well as strategies designed to motivate and support the chronically ill, such as incorporating health coaches, toolkits and behavior modification techniques into program offerings. Addressing multiple aspects of the DM industry, this expansive series includes the following special reports:

• Childhood Obesity: Truths, Trends & Program Design
• Depression Disease Management: Healthcare's New Frontier
• Disease Management & Obesity: Healthcare Impacts and Initiatives
• Health Coaches: Scoring Big Gains in Disease Management ROI
• Healthcare Toolkits: Empowering Consumers Through Education
• Modifying Patients' Behaviors to Optimize Disease Management Outcomes
• Motivating Resistant Patients: Influencing Behaviors to Improve Outcomes
• Blueprint for Success: Constructing a Winning Healthcare Toolkit Strategy

The Disease Management Dimensions series is a compilation of special reports from more than 20 industry thought leaders and innovators in DM and is available in print or as an Adobe® PDF® on CD-ROM with keyword searching.

The series offers readers the opportunity to review the latest DM initiatives in one place, as well as a cost-effective alternative to purchasing each title separately. For more information and detailed tables of contents for each title in the series, please visit the HIN bookstore.

About the Healthcare Intelligence Network -- HIN is the premier advisory service for executives seeking high-quality strategic information on the business of healthcare. For more information, contact the Healthcare Intelligence Network, PO Box 1442, Wall Township, NJ, USA, 07719-1442, (888) 446-3530, fax (732) 292-3073, e-mail info@hin.com, or visit http://www.hin.com.

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