[May 07, 2012]

Dossia Allies with City of New York to Launch Pilot for Community-Based Health Promotion Initiative

Dossia, a leading Personal Health Management System provider, announced the successful launch of a partnership with the Primary Care Information Project (PCIP) of the NYC Health Department and the health ministries of five Brooklyn churches. The five churches, Mamre Seventh Day Adventist, God's Battalion of Prayer, Christian Fellowship Seventh Day Adventist, Berean Baptist and House of the Lord Pentecostal Church. Dossia was selected through a competitive selection process and the project is funded by a grant from the New York State Department of Health.

Each of these churches currently offers regular monitoring and screening programs to members for chronic conditions such as high blood pressure. Starting in March, church members have had the opportunity to track their health outcomes using the Dossia Personal Health Management System. Volunteer lay health workers in the health ministries will have access to an application, built by NexJ Systems, that is integrated with the Dossia platform, such that, with the congregants' consent, screening and monitoring results are available to both the health ministries and congregants. This will help lay health workers identify congregants with poor health for regular follow-up, and to track community-level outcomes. Pastor Baldwin Barnes of Christian Fellowship said, "As one of our ore values, we promote health for our community and hope that this program of tracking blood pressure & BMI will inspire our members to take on new health enhancing behaviors."

Thomas Cannell, Director of Community Projects at PCIP, said, "Electronic Health Records are changing the face of medicine, but the health of the public depends, just as much, on people having the power to eat well, be physically active and regularly take prescribed medications. The Dossia Personal Health Management System supports lay health workers to consistently target health teaching and counseling, and to see the impact of their work, empowering a community, such as a church, to come together to overcome barriers to good health."

"Community-based health initiatives play an imperative role in improving the overall health and wellness in communities across the country," said Dossia CEO Michael Critelli. "We're very excited that the Dossia Health Management System has been selected for this pilot, as we believe that Dossia's solution will enable these community-based programs to have a greater impact within their communities."

About Dossia

Dossia is a organization consisting of several large U.S. employers who have united under a common vision: to empower their employees to make smarter more informed decisions about their healthcare. Through Dossia, they will leverage their combined influence to break down barriers to health information, which will help drive consumer-initiated change. The Dossia Founders group includes AT&T (News - Alert), Applied Materials, BP America, Cardinal Health, Intel, NantWorks, Pitney Bowes, sanofi-aventis, Vanguard Health Systems and Walmart. For more information, visit www.dossia.org.

About New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) is a department of the Government of New York City responsible for public health along with issuing birth certificates, dog licenses, and conducting restaurant inspection and enforcement. For more information, visit http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/.

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