Ideal Life: ABBY Winners Announced & Honored with 2011 Innovations in Healthcare(SM) Awards

Congratulations to the Adaptive Business Leaders Organization’s 2011 Innovations in Healthcare (SM) ABBY Award winners: Blausen Medical Communications, IDEAL LIFE, Teladoc, Inc., and Vertos Medical Inc., as well as this year’s “Leadership in Innovation” Award Winner, Daniel Kraft, MD, Founder and CEO of IntelliMedicine. These honorees were selected after presentations were made by Award Finalists in each of four categories in the international competition that recognizes companies whose innovations are reducing the cost of quality healthcare. The winners were announced at ABL Organization’s 13th Annual Innovations in Healthcare (SM) Awards Event, on September 28, in Long Beach. The Event drew top executives from healthcare providers, information, medical and bio-technology, wellness, and professional services companies from across the nation.

The Innovations in Healthcare (SM) ABBYs were awarded in four categories:

In the "Innovation in Healthcare Information Technology & Telecommunications – Business Facing" category, Blausen Medical Communications, of Houston, TX, represented by CEO Bruce Blausen, won the award in recognition of its Blausen Human Atlas mobile apps, which present over 350 individual topics, covering common medical conditions and treatments, in one-to-two-minute animated videos, with easy-to-understand 6th-to-7th grade-level narration. (http://www.blausen.com)

In the "Innovation in Healthcare Information Technology & Telecommunications – Consumer Facing" category, IDEAL LIFE, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, represented by General Manager Steve Wheeler, won the award in recognition of its Remote Health Management System that utilizes digital, secure two-way communication, and can gauge health issues before chronic conditions become acute events. (http://www.ideallifeonline.com)

In the "Innovative Approach to the Delivery of Healthcare" category, Teladoc, Inc., of Dallas, TX, represented by CEO Jason Gorevic, won the ABBY for its telehealth services that provide access to U.S.-based, board-certified physicians, available 24/7/365, for a variety of medical issues, to three million members who have expressed a 97% patient satisfaction rate. (http://www.teladoc.com)

And in the "Innovation in Medical Devices and Diagnostics" category, the ABBY went to Vertos Medical, Inc., of Aliso Viejo, CA, represented by CEO Jim Corbett, for its "mild" procedure that’s used to treat patients with moderate to severe lumbar spinal stenosis, who have experienced significant improvement in mobility and significant reduction in pain. (http://www.vertosmed.com)

The Awards Event was keynoted by the 2011 “Leadership in Innovation” Award winner Daniel Kraft, MD, Founder and CEO of IntelliMedicine, of Moffett Field, CA (http://www.intellimedicine.com). Daniel - one of the nation’s most prolific, multi-dimensional, and “applied healthcare" futurists – is leading IntelliMedicine’s focus on enabling connected, data-driven, and integrated personalized medicine.

Also at the Event, David Sayen, CMS Region IX Administrator, in his "Pre-Note" address, discussed the innovative approaches CMS is applying to achieve a three-part aim of “better care, better health, and lower cost,” with an eye to protecting both the physical health of CMS beneficiaries, and the fiscal health of the program.

Recipients of the Innovations in Healthcare (SM) ABBY Awards were chosen by members of the Adaptive Business Leaders (ABL) Organization and other attendees at the September 28th Awards Event, after viewing all presentations made by Finalists in each category. The other Award Finalists were: in the “Innovation in Healthcare IT & Telecommunications – Business Facing” category were Extend Health, of San Mateo, CA; and PathCentral, of Irvine, CA. In the “Innovation in Healthcare IT & Telecommunications – Consumer Facing” category: GrandCare Systems, of Westbend, WI; and HeartMath, of Boulder Creek, CA. In the “Innovative Approach to the Delivery of Healthcare” category: CareMeridian, of Aliso Viejo, CA; and Partners in Care Foundation, of San Fernando, CA. And in the "Innovation in Medical Devices and Diagnostics" category: Vermillion, Inc., of Austin, TX.

About the Adaptive Business Leaders Organization

ABL supports the needs of its Member CEOs by providing a place for top-level executives to draw on the experience, knowledge, and skill sets of their healthcare and technology industry peers in a vertical industry, personal advisory board setting. Members meet monthly in Round Tables, as well as in frequent workshops and conferences, to hear from cutting-edge experts, to exchange ideas, and connect with other chief executives. ABL's CEO Round Table program is offered throughout California: in Greater Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Clara Counties. More information can be found at http://www.abl.org and https://roundtables.abl.org/.