The University of Tennessee Medical Center and ContinuumRx Form Healthcare Joint Venture

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. and KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Tennessee Medical Center and ContinuumRx™ have announced an agreement to form a joint venture to provide home infusion and specialty pharmacy services to patients across East Tennessee. The joint venture currently serves over 200 patients in this region.

ContinuumRx and The University of Tennessee Medical Center share a common vision to use innovative service models and technology to prevent care gaps and improve communication in the post-acute setting. Care gaps potentially lead to adverse drug interactions, hospital re-admissions and higher overall healthcare costs for patients with chronic and complex conditions. We are in an era of increasing care management complexity as the number of prescribed specialty and infused drug therapy medications – used to treat complex and chronic conditions – continues to increase. At the same time, health systems are being expected to assume more accountability for the services delivered and outcomes achieved for patients in the post acute setting.

"Being open to new models of care delivery are a prerequisite to competing in today's healthcare environment," said ContinuumRx CEO Chuck Jett. "Hospitals are beginning to rethink traditional models of care and extend the continuum of services into the home to provide greater continuity of care and accountability for outcomes."

"This will be of significant benefit to our patients as they leave The University of Tennessee Medical Center and move to the next phase of their care," said Norman Majors, Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer at The University of Tennessee Medical Center. "This joint venture allows us to maintain a relationship with our patients, which is of tremendous importance. Additionally, the timely and ongoing communication shared with our physicians and staff about their patients will greatly assist in the recovery and disease management processes."

About The University of Tennessee Medical Center

The mission of The University of Tennessee Medical Center is to serve through healing, education and discovery. UT Medical Center, a 581-bed, not-for-profit academic medical center, serves as a referral center for Eastern Tennessee, Southeast Kentucky and Western North Carolina. The medical center, the region's only Level I Trauma Center, is one of the largest employers in Knoxville. For more information about The University of Tennessee Medical Center, visit online at http://www.utmedicalcenter.org.

About ContinuumRx

ContinuumRx is based in Birmingham, Alabama and develops joint ventures with market-leading health systems to provide home infusion and specialty pharmacy services to the patients they serve. Through our unique integrated model with health systems and their affiliated providers, we are creating a better model of care for patients with chronic and complex conditions. Our team of clinical experts and advanced fulfillment model provides hospitals with a seamless service offering that can reduce the patient's length of stay, help avoid unnecessary readmissions and allow payors to reduce overall healthcare costs. For more information about ContinuumRx, visit online at http://www.continuumrx.com.

SOURCE ContinuumRx