AMA and AT&T Combine Care Management Platforms to Improve Collaboration Among Caregivers Nationwide

CHICAGO and DALLAS, Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In a union of two iconic American brands, the American Medical Association (AMA) and AT&T* have formed a strategic alliance that will enable hundreds of thousands of physicians, physician organizations and medical societies nationwide to connect and collaborate with hospitals, payers and patients to help enhance patient care and reduce costs.

The organizations will integrate AMA's AMAGINE™ physician community portal for physicians with AT&T Healthcare Community Online, creating an advanced collaborative care and Healthcare Information Exchange (HIE) platform. By combining the platforms, both powered by Covisint, physicians will have more tools at their fingertips to modernize the management of their practices. 

AMA and AT&T will advance the adoption of health information technology (health IT) across the healthcare ecosystem by enabling customers that use the platforms – physicians, hospitals, payers and patients – to access health IT applications and exchange highly-secure clinical and administrative data. The alliance will create one seamless solution that will enable highly-secure, virtually anywhere, anytime access to advanced applications, aggregated clinical information and data analytics that enable the coordination and management of patient care and population health. 

The relationship will expand the functions and capabilities of the AMAGINE physician community portal that was created to help physicians easily integrate health IT into the management of their practices through a single source with affordable choices. AT&T Healthcare Community Online provides the foundation for a fully clinically integrated system across the entire care team and helps improve collaboration, reduce paperwork and potential errors, and ultimately improve the quality of patient care.

Together, the combined platform will:

• Increase caregiver collaboration by connecting AMAGINE customers with AT&T Healthcare Community Online customers
• Provide access to AT&T's patient care and clinical integration solutions that help bring evidence-based information to the point of care
• Enable access to important applications such as clinical decision support, e-prescribing, care management and electronic medical records
• Improve workflow efficiency and streamline processes associated with physician orders and referrals, lab orders and results, medications and discharge planning
• Help physicians to take further advantage of "meaningful use" incentives

"This alliance with AT&T makes the combined product offering that much stronger and more beneficial to physicians," said Robert Musacchio, Senior Vice President of Business Operations for the American Medical Association. "With the AMA's extensive knowledge of physician and patient needs, and AT&T's proven track record delivering technology solutions to clients, we expect that physicians and their patients will be able to enjoy the benefits of advanced health IT sooner and with more dramatic results." 

AT&T will own and operate the combined platform as AT&T Healthcare Community Online and lead efforts to evolve technology solutions and bridge clinical and information needs across patients, physicians, hospitals and ancillary organizations. AMA will remain actively engaged and will collaborate with AT&T on business strategies to expand availability and accessibility of health IT for physicians and practices.

"If caregivers across the country aren't connected, they can't collaborate effectively as a team. By joining forces with the nation's largest physician organization, we're providing a seamless solution to meet the 'last mile' of connectivity across the entire healthcare ecosystem," said Randall Porter, Assistant Vice President, AT&T ForHealth, AT&T Business Solutions.

Both organizations will be discussing the alliance at booth #3829 at HIMSS12 in Las Vegas from Feb. 20 - Feb. 24, 2012.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Information set forth in this press release contains financial estimates and other forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results might differ materially. A discussion of factors that may affect future results is contained in AT&T's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AT&T disclaims any obligation to update and revise statements contained in this news release based on new information or otherwise.

About the American Medical Association
The American Medical Association helps doctors help patients by uniting physicians nationwide to work on the most important professional, public health and health policy issues. The nation's largest physician organization plays a leading role in shaping the future of medicine. For more information on the AMA, please visit www.ama-assn.org.

About Amagine, Inc.
Amagine, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Medical Association, provides health information technology resources, consulting, and solutions for physicians and their practices through the AMAGINE physician portal.  For more information, please visit www.amagine.com.

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile broadband and emerging 4G capabilities, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T | DIRECTV brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising.

Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com. This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at http://www.att.com/newsroom and as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss. Or follow our news on Twitter at @ATT.

©2012 AT&T Intellectual Property, American Medical Association and Amagine, Inc. All rights reserved. Mobile broadband not available in all areas. AT&T and the AT&T logo are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. AMA and AMAGINE names and logos are trademarks of the American Medical Association and/or Amagine Inc. Any other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE AT&T Inc.