Epilepsy Therapy Project Expands Scope of 'My Epilepsy Diary' Online Tool with New Clinicians Portal Feature Designed to Improve Direct Patient-Physician Communication and Epilepsy Management

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Epilepsy Therapy Project (ETP) today announced the launch of two new features for "My Epilepsy Diary,"  a state-of-the-art, comprehensive online data-gathering and reporting tool designed to improve epilepsy care, now including a Clinicians Portal designed to advance the comprehensive management of and access to patient information to designated physicians.  My Epilepsy Diary is used by thousands of patients who rely on this digital tool to record and graph individual seizures and cluster events as well as medications and side effects.  The newly-launched Clinicians Portal feature of the diary allows patients to grant information access to their health care providers to the recorded information, significantly improving patient/provider communication and enhancing patient compliance and treatment.  

Further, patients now are able to integrate My Epilepsy Diary with GoogleHealth and Microsoft® HealthVault™, the two leading online tools to track, gather and organize personal medical records or import health data from connected doctors, hospitals and pharmacies.  Through this technology integration, medication lists are fully synchronized on both websites.  My Epilepsy Diary is free of charge and accessible through iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

"With the innovative technological advances newly incorporated into My Epilepsy Diary, ETP has made it possible to transform the dynamic between patients and physicians and the way epilepsy is managed today," said Robert S. Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Stanford Epilepsy Center, Vice President for Medical Information, Epilepsy Therapy Project.  "Epilepsy is a medical condition that requires strict adherence to therapy and attention to all the factors that can trigger a seizure and affect patient treatment – ranging from adjustments of medications to recognition that seizures are occurring with modifiable factors, such as missing sleep, skipping medicines or hormonal cycles.  My Epilepsy Diary was developed to facilitate compliance and record keeping.   With the New Clinicians Portal, patients and clinicians together can easily monitor data and observe trends important to optimizing a patient's therapy."  

Ms. Pam Tavenier is mother of Jeanine, who has frequent seizures.  Working with Dr. Fisher, she commented that she found the Diary easy to use and "a marvelous tool for a parent to be able to keep track of day-to-day things that might precede a seizure. If Jeanine has headaches for a few days, then we know she is likely to have a seizure."

The Clinicians Portal

The Clinicians Portal for doctors, pharmacists and nurses who treat people with epilepsy is now available without charge on www.epilepsy.com.  By registering at https://my.epilepsy.com/clinicians, and only upon receiving permission from a patient to access his or her diary account, a provider can log-in and view the patient's diary at any time.  For physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals, My Epilepsy Diary will provide real-time and relevant data that can clarify diagnoses, medical issues and improve patient treatment.  In order to maintain patient confidentiality, the My Epilepsy Diary website will not send identifiable patient information to anyone but the patient; however, patients can choose to email their seizure activity reports and personal medical histories directly to their health care providers.    

"My Epilepsy Diary" is part of the Epilepsy Therapy Project Clinical Organizer, an integrated suite of consumer health tools and information offered at no cost on www.epilepsy.com. The #1 epilepsy information and networking site worldwide, www.epilepsy.com reaches more than 300,000 unique visitors per month.  Created by the Epilepsy Therapy Project with guidance and hands-on support from leading clinicians and researchers, My Epilepsy Diary is not affiliated with pharmaceutical manufacturers and goes beyond conventional medication and seizure diaries.   By capturing comprehensive and multi-dimensional information, My Epilepsy Diary is designed to offer features to people with epilepsy, their families and physicians that position it as the epilepsy management tool of choice.  In addition to recording seizures, side effects or progress, users can document their medical history, create reports, response plans, and view data in narrative or graphical form.  Patients can also track and manage their therapies with reminders to be sent by text, email or local smart phone notification to enhance medication compliance.  A Personal History module allows them to build much more detailed profiles that include non-epilepsy-specific details of the patient's life and health, including familial patterns, which may impact treatment options and effectiveness.  

My Epilepsy Diary utilizes a secure interface to protect patient data and is based on a software platform developed by Irody, Inc.  

"My Epilepsy Diary helps patients and families collaborate with their physicians to take control of their epilepsy.  Importantly, My Epilepsy Diary also gives patients and families another opportunity to join the Epilepsy Therapy Project in accelerating ideas into therapies.  Participating patients contribute on a de-identified basis to building a searchable database that can offer new insights for research," said Warren Lammert, Chairman and Co-founder of Epilepsy Therapy Project. "The Epilepsy Therapy Project is working to create a better future with new, safe and effective therapies. Through My Epilepsy Diary, smart phone apps and other pioneering epilepsy management tools and resources offered on epilepsy.com, the Epilepsy Therapy Project also connects patients, families and health professionals with practical and in-depth information on the best new and established therapies available today."

About Epilepsy

When a person has two or more unprovoked seizures, they have epilepsy, which affects nearly 3 million people in the United States and 50 million people worldwide. This year, another 200,000 people in our country will be diagnosed with epilepsy. To date, while there have been certain advances, there is no known cure and many people live with uncontrolled seizures daily.

About the Epilepsy Therapy Project

The Epilepsy Therapy Project is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization whose mission is to accelerate ideas into therapies for people living with epilepsy and seizures. Founded in 2002 by a group of parents, distinguished physicians, and researchers, the Epilepsy Therapy Project supports the commercialization of new therapies through direct grants and investments in promising academic and commercial projects. For more information about epilepsy, epilepsy treatment and the epilepsy pipeline, please visit our website, www.epilepsy.com or call 540.687.8077.  

SOURCE Epilepsy Therapy Project