Presentation at PegaWORLD Highlights How Alere's Apollo Technology Helps Health Plans and Employers to Better Engage Consumers in Wellness and DM Programs

ATLANTA, June 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Highlighting the capabilities of the company's Apollo technology, featuring the first-ever system that provides employers and health plans with real-time disease management and wellness solutions, executives from Alere will present information today to technology leaders at the PegaWORLD 2011 Conference in Orlando.

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Alere's Apollo technology, a fully integrated health management solution connecting providers, payers and patients, combined with Business Process Management (BPM) technology from Pegasystems, will help bring highly personalized health and wellness programs to the market more quickly and cost effectively.

Alere's Ian Rushton, VP Technology Strategy and Architecture; Shannon Massey, Senior Manager Health Portal; and Ed Smith, Chief Information Officer, will make the presentation at PegaWORLD, the largest worldwide user conference for BPM hosted by Pegasystems, the leader in BPM and software solutions for customer centricity.

For health plans and large employers, the value of Alere's Apollo system, and what makes it an industry first, is that clients can personalize the data for participants in wellness or disease management programs more quickly and cost-effectively than they could in the past.  If a health plan needs to add more information on patients with diabetes, that information can be incorporated as much as 75% faster with Apollo than it can using other technologies. At the same time, the cost of adding this information can be reduced by 50 percent.

"We believe the secret to better health is providing consumers and their physicians with immediate and useful information so they can make optimum health decisions," noted Smith. "With Pega BPM technology, we can provide timely and personalized information in the manner and channel most likely to engage each consumer, and that's significant because the most critical element in any wellness or disease management program today is getting the consumer involved."

Increasingly participants in health services programs are getting insights into how to improve their health via health portals, central information hubs, accessed via PCs, laptops or smartphones that provide online access to information. However, if the information provided by the portal isn't meaningful and relevant, consumers will not engage and participate – and therefore outcomes - will plummet.

Apollo is a healthcare technology platform that facilitates better healthcare decisions by providing accurate, timely and actionable information to participants, their physicians and Alere clients.

Alere uses a Pega-powered recommendation engine to drive real-time personalization that could be customized for any client or population (such as those who smoke, have diabetes, or are overweight) and that can be adjusted dynamically to provide tailored navigation, presentation and content.

With this technology Apollo is highly responsive to consumer interaction preferences, delivering tailored health management services consistently, over multiple-modalities including phone, web, iPad and mobile applications.

Another important service provided through the Apollo and Pega technology is the ability to integrate data from biometric devices and alerts and communicate that data in real-time to physicians and other healthcare providers.

"Biometric devices are going to be critical to efforts to expand healthcare efficiently and cost effectively, especially for those with diseases such as diabetes and heart disease," said Smith. "But if we can't get that data back to providers quickly, so they can provide additional education, encouragement or interventions if necessary, it will have little value.  Our approach ensures consumers get the most meaningful information needed, that data is communicated in real-time to providers and that solutions are provided in a most cost-effective manner for health plans."

About Alere:

Alere Health is the health management services business of Alere Inc. (previously Inverness Medical Innovations) (NYSE: ALR). Alere, a Latin verb, meaning "to care for" or "to support," offers the most patient-centered health management services available from a single provider in the industry. Alere provides health interventions that cover an individual's entire lifespan, from pre-cradle to end-of-life care, as well as the continuum from wellness and prevention, including total health management of individuals with chronic illnesses. Alere's continuum of services begins with preconception, pregnancy, NICU and first year of life services; continues with lifelong programs focused on health, wellness and the management of chronic conditions such as heart failure, COPD, and asthma, up to the complex care management required at end-of-life. For more information regarding Alere, please visit www.alere.com.

© 2011 Alere. All rights reserved. Alere is a trademark of the Alere group of companies.

SOURCE Alere Health