ValueOptions® Partners with Audax Health™ to Launch Personal Health Management Pilot for Medicaid Beneficiaries

NORFOLK, Va., Aug. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ValueOptions® and Audax Health™ (Audax) today announced a joint agreement to pilot an interactive health management program for Medicaid beneficiaries that aims to improve health outcomes by using social networking and game mechanics to engage members and assess their needs.

As part of the six-month pilot program, ValueOptions will use the Audax Careverge® platform to engage its Medicaid members in their own health management to identify and address their potential health issues. The platform enables ValueOptions to engage with members to assess their health, to build personal health management plans, and also, to send personal messages to help members keep their appointments and take their medications.  It also provides online communities, where members may interact with experts in the field and share their experiences with others facing the same challenges.

Careverge is an innovative personal health management platform from Audax. Leveraging the proven power of social networking, game mechanics, and Web 3.0 technology, Careverge tracks detailed health information in real-time, intelligently identifies potential issues and serves up personalized information to empower consumers to make better health care decisions.

Driving healthier behaviors and getting people well are fundamental to health care reform in this country, said Grant Verstandig, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Audax Health.  

"The challenge is in engaging consumers to be part of a process that is largely impersonal and unrewarding," Verstandig said. "Social media and gaming sites have exploded because people are rewarded when they engage in often very personal ways online. When you make personal health management tangible, quantifiable, interactive and rewarding, like ValueOptions will be doing, you engage consumers to improve their own health and wellness."

ValueOptions will use Careverge to help break down the barriers that often exist in engaging individuals with physical and behavioral health needs.  The platform will empower individuals to play an active role in their care and provide support and access to important health services. ValueOptions will initially use Careverge to support Medicaid members in Florida.

"The interactive capabilities within the Audax Careverge personal health management platform allow us to engage members, unobtrusively, to help better assess their physical and behavioral health needs and refer them to an appropriate treatment setting before a potentially serious incident occurs," said Bob Esposito, ValueOptions Chief Information and Technology Officer. "ValueOptions will use the Careverge Web solution to provide a sense of community for our Medicaid members, giving them a platform where they may reach out to other members, share their experiences and even research health-related information privately."

About ValueOptions, Inc.®

ValueOptions, Inc.®, the nation's largest independent behavioral health and wellness company, provides services to more than 30 million individuals through a variety of contracts with state and county agencies and, additionally, with health plans and employers. ValueOptions specializes in management for all behavioral health issues and promotes health and wellness through innovative programs. The mission of ValueOptions is to help people live their lives to the fullest potential.

About Audax Health™

Audax Health™ is a Washington, D.C.- based privately held company committed to transforming the environment in which health care decisions are made. Audax's innovative Careverge provides a personal health management platform that tracks detailed health information, intelligently identifies potential issues and serves up personalized and private information to empower consumers to make better health care decisions.  For more information, go to www.audaxhealth.com.

SOURCE ValueOptions Inc.