March 1, 2006

Bend Memorial Clinic Launches Medicare Research Project

Bend Memorial Clinic recently began enrollment for a new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) demonstration project. The innovative Health Buddy Program is a physician-led model of care that uses home health monitoring technology for patients who are struggling with severe chronic illness - allowing them to live, healthier, happier, longer lives and reduce Medicare spending by preventing hospitalizations.

--Read the pdf article.

Feburary 6, 2006

Health Buddy is a friend indeed for the ill in need
By K.C. Mehaffey

To Perryann Azevedo, the Health Buddy is aptly named.

The lunchbox-sized computer that has sat on her bedside table for the last two months is like a security blanket; it's an extra set of eyes watching for complications that could arise from her diabetes.

And she calls the gadget "she" because Lori Smet, a nurse case manager at Wenatchee Valley Medical Center, checks her answers to a dozen questions the Health Buddy asks her every day.

--Read the pdf article.