Dusseldorf/Tel Aviv/Zurich, 20 December 2007 – SHL Telemedicine Ltd. (SWX:SHLTN), a leading provider and developer of advanced personal telemedicine solutions, is pleased to announce that Debeka, the biggest private health insurance company in Germany, and PHTS Telemedizin, SHL’s wholly owned German subsidiary, have signed an agreement to continue and expand their co-operation for a long-term.
PHTS Telemedizin has been providing telemedicine services to Debeka’s patients with acute heart disease and congestive heart failure (CHF) for several years and the positive results shown in using PHTS Telemedizin’s telemedicine platform have convinced Debeka of the need to continue offering these services to its insured and to make long-term use of the experience and competence of PHTS Telemedizin.
With its broad range of insurance and financial services, Debeka is one of the “Top Ten” in the insurance and building society business. With more than two million fully insured, Debeka is also the largest private health insurance company in Germany and the biggest provider of compulsory long-term care insurance. It is one of the most
successful groups of its kind in Germany.
“We are delighted with the success of the telemedical programmes!”, says Karl-Josef Maiwald, a departmental director at Debeka-Krankenversicherung in Koblenz. “In the first three years, we were able to prove that with telemedical support, fewer patients
have had to be delivered into hospital. And for those who had no other choice, the stay in hospital was shorter. Another factor is that the average mortality rate in the first year after an acute heart attack was significantly lower than for patients without telemedical
support. It is therefore clear that telemedicine provides a major improvement in patient care, and we want to continue offering it in the future.”
Erez Aloy, Co-CEO of SHL Telemedicine, adds: “Apart from the subjective feeling of patients that they are safer on an everyday basis and regain a certain quality of life, the evaluation data repeatedly shows the benefits offered by telemedicine for heart patients. What it means is that we are creating a new reality in the health sector which
we believe can not be ignored, especially by those who have to bear the ever increasing cost burden. The co-operation with Debeka is an important step in that direction.”
PHTS Telemedizin, established in Düsseldorf, is a wholly owned subsidiary of SHL Telemedicine. PHTS Telemedizin combines innovative telemedicine solutions with well-founded medical-technical know-how. PHTS holds a leading position throughout Germany in the field of cardiological telemedicine.
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