Scottsdale Healthcare Goes Live on STAT DOCTORS eHealth Service as an Employee Health/Wellness Benefit

SCOTTSDALE, AZ–(Marketwire – December 7, 2010) – Stat Health Services Inc. and Scottsdale Healthcare announced today that they are offering Stat Health’s innovative STAT DOCTORS™ eHealth service as a supplemental health and wellness benefit for Scottsdale Healthcare’s employees and their covered dependents. 

Scottsdale Healthcare is the city of Scottsdale’s largest employer, operating three hospitals, a cancer center and several ambulatory care facilities with approximately 10,000 covered lives included in its employee medical plan. The agreement is Stat Health Services’ first contract with a major employer.

Like a virtual house call, STAT DOCTORS offers online on-demand care from a physician for many non-emergency minor illnesses or conditions. Effective today, Scottsdale Healthcare is launching the new employee benefit, just in time for the cold and flu season.

“With STAT DOCTORS our health plan participants will have the convenience of online access to board certified emergency physicians for care of common minor medical conditions, any time of the day or night. We believe this will be a popular benefit that our employees will take advantage of when they need care,” says Carol Henderson, senior vice president/chief talent officer for Scottsdale Healthcare.

55 percent of the 114 million visits to an emergency room are for non-emergencies¹. STAT DOCTORS leverages the Internet, advanced and proprietary technologies — including secure single sign-on, electronic health records (EHRs), ePrescribing and video conferencing — to bring patients a modern day virtual house call for treating minor medical emergencies.

By offering STAT DOCTORS, employers may benefit from increased employee satisfaction and retention, reduced employee absenteeism and decreased costs. Hospital employers such as Scottsdale Healthcare are also expected to benefit from their employees utilizing the STAT DOCTORS eHealth service for urgent care needs instead of hospital emergency rooms.

“In the past, patients had no choice but to either delay treatment or waste precious time and money waiting in emergency rooms or urgent care centers, exposed to seasonal viruses,” explains Alan C. Roga, M.D., Chairman and CEO of Stat Health. “Our STAT DOCTORS service solves this problem by using advanced technologies to provide convenient access to quality health care, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

¹ “Addressing the Problem of Low Acuity Non-Emergent ER Visits,” Mercer Human Resources Consulting, January 2006.

About Scottsdale Healthcare
Scottsdale Healthcare is the community-based, nonprofit parent organization of the Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center, Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Medical Center and Scottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak Hospital, Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare, Scottsdale Healthcare Research Institute and Scottsdale Healthcare Foundation. A leader in medical innovation, talent and technology, Scottsdale Healthcare was founded in 1962 and is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. For more information, visit www.shc.org.

About Stat Health Services Inc.
Stat Health Services Inc. is an eHealth services company. Its STAT DOCTORS™ service provides members convenient and affordable online access to emergency medicine physicians for the diagnosis and treatment of urgent common minor medical conditions. STAT DOCTORS™ brings patients a modern day virtual house call. By providing such features as a secure single sign-on, a virtual waiting room, online medical consultations (eVisits), electronic health records (EHRs), and electronic prescribing (ePrescribing), STAT DOCTORS™ delivers a personalized, secure and superior health care experience. Stat Health’s network of emergency medicine physicians includes top board certified physicians who share a passion for delivering high quality health care, efficiently and effectively, by using the Internet and advanced technologies to treat today’s connected patients. Stat Health is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. For more information, visit www.STATDOCTORS.com.