CardioDynamics International to Intensify Focus on Internet-based eHealth Strategy
Company Appoints Home Healthcare Veteran to Board of Directors, Strengthens Research and Development Team, and Explores Strategic Alliances
SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)--Feb. 8, 2000-- CardioDynamics International Corp. (Nasdaq:CDIC - news), manufacturer of BioZ© noninvasive digital cardiac output monitoring systems, Tuesday announced that it is intensifying its Internet-based eHealth strategy through the appointment of Connie Curran, Ed.D., R.N., Founder of CurranCare, to its board of directors and recruitment of two key research and development personnel, Gail D. Baura, Ph.D., and Thomas J. Kardos, M.S.
The addition of these highly specialized individuals will be instrumental in the company's eHealth strategy of linking patients to their physicians, via the Internet, to improve the quality of their care. The company also announced that it has been exploring several potential strategic alliances which would accelerate and strengthen its own efforts to capitalize on eHealth.
Curran is currently president and chief executive officer of CurranCare, a rapidly growing national management services organization that is responsible for the management of over two million annual home care visits, development of effective enterprise-wide disease management programs and creation of cost reduction strategies for healthcare systems.
Curran has more than 100 publications and development of several research programs to her credit. Prior to starting CurranCare in 1995, Curran served as vice president of the American Hospital Association, as well as the National Director of Patient Care Services for APM Inc.
Michael K. Perry, CardioDynamics' chief executive officer, stated, ``We are excited to have Connie join our team. Her extensive experience in home healthcare will be invaluable as we enter this explosive market segment to enhance our future growth. We are aggressively committed to development of our initial Internet-based home healthcare device, the BioZ.tel, and are pleased to have Baura and Tom Kardos join our research and development team. They bring to the company significant medical research and design experience, which will be instrumental in our eHealth product development.'
The largest sector of the U.S. economy is healthcare, with $1.2 trillion in annual spending, and it is increasingly fraught with problems, including public dissatisfaction and an estimated $150 billion per year in administrative waste.
Internet & Healthcare-com, a publication focused on the healthcare implications of the World Wide Web and e-commerce, forecasts the Internet, via e-commerce, e-patient triage, e-treatment, and disease management, will be part of the solution. The Internet, telemedicine industry, and home healthcare merge together to form the basis for the next generation of healthcare, eHealth.
Waterford Advisors predict that global telemedicine expenditures will grow 40% annually over the next 10 years and that in the United States alone, telemedicine will represent at least 15%, or over $180 billion, of all healthcare expenditures by 2010.
Perry added, ``We believe the Internet will be an important driver and facilitator of change within healthcare. While other industries have captured the value of the Internet early on, the scale and scope of the U.S. healthcare system presents perhaps the greatest potential for Internet-based applications. We plan to be on the forefront of this emerging $25 billion Internet market that enables healthcare providers to improve access to medical services and lower the cost of delivering quality care to rural and home-bound chronically ill patients. Home healthcare adds an additional $1 billion to our current $4 billion market potential.'
CardioDynamics, with headquarters in San Diego, is committed to fundamentally changing the way hemodynamic monitoring is performed in healthcare. The company's primary products, the BioZ© System, BioZ© Portable, and BioZ.com(TM), utilize Impedance Cardiography (ICG) to noninvasively obtain data on a wide range of hemodynamic parameters.
Whereas Electrocardiography (ECG) measures the heart's electrical characteristics, ICG measures the heart's mechanical (blood flow) characteristics. Physicians around the world are currently using the BioZ products, including major medical centers such as the Mayo Clinic (Rochester), UCSF Stanford Health Care (Palo Alto), Yale New Haven Hospital (New Haven), and Baylor College of Medicine (Houston).
The worldwide market potential for BioZ products is estimated to be $5 billion, together with an additional $800 million in recurring annual revenue for disposables. For additional information, refer to the company's Web site at www.cdic.com. |
