Phreesia Announces Clinical Initiative To Better Manage Symptoms Of Parkinson's Disease

Main Category: Parkinson's Disease
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 16 Apr 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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Phreesia, Inc., the Patient Check-In Company, has announced that it will integrate a new screening tool developed by researchers at Duke University Medical Center into its electronic patient intake process, thereby potentially enhancing the ability of doctors to identify and manage the debilitating symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Affecting about one million people in the United States, Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder that impairs nerve cells causing patients to experience tremors, slowness of movement, muscle rigidity, and difficulty with balance. Drug therapy is highly effective, but within 2 years of initiating treatment up to 50% of patients can experience a decrease in drug efficacy, a phenomenon that is referred to as "wearing-off".

"Recognition of wearing-off and under treatment in Parkinson's disease patients is a major problem", said Mark Stacy, MD, Director of the Movement Disorders Center at Duke University's School of Medicine. Research has shown that nearly half of all patients that report wearing-off are not identified in a routine clinical exam. To help address this inconsistency, Phreesia will automate the "Wearing-Off Questionnaire-9" (WOQ-9), a highly sensitive screening tool specifically designed by researchers at Duke to identify these symptoms in the clinical setting.

Frequently, paper screening tools are cumbersome to implement clinically. As part of Phreesia's electronic patient intake system patients with Parkinson's disease will answer questions from the WOQ-9 and the results will be made available to their physician prior to starting the clinical exam. By enabling physicians nationwide to automate the WOQ-9 in their waiting room a higher identification rate of wearing-off is anticipated, ideally resulting in subsequent treatment and potentially better patient outcomes.

Physicians who use Phreesia will have the option to seamlessly integrate the WOQ-9 into their existing intake process and evaluate responses at both the patient and practice level. "This is Phreesia at its best -- leveraging evidence-based clinical assessment tools to improve patient care", said Chaim Indig, CEO of Phreesia. The implementation of the WOQ-9 is one of many clinical initiatives that Phreesia is developing for physicians who use their electronic patient check-in system.

About Phreesia:

Phreesia is the patient check-in company. Phreesia automates patient check-in and delivers fully interactive content direct-to-patients, designed to interface with physicians' existing and future technology. Replacing the outdated patient clipboard with a free wireless touch-screen and swipe-card enabled PhreesiaPad significantly improves the patient experience. Phreesia is committed to the ideals of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Phreesia is backed by premier venture capital firms and draws on the expertise of a leading Medical Advisory Board. http://www.phreesia.com

Phreesia, Inc.
http://www.phreesia.com