27 January 2011. US deal for Ultrasis with major health care provider, UPMC
Ultrasis, a provider of interactive health care services, is pleased to announce a ground-breaking partnership with the UPMC Insurance Services Division which is part of the major US healthcare provider, UPMC.
UPMC is an integrated global health enterprise based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of the leading health care systems in the United States and Western Pennsylvania's largest employer, with approximately 50,000 employees and revenues in excess of US$8.0 billion.
UPMC Insurance Services is investing US$1.0m to develop a US specific version of "Beating the Blues" ("BtB"), which will be available, from July 2011, and will be available across the UPMC's provider services as well as through UPMC Insurance Services companies, which provide health benefits management to well over one million people in Medicare, Medicaid, EAP and Behavioural Health programmes.
Ultrasis and UPMC Insurance Services have further agreed to the formation of a 50:50 owned joint venture company (the "JV") to launch the US BtB in the wider US market. Both Ultrasis and UPMC will invest to develop and drive sales opportunities across US states, government, insurance, primary care providers, major corporations and other health care providers seeking to enhance their mental health and wellbeing services.
Both companies will collaborate on further research into BtB, extending its use to other depression-related co-morbid conditions, such as coronary heart disease, with a view to launching additional product and service solutions through the JV in the near future, and also to extend the use of Ultrasis' and UPMC's other wellbeing products and services.
Diane Holder, Executive Vice President UPMC, President of Insurance Services Division, President and CEO UPMC Health Plan, said:
"UPMC has a mission, both within the USA and internationally, to redefine health care by using innovative science, technology and medicine to invent new models of accountable, cost-efficient and patient-centred care. We believe that Beating the Blues will help us achieve this goal within mental health and emotional wellbeing services.
"UPMC is committed to delivering life changing medicine and giving people the opportunity to live more rewarding lives. Accordingly, UPMC will be the 'laboratory' to show how Beating the Blues can be utilised to best effect, and the newly created JV will be the vehicle to take this learning to the wider health care market."
Neal Ryan, MD, Joaquim Puig-Antich Professor of Psychiatry, Director of Psychiatric Informatics, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, said:
"Depression and related disorders are among the top ten causes of medical morbidity worldwide. Studies done in the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Pittsburgh and at other academic centres throughout the world have made cognitive behavioural therapy approaches the best validated non-pharmacological treatments for depression in adolescents, adults, and late-life. Beating the Blues, a validated web-based cognitive behavioural therapy, offers the possibility of more cost-effective treatment and better availability of treatment. For some, this approach may be sufficient, for others it will be a valuable adjunct to pharmacological and/or more traditional psychotherapeutic approaches."
Nigel Brabbins, CEO of Ultrasis, said:
"This represents a significant milestone for Ultrasis and our world leading product, Beating the Blues. The USA version of BtB and the JV will enable the Company to develop a presence in the largest health care market in the world. This is very timely given the health care reforms taking place and the increasing focus on the need for proven, cost effective solutions to meet the growing demands being placed on health care providers.
UPMC is at the leading edge of delivering technology based solutions and we are delighted to be working in partnership with such an eminent health care company. Ultrasis will benefit significantly from its knowledge of the US health care system and allow us to immediately commence the sales process across a number of key markets."
Dr Charlie Martin, Executive Director at Ultrasis, commenting on the clinical need, said:
"According to the NIMH (USA), approximately 60 million American adults will suffer from a depression or anxiety related condition in any given year. More than 120 million prescriptions are written for antidepressants each year, making them the most prescribed class of drug in the USA and this trend continues to grow. There is a growing recognition of the role computerised cognitive behavioural therapy can play in offering treatment, as described recently in a Harvard Publication (A Roadmap to Computer Based Psychotherapy in the United States)."
National Foreign Trade Council ("NFTC") Vice President, International Human Resources Services, William Sheridan, said:
"This is an excellent example of significant cross-border health care benefits NFTC is keen to promote. It has been achieved through collaboration across international boundaries, where a leading health care company (UPMC) is joining forces with Ultrasis UK - an NFTC member - which provides the leading computer delivered treatment for anxiety and depression, "Beating the Blues", to meet the ever increasing need for cost effective solutions to the growing economic burden of health care." www.nftc.org
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