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Pair Up Extends Medical Education Mission to Patients
Boston, April 27 – Harvard Medical School and M|C Communications have formed a new initiative to expand the role of patient education in primary care medical practices, M|C chief executive John Mooney announced today. The venture, Pri-Med Patient Education Center, introduces multimedia education systems into physicians' waiting rooms throughout the United States. Educational content written for the general public, and addressing a broad spectrum of conditions and disease states as well as preventive medicine and healthy lifestyle, will be provided by Harvard Medical School beginning later this year.
“Because Pri-Med has existing relationships with more than 75% of primary care medical practices, we are positioned to expand the Pri-Med Patient Education Center network rapidly,” Mooney said. “Doctors have told us that time pressures often constrain their ability to fully explain diagnoses and conditions to patients, and that quality patient education programs can make a significant difference in compliance with treatment. Harvard's stature and the quality of content provided by the faculty will underscore the value and credibility of the Pri-Med Patient Education Center in the eyes of both doctors and patients.”
The patient education centers were first launched in 2005 through a partnership with the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), the nation’s principal voice for medical group practice. MGMA’s 20,000 members lead 12,000 organizations in which approximately 242,000 physicians practice. To date, over 2,000 large group practices have patient education centers installed in their waiting rooms. The network is slated to expand to 5,000 practices this year and reach 10,000 by the end of 2007.
“Effective direct-to-patient educational programs motivate individuals to take a larger role in their own treatment, leading to better compliance and outcomes,” Dr. Anthony Komaroff, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Health Publications Division, said: “Harvard has been a pioneer in patient education for more than three decades. Our partnership with Pri-Med now enables us to expand that role dramatically, and at a much more rapid pace. Today, patient education plays an increasingly important part in health care by enabling patients to adopt a more active role in their treatment, improving clinical outcomes, and optimizing physicians' time.”
M|C Communications LLC was founded in 1994 as a producer of continuing medical education conferences. The first program, Pri-Med, was held in 1995 and attracted 3,500 primary care practitioners. Today M|C produces more than 200 educational programs each year through live, print, and online channels in the US, Mexico, UK, Germany, Japan and Ireland, attracting over 150,000 healthcare professionals annually. M|C, with offices in Boston, the United Kingdom, Ireland and a licensed affiliate, Live-Med®, in Mexico City, brings practicing clinicians the most relevant, timely and actionable advances they need to advance the care of patients the next day.
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