Press Releases

New general telemedicine module facilitates Web-based consultations between rural ER physicians and specialists

(Augusta, Ga. April 7, 2008) REACH Call, Inc., the leading provider of 100 percent Web-based telehealth solutions, has added a general telemedicine module to its service offering.

This new general telemedicine module facilitates faster treatment for patients in rural areas by connecting rural ER physicians with specialists who can remotely diagnose, evaluate and recommend treatment for a variety of medical conditions from anywhere in the world using a Web browser.

"Our general telemedicine module enables a rural ER physician to remotely consult over the Internet with specialists in other hospitals, allowing them to virtually treat any condition from a skin rash or burn to a broken bone or an aneurism-and everything in between," said Sandeep Agate, REACH President & CEO.

REACH developed the general telemedicine module in response to demand from current customers hospitals that already use the company's remote stroke diagnosis and evaluation service. This 100 percent Web-based service originally was designed to facilitate faster treatment for stroke patients in rural areas by enabling neurologists to remotely diagnose, evaluate and recommend treatment from anywhere in the world. These same hospitals realized the value of Web-based telemedicine and asked REACH Call to design similar modules for other medical conditions.

"This move into general telemedicine expands REACH Call from a very specific use stroke evaluation to a very generic competency," Agate said. "Now that we have filled each end of the spectrum, there is a very large gap between our service capabilities and those of our competitors."

More than 50 hospitals have deployed REACH Call in a "Hub and Spoke" design, where a larger "Hub Hospital" provides physician-consulting services to smaller "Spoke Hospitals." Several Spokes are connected to the Hub and leverage the expertise of specialists at the Hub to provide care for patients in their own ERs. These Spokes use a mobile workstation to initiate a consultation request with a physician affiliated with the Hub. The workstation is an assembly of non-proprietary, off-the-shelf components including a laptop, LCD monitor, keyboard, mouse, and a camera. It is battery powered and is equipped with a wireless bridge for maximum mobility within an ER. Spoke Hospital ER staff can use the Web browser running on the laptop embedded in the workstation to register a patient and request a consult with a remote physician affiliated with the Hub.

"Although REACH started out in stroke care, we originally designed our platform for extensibility so that customers would not have to upgrade hardware or spend capital to increase their telemedicine capabilities in the future," Agate said. "Our existing customers can use the same components to expand their telemedicine offerings into other areas."

Since REACH is a 100 percent Web-based turnkey service, there is no hardware or software installed in the Hub Hospital. The consulting physician can use any laptop or PC, a standard off-the-shelf Web cam, and a broadband Internet connection to communicate with the Spoke and evaluate the patient. The physician, who can conduct the consultation from anywhere in the world with a broadband Internet connection, has complete control over the two-way audio and video communication and can view all patient data and DICOM images, such as CT Scans or X-rays, to efficiently and effectively evaluate the patient and recommend treatment.

"REACH is not just about stroke anymore, and we are looking forward to expanding this portal in the future to include other specific medical conditions, including cardiology, psychiatry, and neurology," Agate said.

About REACH Call, Inc.

REACH Call, Inc. is a full-service Application Services Provider (ASP) offering the most complete, secure and robust Web-based tools powered by integrated audio-visual communication capabilities and decision support algorithms. Founded in March 2006 by Dr. David C. Hess and other leaders at the Medical College of Georgia, REACH Call's telestroke / telemedicine solutions provide for remote evaluation and diagnosis of conditions such as stroke. REACH Call's patent-pending technology is the first 100 percent Web-based telestroke / telemedicine solution and currently the only one available on the market. For more information on REACH Call, visit www.reachcall.com.

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ATLANTA (February 27, 2008) - REACH Call, Inc. has been selected as one of the Top 40 Innovative Technology companies in Georgia by the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), the state's leading technology organization.

The TAG Top 40 companies were chosen based on a number of criteria, including: degree of innovation; scope and financial impact of innovation; likelihood of success; and promotion of Georgia's innovative efforts nationally and internationally. Companies selected to be in the Top 40 participated in a showcase exhibit at the Georgia Technology Summit, attracting some 800 of the state's technology leaders.

"Our congratulations to REACH Call, Inc. for making this year's Top 40 list", said Tino Mantella, president of TAG. "Nearly 150 companies applied this year, the highest in the history of the Top 40 program."

"We are proud to be among the Top 40 innovative technology companies in Georgia and are grateful to TAG and the judges of the Top 40 competition for selecting REACH Call," said Sandeep Agate, president and CEO of REACH Call, Inc.

About TAG

The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support its members by generating opportunities for personal, professional and business growth. By forging strategic alliances, TAG serves as a primary catalyst to foster a rich environment for economic development in Georgia's technology community.

Founded in 1999 through the merger of the Business & Technology Alliance (B&TA), the Southeastern Software Association (SSA) and Women in Technology (WIT), TAG is one of the largest state technology associations in the nation. TAG is made up of 4,000 members representing technology leaders from over 1500 Georgia-based companies, affiliated technology and business organizations. For more information on the Summit visit www.tagonline.org, email info@tagonline.org or call (404) 817-3333.

About REACH

REACH Call, Inc. is a full-service Application Services Provider (ASP) offering the most complete, secure and robust web-based tools powered by integrated audio-visual communication capabilities and decision support algorithms. Founded in March 2006 by Dr. David C. Hess and other leaders at the Medical College of Georgia, REACH Call's telehealth / telestroke solutions provide for remote evaluation and diagnosis of conditions such as stroke. REACH Call's patent-pending technology is the only 100 percent web-based telehealth / telestroke solution currently available on the market. For more information on REACH Call, visit www.reachcall.com

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(Augusta, Ga. - February 18, 2008) REACH Call, Inc., the leading provider of 100 percent Web-based solutions for remote stroke diagnosis and evaluation, has announced that it is offering its turn-key telehealth service to the international healthcare industry. This secure service facilitates faster treatment for stroke patients in rural areas by enabling neurologists to remotely diagnose, evaluate and recommend treatment from anywhere in the world using a Web broswer.

REACH was conceived several years ago when Dr. David C. Hess, Professor and Chairman of Neurology at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG), and other MCG neurologists noticed that rural hospitals in Georgia often were unable to provide stroke care quickly enough to patients who were visiting their ERs because they had no neurologist on staff. These patients were transferred to MCG for treatment, but often too late to receive tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), the only FDA-approved thrombolytic treatment for ischemic strokes that must be delivered within three hours of the onset of symptoms.

"Although ER physicians can administer stoke tests at local hospitals, only a neurologist can diagnose the patient and prescribe tPA," Hess explained. "Time is brain, and time saved is brain saved."

Studies have shown that the sooner a stroke patient is treated after the onset of symptoms, the better his chances of recovery and prevention of long-term disability. But, according to Hess, less than two percent of stroke patients are getting tPA due to poor quality of stroke care in the country's stroke belt, which is largely concentrated in the Southeast U.S.

"Every 45 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a stroke," Hess added, "Stroke is the third leading cause of death, and the leading cause of long-term disability in the country."

REACH has tested its patent-pending service over the last few years with several key healthcare organizations, added Sandeep Agate, REACH President & CEO. Today, REACH has nearly 50 hospitals in six states on contract, and the technology already has saved countless lives.

For instance, 86-year-old Francis "Frank" Wozniak of Fredonia, NY, is alive today because of REACH. Last June, Wozniak fell to the bathroom floor as he was preparing to shave. Immediately, his left arm went numb, his speech became slurred, and he was unable to stand back up. Wozniak's wife immediately called 911, and emergency responders rushed him to Brooks Memorial Hospital in nearby Dunkirk, NY, where the emergency department staff immediately administered a STAT CT scan of his head.

Although Brooks Memorial did not have a neurologist on staff, it did have REACH. The hospital connected with neurologists at Millard Fillmore Gates hospital in Buffalo, who confirmed via remote cameras and access to treatment data that Wozniak had experienced an ischemic stroke.

Within minutes of receiving tPA, Wozniak was able to move first his fingers, then his hand, then his arm. He made a full recovery thanks to the time-saving and life-saving REACH application. "REACH works because it does not require any proprietary hardware; only a standard PC with a web cam and broadband internet connection," Agate said. "The service typically is used in a 'Hub and Spoke' network of hospitals, where the Hub Hospital provides physician-consulting services to Spoke Hospitals for remote evaluation of acute medical conditions such as stroke."

Several Spokes are connected to the Hub and leverage the expertise of physicians at the Hub to provide critical care for patients in their own ERs. These Spokes use a mobile workstation to initiate a consultation request with a physician affiliated with the Hub. The workstation is an assembly of non-proprietary, off-the-shelf components including a laptop, LCD monitor, keyboard, mouse, and a camera. It is battery powered and is equipped with a wireless bridge for maximum mobility within an ER. Spoke Hospital ER staff can use the web browser running on the laptop embedded in the workstation to register a patient and request a consult with a remote physician affiliated with the Hub.

Since REACH is a 100 percent web-based turnkey service, there is no hardware or software installed in the Hub Hospital. The consulting physician can use any laptop or PC, a standard off-the-shelf web cam, and a broadband internet connection to communicate with the Spoke and evaluate the patient. The physician, who can conduct the consultation from anywhere in the world with a broadband Internet connection, has complete control over the two-way audio and video communication and can view all patient data and DICOM images, such as CT Scans, and then use the integrated decision support tools to efficiently and effectively evaluate the patient and recommend treatment.

"We at REACH are excited to offer our service to the broad healthcare market after such successful results with leading U.S. hospitals," Agate said. "We look forward to expanding our application to other acute care modules, such as cardiology, psychiatry, epilepsy, severe head trauma and other medical conditions."

About REACH Call, Inc.

REACH Call, Inc. is a full-service Application Services Provider (ASP) offering the most complete, secure and robust web-based tools powered by integrated audio-visual communication capabilities and decision support algorithms. Founded in March 2006 by Dr. David C. Hess and other leaders at the Medical College of Georgia, REACH Call's telehealth solutions provide for remote evaluation and diagnosis of conditions such as stroke. REACH Call's patent-pending technology is the only 100 percent web-based telehealth solution currently available on the market. For more information on REACH Call, visit www.reachcall.com.

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