WASHINGTON (H24N). Employees now have a way to talk in real time with doctors, health plan administrators and other patients online about how best to manage their health care, thanks to the launch of a new Web site called myamericaschoice.com.

America’s Choice Healthplans, an online benefits manager based in King of Prussia, Pa., created the interactive site for employers to help their employees do a better job taking care of such chronic conditions as diabetes, asthma and heart disease. Millions of Americans suffer from these kinds of diseases, which, if not managed properly, can result in work absences and visits to hospital emergency rooms.

On the site America’s Choice Healthplans uses information from employers’ insurance claims to create a databank with information about health plans and providers. Employees can go online to chat live with America’s Choice Healthplans representatives who guide them through the ins and outs of their insurance plans, and help them develop their own personal health care action plans.

To accomplish this, America’s Choice Healthplans has formed alliances with online chronic disease management company, Protocol Driven Health, and with a contact center technologies provider.

"The Internet opens an entirely new model for how health plan administrators can partner with employers to deliver quality health care through immediate and direct online communications, resources and tools," said Clelland Green, president of America’s Choice Healthplans.

Not only does americaschoice.com allow employers and employees to track and monitor their health-care programs over the Internet, employees can maintain online diaries to stay on top of drug protocols and dosing regimens, and to record disease episodes and flare-ups to better understand how to avoid them.

"We believe that the effective management of chronic diseases provides one of the greatest opportunities to control overall health-care costs, freeing resources to provide improved health care for an entire organization," Green said

Employees can also access up-to-date, accurate health care information that pertains to their condition, thanks to an alliance America’s Choice Healthplans has formed with Screaming Media, a distributor of digital content on the Web. Soon the company plans to provide an e-visit feature that will allow employees to chat live with physicians about any of their health concerns.

"The inherent interactivity of the Internet provides us a means of allowing employers to become proactive partners in the management of their employees’ health," said Green.

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