Philips to begin pilot study of TV-based solution to help patients manage their health from home

New remote patient management broadband-enabled platform to connect chronic disease patients with their healthcare community

Andover, Massachusetts, USA - Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) today announced that it has launched a pilot study to test a secure, personalized healthcare communication platform that connects chronic disease patients at home to their care providers through their television. Philips will be testing this platform - called Motiva - this fall with the Cardiovascular Associates of the Delaware Valley (CADV), a US-based physicians' group providing complete cardiovascular care to patients. Comcast Corporation will support the pilot study by providing an IP data connection that enables patients participating in the study to communicate with CADV interactively and receive personalized information. The pilot study will test how well patients use a TV-based healthcare platform as well as the extent to which patients and healthcare providers adapt to this new type of interactive healthcare delivered over broadband.

Through advanced, easy-to-use remote patient management technology, such as Motiva, Philips aims to improve the productivity of healthcare providers and empower patients to take a more active role in managing their own health. This in turn can help healthcare organizations deliver more effective care at a lower cost. "In the United States, approximately 78 percent of healthcare spending is on chronic conditions. In fact, cardiovascular disease - the number one killer in the United States - costs over USD 225 billion per year," said Jay Mazelsky, general manager of the new ventures business unit for Philips Medical Systems. "This includes congestive heart failure, the leading cause of hospital admissions for people over 65, which afflicts about 5 million patients. So home-based patient management solutions, which improve quality of life for the chronically ill and are easy to use by both patients and clinicians, can help address these healthcare challenges."

Cardiovascular Associates of the Delaware Valley, in cooperation with Philips and Comcast, is enrolling 60 chronic heart failure patients in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, to have a prototype of Philips' personalized healthcare communication platform installed in their homes. CADV care staff will use a secure, two-way broadband IP data connection and a modem provided by Comcast to share personalized, non-emergency healthcare reminders and educational information with patients in a familiar, intuitive and interactive video-rich manner through the patient television set. Patients do not require a subscription to Comcast high-speed internet service or any other products. Philips will install a set top box and home monitoring devices that patients can use to measure their vital signs, such as weight and blood pressure. Patients will also receive a customized remote control from Philips, specially designed to meet the needs of elderly users. The trial began October 4, 2004.

The goal of the new Motiva communication platform is to provide an engaging, interactive experience for chronic disease patients by:

• Delivering personalized healthcare information, medication schedules and educational video content on demand
• Providing positive reinforcement through daily vital signs and health status feedback, interactive surveys and messaging to encourage a healthy lifestyle, diet and exercise
• Connecting patients to their healthcare providers for 'virtual office visits'
• Offering connectivity to family members to enable them to provide additional support

"We envision this technology as a 'virtual house call' to promote daily contact with patients that have chronic disease and who would benefit from continuous monitoring and care," said Jeffrey H. Kramer, MD, Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, principal investigator for Cardiovascular Associates. "It has the potential to help us optimize clinical care by enhancing physician-patient interactions, improving medication compliance and making patients more active participants in their healthcare management. We believe this approach will enhance the patient's quality of life while simultaneously reducing the cost of urgent clinic visits and emergency hospitalizations."

Commenting on Comcast's role in the pilot study, Mark Coblitz, senior vice president of strategic planning at Comcast explained, "our network investments have yielded a tremendous capability to securely deliver interactive, targeted and user-friendly video, data and voice services. We're participating in this trial to explore how we can use our powerful, two-way broadband platform in new ways to support and deliver an expanding array of services to the public."