We have been hinting for a while something special is coming and it is: Here is a link to a press release that went out to today from Backpack health. Co-executive Directors TJ and Clasina have been working on this for almost a year:
https://backpackhealth.com/press-releases/bens-friends-partnership
Backpack Health to Provide Specialized Support for Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis and Lyme
Partnership with “Ben’s Friends” Patient Support Network Furthers Goal of Empowering Patient Communities to Manage and Take Control of Their Health
Dover, MA – December 19, 2019 – Backpack Health, a secure mobile and web-based health data management platform, today announced it is partnering with Ben’s Friends, a network of rare disease-focused social and emotional peer support groups, to launch support groups for community members, beginning with Psoriatic Arthritis and another for Lyme Disease. The new groups, available on the Backpack Health platform, will provide patients with a centralized location that includes health management tools and opportunities to partake in trials and avail themselves of early access medications and treatments.
“Ben’s Friends and Backpack Health share the core value of enabling individuals to be informed and educated patients,” said Jim Cavan, President and CEO of Backpack Health. “With easy access to personal health data and information via Backpack Health’s platform, we have helped users in over 100 countries around the globe access better care. Psoriatic Arthritis and Lyme Disease can be challenging to manage, and we are proud to tailor our digital tools to support both individuals and caregivers in their journeys with these conditions and look forward to working closely with Ben’s Friends to create additional support groups for its community members.”
Psoriatic Arthritis is a chronic disease related to the immune system that affects two percent of the U.S. population, and more than 30,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme Disease each year. Integrating Ben’s Friends’ resources with Backpack Health’s data management platform streamlines the process for members of these groups to access information relevant to their health needs and securely store, track and manage their comprehensive health record.
“At Ben’s Friends, we promote education and awareness, and encourage members to take control of their health information,” said Ben Munoz, President and Co-Founder of Ben’s Friends. “Backpack Health’s platform is the ideal tool to offer our members, assisting them in managing their health records and personal accounts while providing access to critical care information. Together with Backpack Health, we are proud to offer our members continuous access of personal health data and peer-to-peer emotional and social support to ease their health journeys.”
Just like a real backpack, Backpack Health is a free, portable, multilingual app that allows users to securely carry around what matters most – comprehensive medical information for themselves and their loved ones. As a cloud-based platform, Backpack Health users can access their medical record at any time and easily share it with care teams using the platform’s Share Card feature.
About Backpack Health
Backpack Health, LLC builds secure, innovative information tools to help people manage their health journey – including wellness, illnesses, injuries, and chronic health conditions, reaching users in 100 countries around the world. The Backpack Health mission is to make it easy for everyone to access, own and control their health information to support better health care and attain better health for themselves, their loved ones and their communities. Backpack Health provides a platform for organizations to engage patients, collect up-to-date data and build communities around the globe. To assure data protection for its users’ information, Backpack Health complies with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), adheres to its data protection principles, participates in the EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Frameworks and does not share any user data with third parties, including social media companies. Learn more at www.backpackhealth.com.
About Ben’s Friends
The mission of Ben’s Friends is to ensure that patients living with rare diseases or chronic illnesses, as well as their caregivers, family, and friends, have a safe and supportive place to connect with others like them. Ben’s Friends is a network of safe and supportive patient communities for anyone affected by a rare disease or chronic condition. Recognized as a 501©(3) non-profit, Ben’s Friends is a grassroots organization run by patients for patients. It is not a top-down, “expert advice” experience but a community offering peer to peer support. The value of this approach is evidenced by our team of volunteer moderators, who are either patients themselves or relatives of patients, who believe in the mission and are willing to invest their time and share the knowledge and insights they have gained with members arriving daily in need of help. Ben’s Friends considers the patient perspective in everything we do. Learn more at www.bensfriends.org.
Details on how to take advantage of this service are coming soon!!! We will have a special category for all things backpack. I just uploaded my records to a new providor and saved HOURS if not days Stay tuned for more! We will be up and running shortly after the first of the year.