The Digital Network and wired.MD Announce Powerful Partnership to Educate Patients

The Digital Network and wired.MD Announce Powerful Partnership to Educate Patients

DALLAS, TX and Portland, OR - The Digital Network (TDN) and wired.MD have joined together to distribute, via datacasting, video-based patient education to physicians' offices and hospitals around the country. Combining TDN's unique datacasting service which broadcasts very large digital files using excess bandwidth available from high definition television (HDTV) signals and wired.MD's extensive library of patient education content, physicians and hospitals can now access near broadcast quality educational materials for their patients with just a few clicks of their computer mouse.

wired.MD's streaMed patient and consumer health video library is the world's single largest and most up to date video library developed by a single company. The video library currently stands at 310 titles, some of which are in 8 languages, including English, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Japanese. wired.MD's video library is developed on evidence-based medicine and every content piece is reviewed by both a physician and nurse review team. The videos, specifically designed for use at the point of care, average around 7 minutes in length. The videos are developed to educate the broadest possible patient population, including those who are illiterate, those who are hard of sight or hearing and for those who speak a native language other than that of English. The wired.MD streaMed video library is utilized by more than 180 hospitals, clinics and public libraries throughout the United States, from both private and public sectors, as well as internationally. The video library is also utilized in some corporate environments to better educate their employees in hopes of leading to greater preventive care opportunities and lower overall healthcare costs.

When asked about the new partnership with TDN, Mark Friess, CEO of wired.MD commented, "The vision of wired.MD is to "educate the masses", so the opportunity to solidify a partnership with The Digital Network, who has such broad reaching delivery capabilities and resources was exciting for us. We believe that the TDN datacasting system will now deliver more effective content in a more efficient and effective manner to critical healthcare organizations across the U.S."

wired.MD was founded in 2000 with the mission of making patient education more efficient and effective for both healthcare organizations and their patients. Today, the video patient education library that is managed, updated and maintained by the wired.MD is the core catalyst to this mission. This is simply one part of the equation though as delivery of the content is the last mile and often the key to appropriately educating a patient at the right place and time. The Digital Network's unique capabilities and delivery system can help better fill this key need in many key untapped markets.

TDN, based in Dallas Texas, was funded by 33 PBS stations to exploit the excess or residual broadcast spectrum available within HDTV spectrum. Its comprehensive service involves distribution of digital robust content to targeted and specified end-users, plus intuitive user-friendly interfaces making access and using the content easy for even the most techno-phobic end-users, as well as digital rights management to ensure copyright protection of content owners' intellectual property. Its intuitive interface is simple to learn and very easy to navigate. Searching and selecting the right content becomes a matter of a few mouse clicks. At the same time, TDN packages with the video content supporting written materials such as brochures, medical articles, drawings or other electronic documentation. Now clinical staff will have the video plus any available supplemental aids within a single digital envelop.

TDN has developed a number of education and training-based applications for use in the healthcare, K-12 education and public safety markets. Bringing together wired.MD's exceptional content plus TDN's distribution service enables these two organizations to support more of the healthcare industry's educational needs. Now, hospitals and physicians' offices can easily bring near broadcast quality material to their patients to help them learn and manage their health conditions effectively.

It is well understood that patients understand and retain more information when presented with video-based material. Hospitals and physicians have used videos for years and more recently have used online material. Streaming videos, however, present bandwidth problems and keeping up with tapes and DVD's is often a challenge. Now with TDN and wired.MD's joint effort, hospital and physician staff can quickly access just the right patient education content for their patients from any PC within the facility.

Bo Bernard, CEO and President, commented, "We are very pleased that in joining with wired.MD we can now serve even more of the educational needs within the medical community. Patients as well as their caregivers can now view educational material relating to their specific health condition in their physician's office or at the hospital. With our easy navigation solution, they can revisit specific content with just a few mouse clicks. Together wired.MD and TDN are now able to assist the healthcare industry deliver high quality patient care."

About The Digital Network, Incorporated

The Digital Network (TDN) was founded in 2003 to build a national network using the residual or opportunistic bandwidth of HDTV spectrum. Using technology originally developed by KERA, North Texas Public Broadcasting, TDN securely delivers robust digital content to targeted receivers using sophisticated error correction software that guarantees the integrity of transmission. Its comprehensive digital rights management system provides end-to-end intellectual property protection to content owners, while it manages and reports on content usage. TDN is located at 3000 Harry Hines Blvd. Dallas, Texas, 75201 and can be contacted at (214) 740-7473, info@thedigitalnetwork.com or www.thedigitalnetwork.com

About wired.MD, Incorporated

wired.MD, Inc. was founded in Portland, Oregon in March 2000. The company's mission is to empower healthcare professionals to improve patients' healthcare experience and reduce costs by making patient education more engaging, effective, and efficient to deliver. wired.MD is located at 317 S.W. Alder Street, Third Floor, Portland, Oregon, 97204, and can be contacted at (503) 889-0010, info@wired.md, or www.wired.md