Small Town Doctor Takes on Giants in Consumer ...( DELRAY BEACH Fla. Sept. 25 /- Can...),Health

DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Sept. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Can a small-town doctor with a big idea compete against the likes of Google, Wal-Mart, and Cigna in the exploding personal health records (PHR) arena? Steven M. Hacker M.D. has been doing just that. His inspiration: Bo Burlingham's book Small Giants where companies choose to be great instead of big.

In 2004, the South Florida dermatologist and entrepreneur created PassportMD. The free, Web-based service is growing because it gives healthcare consumers tools to store, retrieve and request their critical medical information. Users can print PHR cards to carry in their wallets, and in the event of an emergency, first-responders or emergency room personnel can view the PHR on a card or on their password-protected Website.

"The sad truth is, few people are near their primary-care doctor when there's a medical emergency, and if they're incapacitated, or simply can't remember, how are they going to tell medical professionals about their health history?" said Dr. Hacker, founder and CEO of PassportMD.com.

"Major corporations have seen this need and the potential profits behind it. But this shouldn't be about profits. It should be about patient care," says Dr. Hacker.

Recently, AOL founder Steve Case launched Revolution Health with several hundred million dollars of financial muscle behind him. And, Wal-Mart, Intel, and General Motors have begun providing their employees online access to their medical records as part of a coalition database called Dossia. "Big isn't always better," contends Dr. Hacker. The initial attempt to roll out Dossia was fraught with lawsuits, accusations and missed milestones.

Competition from corporate giants has not deterred Dr. Hacker. Focused singularly on quality and innovation, PassportMD offers consumers tools that store and print living wills, or for a small fee, use PassportMD's Doctors Notes On Demand(TM) flagship service to automatically request, receive and
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