VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 14, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Premier Health Group (CSE: PHGI, OTCQB: PHGRF, Frankfurt: 6PH) (the “Company” or “Premier Health”), a Company focused on developing innovative approaches that combine human skill-based expertise with emerging technologies for the healthcare industry, is pleased to provide a corporate update.

Key Highlights:

  • Strategic Acquisitions: Cloud Practice, Pharmacies – with the conclusion of these transactions Premier Health will have a run rate exceeding CAD $10 million
  • Strategic Partnership: 360 Health
  • Expansion Plans: Medical Cannabis
  • Technology Development: Telemedicine App under development

Strategic Acquisitions

Premier Health has successfully acquired Cloud Practice Inc., a healthcare technology company that provides cloud-based electronic medical records software applications for physicians throughout Canada. Cloud Practice’s suite of products include: Juno EMR, a cloud based EMR solution; ClinicAid, a medical billing software; and MyHealthAccess, an online patient portal. With this acquisition, Premier now has a collective ecosystem of over 3,000,000 active patients and 287 primary care clinics. Additionally, Cloud Practice has seen revenue growth in excess of 30% year over year for the past 3 years. Not only does this acquisition expand the Company’s footprint across Canada, it also provides an opportunity to plug in its services to Cloud Practice’s current client base.

Premier Health is also in the process of closing on two operating pharmacies in Metro Vancouver, with a combined revenue of approximately $6 million (FY 2018). Pharmacy is a critical component in providing patients with best in class primary care that is accessible and efficient in its delivery. The Pharmacist plays an important role within the patient’s healthcare team and through our platform they will be able to securely communicate with other practitioners in the circle of care. Premier Health has engaged with patients, pharmacies and technology providers to not only introduce pharmacy services as a component of the comprehensive app, but also to explore and implement efficiencies in fill and fulfillment.

Strategic Partnerships

To facilitate Premier Health’s growth overseas, the Company recently announced a partnership with a major online healthcare company in China, 360 Health. The parent company, 360 Security Technology, is a leading online service company in China with a market capitalization of over $20 billion USD as of February 14, 2019. China represents the largest market for Telemedicine and has begun adopting a family primary care practice model. This provides an opportunity for our team of health care providers to play an essential role in providing general practitioner training virtually and on site through medical seminars. This partnership will also enable the Company’s healthcare team to connect with patients virtually in China to provide second opinion services.

Expansion Plans

Further to their expansion plans, Premier Health will enter the Cannabis clinic space. The role of Cannabis in treating medical conditions is continuously expanding to help patients with acute & chronic symptoms. Currently, there is a critical gap between the patient's need for medical cannabis, and the physician’s comfort and knowledge to prescribe it. We are looking to fill that gap through partnering with subject matter experts to help educate our patients and healthcare workers. In addition, Premier Health is currently working on a partnership model to hard code a decision-making process into Juno EMR. Through the use of a software tool, the doctor will just need to identify patients with conditions that could warrant medical cannabis consideration and the integrated technology will analyze the patient’s data and output a comprehensive recommendation on medical cannabis qualification, dosing and prescriptions.

The Company is actively engaging in business development within the global healthcare market to find additional growth catalysts, with a focus on patient acquisition and cashflow positive verticals.

Technology Development

Premier Health’s management team is working closely with the development team at Cloud Practice to build an integrated patient portal that will include a telemedicine component – a beta version of the app will be available by end of Q2. According to a recent study by Mass General, with a telehealth visit, 95% of the time spent by the patient is face-to-face with the doctor, compared to less than 20% of a traditional visit, in which most time is spent traveling and waiting. With the app, Premier Health is aiming to remove the accessibility bottlenecks that exist within healthcare systems. The patient will have the ability to see their physician, access their charts & lab results, chat securely with clinical staff, reorder prescriptions and share remote health monitoring data with their doctor – all at their fingertips. In addition, Premier Health plans to deploy AI to assist in triaging patients. Using the app, the patient will answer a series of questions which will be relayed to the physician, along with a differential on possible diagnoses. This information will be prepopulated to the physicians charting system and will provide key patient information prior to the scheduled virtual visit, saving them a considerable amount of time and allowing more time for patient interaction. Eventually, the app will give the patient instant access to a team of healthcare practitioners with specializations including, but not limited to, Family Medicine, Mental Health Counselling, and Diet & Nutrition.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

“Dr. Essam Hamza, MD"
Chief Executive Officer

About Premier Health

Premier Health is a Canadian company that is strategically poised to take advantage of business opportunities in the global health care industry. We are developing innovative health care approaches that combine human skill-based expertise with emerging technologies, with the goal of setting the gold standard for services in locations of interest worldwide. Premier Health’s subsidiary, HealthVue is focused on developing proprietary technology to deliver quality healthcare through the combination of connected primary care clinics with telemedicine and artificial intelligence (AI). We currently have an ecosystem of over 100,000 active patients and have plans to rapidly increase that number both domestically and internationally. The Premier Health team has a strong track record of successfully creating value in healthcare and technology enterprises. The Management team has deep clinical, financial and operational expertise and a passion for improving healthcare for all patients.

The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT:

Premier Health Group Inc.
www.mypremierhealth.com
Email: investors@mypremierhealth.com