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WESTMINSTER, Colo., July 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Reed Group, Ltd., and the American College of Occupation and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) are pleased to announce the immediate availability of UMK Professional, a comprehensive online resource for practicing physicians and specialists working in utilization review and workers' compensation arenas. For the first time, UMK Professional combines the intuitive, web-based tool -- Utilization Management Knowledgebase (UMK), available exclusively from Reed Group -- with the complete online version of ACOEM's renowned Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines: Evaluation and Management of Common Health Problems and Functional Recovery in Workers, 2nd Edition.

UMK Professional exposes the specific condition pathways housed within UMK together with related pages from the Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines, 2nd Edition. A single subscription to UMK Professional provides users with access to new features and functionality that enable content copy and paste for inclusion in case files, topic interconnectivity, and advanced UMK comments feature.

UMK Professional offers users the most complete and efficient online utilization management and workers' compensation resource available. In 2004, Rand Corporation conducted an overall review of Utilization Management Guidelines enhancing the Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines and presented its research findings. "Panelists found the McKesson and ODG guideline sets, both marketed for UM purposes, to be of uncertain validity overall, and they commented that these guidelines were overly proscriptive, meaning that they limited clinical options to a degree that made the panelists uncomfortable. The ACOEM and AAOS guideline sets were judged valid in the overall evaluation, and the ACOEM was seen as preferable to the currently available alternatives."

While the UMK assists in evaluating, tracking and reporting the medical necessity and/or appropriateness of medical treatment, the Practice Guidelines provide key information, step-by-step guidelines and practical aids to help busy practitioners manage growing caseloads. UMK Professional brings these resources together, providing a single, comprehensive resource with customizable views for nurse case managers to quickly access concise information, and for physicians to view in-depth coverage of treatment pathways and conditions.

"Integrating the ACOEM Practice Guidelines into the leading Utilization Management Knowledgebase provides physicians and utilization management staff with a complete treatment guideline solution," said Presley Reed, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Reed Group, Ltd. "UMK Professional offers accurate guidance with the efficiency of online delivery. We are grateful to deliver a technologically advanced solution for the American College of Occupational Health and Environmental Medicine's excellent resources."

UMK Professional also contains new periodic Practice Guidelines content -- including the new revision to the chapter on Elbow Complaints -- not available online in any other application and will keep users current on industry changes with frequent chapter updates directly from ACOEM and the APG Insights newsletter as they are published.

"The addition of the ACOEM Practice Guidelines into UMK Professional will make it easier for physicians and health care professionals, and other third parties to communicate, track, and evaluate a very wide range of diagnostic processes, patient evaluations, and treatments options," said Barry S, Eisenberg, ACOEM's Executive Director. "This will result in administrative efficiencies, cost savings, and most importantly, better care for injured workers."

UMK is also available as a standalone reference tool called UMK Basic. UMK Basic provides online access to the Utilization Management Knowledgebase application and references the ACOEM's Practice Guidelines, but does not link directly to this content. With UMK Basic, users must reference a print copy of the Practice Guidelines.

To learn more about UMK Professional, or to place an order, call Reed Group at 866.889.4449 or visit us online at http://www.rgl.net/UMKOverview.aspx. A free 30-day trial is also available.

About Reed Group, Ltd.

Dr. Presley Reed founded Reed Group in 1981 to address workplace productivity and employee absenteeism in the corporate environment. Reed Group maintains four key lines of business: Guidelines, Service, Data Analytics, and Software. Reed Group publishes the industry-standard disability duration guidelines, The Medical Disability Advisor (textbook, Windows software, Internet and data integration versions), now in its Fifth Edition. Additionally, Reed Group provides integrated disability case management service for non-occupational and occupational leaves, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and other leave of absence administrative services to employers. For more information, visit http://www.reedgroup.com/.

About the American College of Occupation
and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM)

Founded in 1916, ACOEM is an international medical society of more than 5,000 occupational and environmental physicians and other allied health professionals that provide leadership to promote optimal health and safety of workers, workplaces, and environments. The College is headquartered in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. For more information, visit http://www.acoem.org/.

The Utilization Management Knowledgebase (UMK) is a trademark of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, copyright 2007.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Reed Group, Ltd.

CONTACT: Matt McLaughlin, Marketing Manager of Reed Group, Ltd.,
+1-303-407-0663, mmclaughlin@reedgroup.com

Web site:

http://www.reedgroup.com/
http://www.acoem.org/

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Profile: Media News