(WASHINGTON, July 6, 2005) The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is pleased to announce its participation in patientINFORM, a new online service that provides healthcare consumers with the latest research on the diagnosis and treatment of certain diseases.

patientINFORM is a partnership between three leading voluntary health organizations and a group of scholarly and medical publishers that assists patients in understanding research findings published in several peer-reviewed biomedical journals. Under the patientINFORM model, patients or their family members can visit the Web sites of the American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org), American Diabetes Association (www.diabetes.org), or American Heart Association (www.americanheart.org) to learn more about important advances in treating specific diseases. These trusted patient organizations will provide consumers with links to the full text of selected journal articles as well as interpretation of the research that patients can apply to their own healthcare needs.

Through patientINFORM, ASH is making the full text of articles in Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology, available to the participating voluntary health organizations as soon as each issue is published. Consumers will be provided with direct access to Blood articles on diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma in a manner that helps them more fully understand the implications of the research.

During its initial pilot phase, patientINFORM will focus on cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. In the future, patientINFORM will extend its services to cover a wider range of medical conditions. Visit www.patientINFORM.org for more information.

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Contact: Aislinn Raedy
araedy@hematology.org
202-776-0544 x1105
American Society of Hematology
6-Jul-2005