American Medical Alert Corp. CEO Interview: Jack Rhian

• On 4:07 pm EDT, Tuesday September 22, 2009

67 WALL STREET, New York - September 22, 2009 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Medical Devices Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This 41 page feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics covered: Developments in the Industry -- New Devices -- Negative Price Pressure -- Inject Mix -- Hospital Capital Spending Behavior -- Growth -- Rate of Growth Reliability -- Execution of Management -- Clinical Trials -- The Next Big Thing -- Innovation -- Acquisition -- Loss -- Major Turnarounds -- Productive Work Force -- Medication Adherence -- Undervaluation -- Improvement in Earnings -- Price Sensitivity -- Weakening Dollar -- Winning Market Share -- Significant Share Gains -- Profitability -- Regulatory Standard -- Opportunities -- Licensing Opportunities -- Collective Experience -- Drug Approvals -- Growth in Revenue -- Measuring Success -- Profit Margins

Companies include: Medtronic (MDT); Boston Scientific (BSX); Greatbatch (GB); Vascular Solutions (VASC); AngioDynamics (ANGO); St. Jude Medical (STJ); Edwards Lifesciences (EW); Stryker (SYK); Zimmer Holdings (ZMH); Abbott Laboratories (ABT); Johnson and Johnson (JNJ); Baxter International (BAX); Thoratec (THOR); HeartWare (HTWR); Hill-Rom Holdings (HRC); Accuray (ARAY); Smith and Nephew (SN.L); Wright Medical (WMGI); NuVasive (NUVA); TranS1 (TSON); Becton, Dickinson (BDX); C.R. Bard (BCR); Covidien (COV); CareFusion (CFN);Edwards Lifesciences (EW); Zimmer (ZMH); Nanosphere (NSPH)

In the following brief excerpt from the 41 page report, Jack Rhian, CEO of American Medical Alert Corporation, discusses the outlook for the sector and for investors.

TWST: Would you give me a brief history of the company and what your focus is on now?

Mr. Rhian: Sure. AMAC, the company, has been in the business of providing remote patient monitoring devices and service starting with the PERS, the Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS). Those are the units where a person carries a pendant and in the event that they have a medical emergency or a similar kind of emergent condition, they can press that pendant and it activates a console device that calls to a call center and allows for the person who is in trouble to be speaking to an operator who is, A, trained in emergency procedures, B, has all the information necessary to contact family members, neighbors, emergency personnel, etc., as required. Our company aim has been in the business of providing this type of service for close to thirty years. We are a leader in this particular space. And subsequently, the company has expanded its Remote Patient Monitoring capability to include a medication dispensing and management system called MedSmart. Med Smart, the system, allows an individual person to have their medications kept in an orderly fashion with audible alerts and reminders to take their medications when they are prescribed, and how often they are prescribed, and also allows for that information to be transmitted to a server and then put up on a Web site so that we can help to, first, catalog if the person is taking their medication on time and also, most importantly, issue alerts to family members and caregivers in the event that a person is not taking their medication as prescribed and when they are supposed to.

TWST: When did MedSmart come into inception?

Mr. Rhian: MedSmart is actually a relatively new product in service for us. We launched it only a couple of months ago, and it will be this year, the rest of this year for us to work on getting adoption and getting recognition for this product. But there are several hundred clients who are using the MedSmart system now and the feedback is very positive. Customers, they are saying that it's a really a life-changing kind of service because it's allowed them to get their medication regimen in line and be able to comply with it with the assistance of this organizing and reporting device. And we really think that this is going to be very helpful because we all recognize that there is a very serious problem with people who have chronic conditions who are not just able, for whatever reason, to comply with their medication regimen. One of the statistics that is often cited is that for persons over 65 years old, the number of - the percentage of admissions to hospitals because of underuse, overuse or misuse of their medication is significant, a very significant problem. Twenty-five percent of all of these admissions to hospitals around the country relate to this problem of adherence.

TWST: What is the device like?

Mr. Rhian: To provide you with a visual, it's roughly the size of a lunch plate, with 29 compartments that can be filled with medications in accordance to an individual's drug regimen. MedSmart is lightweight and portable, so a user can take it with them when traveling. It runs on AC power through the docking station but also has 4 AA batteries to allow for ease of transport and continuous power during an outage. When it's time to take a dose, the system alerts the user using both visual - light - and audible tones. The user simply tips the device revealing the correct dosage into the hand for ingestion. Of grater importance is that the docking station also allows the device to transmit activities. For example, if a user does not respond to the audio/visual cues within an hour, the device will transmit an alert to an assigned caregiver. This notification allows for immediate intervention and the opportunity to correct the behavior. The device is a circular kind of device that is able to be lifted up and flipped over. It's got the ability to be charged internally within the actual carousel device, and it sits on a charging docking station. It's also the station in which the download of information is processed through.

TWST: There have been a lot of demographic changes among the aging population, and many differentiate between Baby Boomers and their parents. Is MedSmart designed to be easily used by people who are in their 70s or 80s, who might not have the technological savvy that their children have?

Mr. Rhian: The requirements for a person to use this are relatively simple; it's light enough to be picked up and to be turned over, and have the pills dispensed. It is designed with what they call good use for coarse motor skills. Even people who have some degree of difficulty, be it with arthritis or other conditions, they should be able to use this. The programming of the device could be done either by the user or a family member, and the nice thing is that if there is no family member around and the user cannot program it, we at AMAC can remotely program the device. In terms of its ease of use overall, the feedback on its ease of use has been very, very favorable and the reliability of the product is proving to be very reliable.

The Wall Street Transcript is a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs and research analysts. This 41 page special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online .

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