Healthwise Founder and CEO Don Kemper Inducted Into the Idaho Technology Council Hall of Fame for 40 Years of Innovation

BOISE, ID--(Marketwired - Oct 16, 2014) - When you approach the headquarters of Healthwise, you are greeted by a large, metal wind sculpture. The sculpture is a symbol of 40 years of innovation at the Boise, Idaho, health care nonprofit. Last night, at an event sponsored by the Idaho Technology Council, Healthwise Founder and CEO Donald W. Kemper was inducted into the Council's Innovation Hall of Fame for his work in bringing innovative ideas and technology to health care.

"The base of the sculpture is set in concrete, the pole is metal -- it doesn't move. It represents our mission, our values and our culture," said Kemper. "But even in the slightest breeze, the sculpture is turning. And that's really how we have tried to be. We've had the benefit of a single mission for all of our years. It gives us the ability to look at the environment to catch every new breeze to try to figure out how we can turn ourselves to better help people make better health decisions."

Kemper founded Healthwise in 1975 and in 1976 published the first Healthwise Handbook designed to help people address common health problems and avoid unnecessary health costs. Through the years, Healthwise has built on the legacy of the Handbook to develop unrivaled technologies, solutions, and services in support of their mission. The nonprofit helps the nation's top hospitals, health insurers, and health portals meet the triple-aim goals of better quality care, better health, and lower costs.

"How do we do that? We try to encourage innovation from every position," said Kemper. "We've worked hard to give employees freedom to think creatively and access to advanced engineering tools. Many of the strides we've made to improve health care have started with a single employee asking a critical question at the right time."

The next big push for Healthwise comes as the nation addresses changes from health care payment reform. Those changes give us the opportunity to look at all the things that impact a person's health, and synthesize them into what Kemper calls "My Care Plan." It will be a personalized plan that takes into account everything that impacts a person's health and gives him or her solid steps for improving it.

Kemper summed up, "When I think of what's ahead, the quote from the early computer scientist Alan Kay says it well: 'The best way to predict the future is to invent it.'"

About Healthwise
 Healthwise is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help people make better health decisions. People have turned to Healthwise information more than a billion times to learn how to do more for themselves, ask for the care they need, and say "no" to the care they don't need. Healthwise partners with hospitals, electronic medical record (EMR) providers, health plans, disease management companies, and health websites to provide up-to-date, evidence-based information to the people they serve. www.healthwise.org, 1.800.706.9646.

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