BOSTON – Health-care management software and services vendor I-trax has signed an exclusive deal with life science research company BioSignia under which I-trax will integrate BioSignia’s predictive science and patented prospective medical mapping tools into its software for self-insured employers and commercial health insurance companies.“This (deal) completes our ability to launch a new generation of care,” said John Palumbo, vice chairman and president of I-trax, which is based in Philadelphia. That next generation of care is personalized health-care management, and integrating BioSignia’s tools into I-trax software will allow I-trax customers to identify patients who could be at risk for developing diseases or for complications from existing diseases, he said.BioSignia tools will be used in I-trax’s Health-e-Life Program, which provides end-to-end health management, and in Health-e-Community, which offers enrollment, marketing and fulfillment services to health-care providers. BioSignia predictive technologies and statistical tools help predict the risk of disease onset, costs of treatment and how particular medicines or treatments might work, as well as the likelihood that the disease could kill the patient. The tools are meant to help those in health care make decisions about treatments, but they also assist in the areas of health economics and in actuarial and underwriting decisions. The deal will allow I-trax to provide more comprehensive personalized health management with the costs of care considered and a focus on intervention, he said.Based on clinical data gathered about patients, including genetic markers, the combination of I-trax software and services and BioSignia’s predictive mapping tools will help clinicians and others involved in health care forecast, for example, the likelihood that a patient will develop complications from diabetes 18 to 36 months later. “If you did nothing with them, they would accelerate into a catastrophic case in that time period,” Palumbo said.Such predictive modeling also can indicate that a patient with risk factors might years later come down with a chronic condition. Besides diabetes, I-trax disease management software and services currently cover congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, asthma, lower back pain and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — all chronic conditions with identifiable risk factors. When it is determined that a patient is at risk, that person can then be put on a lifestyle management program that might involve weight management, exercise or smoking cessation. BioSignia, which is based in Durham, North Carolina, is an attractive partner because its tools bring together both the insurance claims side of the coin and the clinical model needed for predictive modeling and intervention, Palumbo said. Software Development