Mercator Selected by First Choice Health Network for HIPAA Compliance

Business Wire, Nov 20, 2001

Business/Technology Editors

WILTON, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 20, 2001

Leading Pacific Northwest Healthcare Organization to Rapidly Implement Federally Mandated Requirements, Reduce Administrative Costs

Mercator(R) Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: MCTR), has been chosen by First Choice Health Network to provide the technology, training, and professional services to enable First Choice to comply with the federally mandated Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA. All healthcare organizations must comply with federal HIPAA mandates by October 2002.

Mercator will improve First Choice's process of administering patient claims while assuring the privacy and security of consumer health information. Mercator technology will also allow First Choice to rapidly implement the required HIPAA transactions and to seamlessly connect those transactions to First Choice's internal claims processing system, reducing the healthcare organization's overall administrative costs and helping them deliver more accurate, better detailed information to their network of providers.

"Mercator will help First Choice Health Network comply with the HIPAA X12 transaction set requirements on schedule," said Kevin McCroskey, vice president, Information Systems, First Choice Health Network. "Mercator provides the flexibility we need to reach our objectives and to handle a broad range of data streams with our trading partners."

Robert J. Farrell, president, Mercator Americas, said, "Mercator is the industry leader in delivering integration solutions to healthcare services providers seeking to comply with HIPAA. Our expertise allows us to work quickly with leading healthcare organizations such as First Choice and get them ahead of the game, so that they are positioned to better service their members well before the HIPAA deadline."

About Mercator

Mercator Software's intelligent business integration solutions unify any internal operations and connect them with partners and customers while leveraging current technology investments. Over 7,000 businesses, including over 1,100 enterprise customers in financial services, healthcare, utilities, manufacturing, retail, and distribution, use Mercator software to maximize their performance. Additional information about Mercator (Nasdaq: MCTR) may be found at www.mercator.com.

About First Choice Health Network

First Choice Health is a Washington state company owned by hospitals and physicians throughout Washington. It provides two main services: First Choice Health Network Services and First Choice Health Plan Services. First Choice Health Network contracts with hospitals, physicians and other caregivers in Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. It then offers this First Choice Network to 160 insurance companies, large employers, unions and other sponsors of health benefit plans. The health plan sponsor designates the First Choice Health Network as its Preferred Provider. First Choice contracts with more than 15,000 physicians and other caregivers, and more than 100 hospitals in this four-state region serving 1.2 million people.

Mercator is a registered trademark of Mercator Software, Inc.

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Mercator Software's beliefs, expectations, hopes or intentions regarding the future. Forward-looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the growth of the enterprise application market, the demand for the company's application integration solutions and the speed of deployment of new products, including combined Mercator e-business integration broker products. It is important to note that actual outcomes and the company's actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include risks and uncertainties such as changes in demand for application integration or e-business integration software and the company's Mercator e-business integration broker suite of products in particular, the ability of the company to expand its international operations, the ability of the company to manage expanded global operations, the ability of the company to continue to add resellers and other distribution channels, and the success of third parties in utilizing and marketing the company's products, the Company's ability to raise financing, or seasonality in operating results. Readers should also refer to the risk disclosures outlined in the company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements and reasons why results might differ included in this release are made as of the date hereof, based on information available to the company as of the date hereof, and the company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement or reasons why results might differ.