AdvancePCS Standardizes on Web Collaboration Platform From Centra to Improve Patient Care in 75 Million-Member Network

Business Wire, March 6, 2002

Business/Technology Editors

LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 6, 2002

Nation's Largest Independent Provider of Health Improvement Services

to Empower Doctors and Patients on Best Drug Treatment Options

Through Faster Delivery of Information to Consulting Pharmacists

Centra (NASDAQ: CTRA), the leading provider of business software solutions for eLearning and real-time collaboration, today announced that AdvancePCS (NASDAQ: ADVP), the nation's largest independent provider of health improvement services, has standardized on Centra's eLearning and real-time collaboration platform to support its Clinical Consultant Program with real-time, Web-based training and communication. Using Centra, AdvancePCS can accelerate the nationwide delivery of clinical information and skills training to company- employed pharmacists, who are responsible for ensuring that member physicians have accurate, up-to-date information on the latest prescription drugs available for their patients.

"The goal of the program is to provide doctors with a trusted clinical resource, empower them with the timely information they need to serve their communities, and give patients more options for drugs to treat their specific needs, at the appropriate cost," said Frank Melone, Director of Sales Training for AdvancePCS. "It is of paramount importance that our pharmacists quickly get the information and training they need to serve their clients most effectively. This is why we turned to real-time eLearning and collaboration from Centra, now a pivotal part of our training strategy."

With Centra, AdvancePCS will be able to move a large portion of its training and work-related activities to the online environment, including weekly and regional meetings. Instead of taking consultants out of the field, often for days at time, AdvancePCS will now deliver that training straight to their desktop PCs using Centra's advanced capabilities for real-time interaction and a Web browser.

"Centra enables us to deliver skills and knowledge faster and more conveniently," added Melone. "The high level of interactivity allows us to fully engage people and get immediate feedback -- a powerful way to ensure that consistent, high-quality information is delivered to the field as it becomes available."

Scaleable Software Solution for eLearning and Business Collaboration

Used by more than 775 companies, government agencies, and universities worldwide, Centra's scaleable software solutions are based on CentraOne(TM), a comprehensive, thin-client Web collaboration platform. Leveraging the core capabilities of CentraOne, Centra offers a suite of compatible, real-time Web collaboration products, content creation tools, and knowledge delivery systems that can be quickly installed on-site using Centra's rapid deployment methodology, or conveniently accessed through Centra's secure, full-service ASP. Centra's products -- including interactive Web meetings, virtual classrooms, and large-scale conferences -- ensure universal access to users through firewalls and proxy servers, and deliver full- performance IP audio conferencing, streaming video, application sharing, and dynamic multimedia over low-bandwidth network connections.

"With a 75-million-member network, the knowledge and skills of consulting pharmacists in the AdvancePCS program impacts a lot of people nationwide," said Chris Reed, Centra's Vice President of Corporate Strategy. "By moving its clinical consultant training and knowledge transfer to the online environment through Centra, AdvancePCS is making perhaps the most striking case for how real-time eLearning and collaboration technology is not only driving business today, but can directly influence a patient's quality of life."

About AdvancePCS

AdvancePCS is the nation's largest independent provider of health improvement services, touching the lives of more than 75 million health plan members and managing more than $21 billion in annual prescription drug spending. AdvancePCS offers health plans a wide range of health improvement products and services designed to improve the quality of care delivered to health plan members and manage costs. The company's capabilities include integrated mail service and retail pharmacy networks, innovative clinical services, customized disease management programs, specialty pharmacy, clinical trials and outcomes research, information management, prescription drug services for the uninsured, and online health information for consumers. AdvancePCS clients include Blue Cross and Blue Shield organizations, insurance companies and HMOs, Fortune 500 employers, Taft-Hartley groups, state and local governments, and other health plan sponsors. AdvancePCS is ranked by Fortune magazine as one of America's 100 fastest-growing public companies and is included on the Forbes Platinum 400 list of best big companies. For more information, visit www.advancepcs.com.

About Centra

Leading with an undisputed track record of helping millions of users to increase revenue and improve overall business performance, Centra provides Web collaboration solutions that enable the delivery of information in a variety of live and self-service formats, and add value through unmatched capabilities to capture interactions and content, personalize and manage this information, and instantly re-use it across the enterprise. Today hundreds of global organizations across every industry and market sector choose Centra, including ExxonMobil, Cadbury Schweppes, Citigroup, AT&T, Procter & Gamble, McKesson, Merck, Nationwide Insurance, Sysco, and Stanford University. Centra's products are bolstered by a vital ecosystem of strategic partners, including PwC Consulting, Deloitte Consulting, EDS, KPMG iLS, Microsoft, Siebel, Cisco, and Oracle. Headquartered in Boston's technology corridor, Centra has sales offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.centra.com.