American College of Physicians Selects Skyscape to Bring Integrated PIER Reference to PDA

Business Wire,  April 20, 2004  

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Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

HUDSON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 20, 2004

Mobile Medical Reference Leader Top Choice For Associations

Delivering Trusted Content to Members' PDAs

Skyscape(R), Inc. (www.skyscape.com), the leading provider of enterprise-wide mobile medical and nursing solutions, today announced that the American College of Physicians (ACP) has selected Skyscape to provide the first fully-integrated version of its Physicians' Information and Education Resource (PIER) for handheld computers. The product will be demonstrated and available for purchase at the Skyscape Booth (#1354) at ACP's Annual Session in New Orleans, April 22-24, 2004.

The American College of Physicians is the nation's largest medical specialty organization and second-largest physician group. Its membership comprises more than 115,000 internal medicine physicians, related subspecialists and medical students.

"More of our members are using PDAs as part of their daily practice, and this product will provide them with a reference that will cross-index seamlessly with their other Skyscape PDA references to fully realize the usefulness of PIER's evidence-based approach," said ACP Executive Vice President and CEO John Tooker, MD, MBA, FACP. "Skyscape brought the technology, expertise and proven track record needed to meet our needs and the needs of our physician members. By providing immediate, cross-indexing capability with more than 180 other medical references, Skyscape has helped us bring even more functionality to PIER."

Developed and continually updated by the ACP, PIER is a decision-support tool designed for rapid point-of-care delivery of evidence-based guidance for clinicians. PIER's disease-based modules present a series of guidance statements and practice recommendations, supported by more detailed levels of rationale and evidence.

Skyscape--The trusted partner for industry associations

Over the past year, an increasing number of professional and industry associations have relied on Skyscape to bring their references to the handheld computer. By using Skyscape and its patented smARTlink(TM) technology, associations immediately tie their references into the products that their members are already using on their PDAs. No other company offers associations this dynamic solution.

"For decades the ACP has helped advance medical knowledge and practice. Now, by making evidenced-based information accessible to doctors on their PDAs and using smARTlink technology to integrate it with other references, the ACP is helping set a new standard in the use of evidenced-based medicine in daily practice," said RJ Mathew, vice president of marketing and business development for Skyscape. "Skyscape's unparalleled experience in bringing medical references to the PDA makes it the logical choice for the nation's largest medical associations and we look forward to bringing even more information from the ACP to the PDA in the future."

Many prominent associations are choosing Skyscape to power their offerings or add their content to Skyscape's ARTbeat(TM) platform, which delivers continuous medical information from the CDC, drug alerts from the FDA and other valuable content, all in context to the user's PDA. The associations include:

-- American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF)--The ACCF

selected Skyscape to bring 14 clinical practice guidelines and

its clinical trials database to the handheld computer.

-- American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)--The Academy selected

Skyscape to bring the 26th Edition of the Red Book(R), the

authoritative guide to pediatric infections diseases, to its

57,000 members.

-- American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC)-- The AJCC Cancer

Staging Handbook is considered the essential reference for

oncologists, pathologists, surgeons, cancer registrars and

other medical professionals to ensure that all those caring

for cancer patients will be trained in the language of cancer

staging.

-- American Psychiatric Association--The APA selected Skyscape to

bring its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

Disorders, 4th Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) to the PDA.

"What really makes my Skyscape references helpful is the way they take me directly to a diagnosis or condition, to the drugs being used and their interactions, so I can quickly make sure that my recommendations for the patient's care will fit the situation. It's a great tool to have in my pocket," said Alan Gruber, DSW, PhD, MD, NeuroBehavioral Associates, Chair and Professor, PsyD-MD Program, Medical University of the Americas.

About Skyscape

Skyscape is the leading provider of interactive, intelligent mobile solutions for healthcare enterprises and individual practitioners. Unlike other products on the market, Skyscape provides full, seamless integration for more than 180 of the most respected medical references, from 30 publishers, for 35 medical specialties, via its patented smARTlink technology. Skyscape's mobile platform enables the enterprise-wide deployment of the industry's most extensive portfolio of handheld medical and nursing reference information to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare decision making at the point-of-care. Skyscape utilizes its patented ART (Advanced Reference and Transaction) infrastructure technology to create compelling high-value solutions for handheld devices that reflect and support the intuitive thought processes of the medical practitioner. Skyscape has the largest installed base of paying customers in the industry, including individual and communities of medical practitioners at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Stanford Medical School, Partners Health System, Duke University, Mayo Clinic, SUNY and Kaiser Permanente. Skyscape's solutions are available on multiple platforms, including Palm OS(R), Windows(R) CE and Pocket PC. For more information about Skyscape, please visit our Website at www.skyscape.com.