Initiate Systems Expands Presence in Healthcare Market with New Customers in U.S., Canada and U.K.; Healthcare Providers Select Initiate to Improve Accuracy of Patient Data, Enhance Patient Safety, Data Exchange and Interoperability

Business Wire, Dec 19, 2005

CHICAGO -- Initiate Systems, Inc., the leading provider of software for creating the most complete real-time views of data about people, households and organizations, today announced that major healthcare providers in the U.S., Canada and U.K. have selected Initiate Identity Hub(TM) software and services to facilitate increased accuracy of patient identification and enhanced patient safety, data exchange and interoperability. New Initiate healthcare provider customers include BMI Healthcare, The Cleveland Clinic, Department of Veterans Affairs, Gwinnett Health System and the Province of Alberta.

"Customers are relying on Initiate more and more to help them solve their patient identification and interoperability challenges because we provide the most accurate, scalable and easy to deploy options available," said Bill Conroy, Initiate's president and CEO. "These recent customer wins are further validation of Initiate's leadership in the healthcare market, the unmatched capabilities of our Initiate Identity Hub(TM) software for providing enterprise master person index solutions and our outstanding Initiate(SM) Data Quality Remediation Service."

Leading U.S. Healthcare Providers Choose Initiate For Better Patient ID

To advance patient identification and enable interoperability within leading U.S. healthcare facilities, Initiate is providing software and services to the following organizations:

The Cleveland Clinic was recently named one of the nation's top four hospitals in U.S. News & World Report's annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey. The Clinic, one of the largest and most respected hospitals in the country, was founded in 1921 with a vision of providing outstanding patient care and is committed to maintaining the highest standard of quality. Initiate Systems was selected to create a single record for each patient regardless of where the patient is treated across The Cleveland Clinic Health System's Central, East and West regions. The Initiate(SM) Data Quality Remediation Service will be provided to match and link more than 5 million patient records across multiple databases and source systems and facilitate interoperability across the Clinic's regions.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates the nation's largest integrated health care system, providing care to more than 4.9 million patients, who had more than 54 million outpatient visits in 2004. Initiate Identity Hub(TM) software will be used to enhance the VA's own Master Person Index (MPI) system, which provides enterprise-wide patient identity services by correlating patient information residing in disparate IT systems, and to advance data exchange and interoperability. The VA's MPI houses 12 million entries and is expected to quickly grow to more than 25 million entries. Initiate(TM) software will be used to improve identity management and facilitate increased safety for the millions of veterans receiving healthcare through the VA's extensive network of 1,300 healthcare providers and to assist the VA in accurately and efficiently identifying shared records, as individuals move from active duty into the VA system.

Gwinnett Health System, located in Lawrenceville, Ga., provides high quality healthcare services to one of the largest and fastest growing counties in the U.S. Initiate Systems was selected to provide its highly accurate Initiate(SM) Data Quality Remediation Service for approximately one million patient records housed in Gwinnett Health System's current health information system. Initiate will enable Gwinnett Health System to improve data quality and accuracy across its entire organization and leverage better patient information for its future strategic IT initiatives.

Initiate Continues Expansion Into Canada and U.K.

Initiate signed its first software customer in the U.K. and continued its expansion into Canada.

BMI Healthcare, a division of General Healthcare Group and the largest independent acute care hospital network in the U.K., handles over 250,000 inpatient and 750,000 outpatient visits each year. In its efforts to improve data quality, achieve NHS connectivity and enhance patient safety, BMI selected Initiate Systems, in partnership with a consortium of industry-leading software and service providers, to provide an enterprise master patient index (EMPI) system that will tie back into its existing patient administration system. Initiate Identity Hub(TM) software will enable BMI hospitals to find all the information about a patient across its systems and create complete real-time views of the patient for clinical and administrative use. The consortium was selected over 16 other competitors because it provided the most comprehensive, flexible and cost effective solution.

The Province of Alberta has a population of more than 3 million people and is the fourth largest province in Canada. The Alberta Ministry of Health and Wellness oversees nine regional health authorities, which are responsible for hospitals, continuing care facilities, community health services and public health programs in Alberta. Alberta selected Initiate Identity Hub(TM) software as its client registry (EMPI) solution across all nine health authorities. Capital Health and Calgary Health are already using Initiate(TM) software to provide a complete view of patient information within their regions. With Initiate, Alberta will be able to provide a province-wide client registry that ensures interoperability so that Alberta's healthcare providers will have access to complete patient information, regardless of where the patient is seeking care.