CHRISTUS Health Selects PatientKeeper Mobile Computing Platform at CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi in Texas

Advanced Mobile Platform Will Give Physicians Handheld Access to Patient Information

BOSTON, Mass. and CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, February 2, 2004 – CHRISTUS Health, one of the ten largest Catholic-sponsored health systems in the country, has selected PatientKeeper as its mobile computing platform at CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi in Texas. PatientKeeper® provides mobile software that gives physicians and healthcare professionals wireless access to the hospital’s MEDITECH patient information system through a portfolio of clinical results and charge capture applications – all available on a handheld personal digital assistant (PDA).

““The mobile information initiative was driven by two important objectives for CHRISTUS: giving our medical staff greater access to information and raising the bar for patient safety,“ said Cathy Duffy, RN, BSN, manager clinical applications for CHRISTUS Spohn. “Physicians have asked us to make patient information more available to them. They wanted timely information on a device that was easy to carry and had software that was easy to use. PatientKeeper offered an ideal solution that puts all the information they need right in their hands.””

The PatientKeeper Clinical Application Suite consists of a variety of tools for organizing doctor-specific patient lists and analyzing all types of patient data such laboratory results, medication lists, medical histories, allergies, and clinical documentation. The system works with any wireless-ready Palm OS or Pocket PC handheld device.

“CHRISTUS Health will also provide PatientKeeper’s charge capture solution as a service to affiliated physicians,“ added Don Sepulveda, IT physician services supervisor for CHRISTUS Health. “For a fee, affiliated physicians who admit their patients to CHRISTUS will be able to conveniently manage the billing process with their PDAs.“

The PatientKeeper Charge Capture Application Suite automates a billing process that typically relies on individual billing cards. Instead of jotting information on the cards, doctors use the PatientKeeper system to simply check off the customizable diagnosis codes and services performed on their handhelds.

“Reaction from doctors has been extremely positive,“ said Dr. Darrick Nelson, medical informatics fellow at CHRISTUS. “The whole idea was to take the doctors out of the back office and give them more time with their patients. Now, with the PDAs, doctors can review a patient’s lab results, refer to the record, discuss it with the patient, and make decisions about treatment all at the same time. When you can tighten the process and lower the number of variables, you lower the risk of error. So, instead of having the doctor search for a lab result, we put it on a PDA. That minimizes risk of error and improves patient safety.“

CHRISTUS Spohn Health System, an integral part of CHRISTUS Health, is a faith-based, comprehensive health care network spanning South Texas. CHRISTUS Spohn Health System consists of four hospitals—CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi with three locations Shoreline, Memorial and South, CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Alice, CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Beeville and CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Kleberg (Kingsville) supported by a medical staff of more than 750 physicians. Of those 200 doctors are expected to participate in the wireless program for daily rounds.

“The best feature of the PatientKeeper system is that it’s so intuitive,“ said Dr. Nelson.“For Cathy and the IT staff, the open architecture and ability to fit into our needs was extremely important, but for us doctors it really comes down to what the mobile devices can do for us and how easy they are to use. The fewer number of steps needed to get at a piece of information, the better we like it. PatientKeeper gets you to just about anything in one or two clicks. That’s great.“

“The doctors love the devices,“ said Duffy. “Most are asking for express delivery just to get the devices faster. One cardiologist who got one of the first units, called me early the next day and was just ecstatic. He said it was the best thing I could have given him. That’s high praise.“

According to Duffy, the wireless system is being rolled out one facility at a time, starting with the Corpus Christi campus. All four hospitals are scheduled to be wireless during 2004 and other CHRISTUS facilities are expected to follow. This will eventually make it possible for a doctor at CHRISTUS Hospital in Corpus Christi to pull up information for a patient who has traveled from San Antonio..

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About PatientKeeper

PatientKeeper, Inc. provides healthcare professionals with mobile computing solutions that help improve patient care and curb rising costs. The PatientKeeper Platform easily integrates with existing systems and securely delivers patient information to clinicians' mobile devices. PatientKeeper and its partners have created a portfolio of mobile applications that support a wide spectrum of tasks, including rounding support, clinical results and charge capture. Leading healthcare institutions and vendors have already standardized on the PatientKeeper Platform. For more information, visit our Web site at www.patientkeeper.com or call 617-987-0300.

Company Contacts:

Stephen S. Hau, PatientKeeper,

shau@patientkeeper.com, (617) 987-0304

For Media Inquiries:

Christina Guilbert, aMate Communications,

christina@amatecommunications.com, (781) 759-0015