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Worcester, Mass., June 23, 2004 ― Three of central Massachusetts’ leading health care organizations ― Fallon Clinic, Fallon Community Health Plan and UMass Memorial Health Care ― today announced that they have entered into a partnership to pioneer technology that will significantly improve patient safety and quality of health care delivery, and reduce health care costs.

The innovative, community-based initiative, aptly named SAFE Health Info (Secure Architecture For Exchanging Health Information), will use advanced technology to connect clinical data and information systems among individual health care organizations, enabling clinicians to appropriately and quickly access patients’ medical records in emergency and ambulatory settings.

“Many health care organizations have begun to invest in electronic health records that offer connectivity within one particular hospital or physician group practice, but there is currently no simple way for health care systems across the region to talk to one another,” said Wendy Warring, Executive Vice President, UMass Memorial Health Care. “Our partnership will ensure that physicians throughout central Massachusetts have access to critical, life-saving information in emergency situations.”

In collaboration with Hewlett-Packard, Fallon Clinic, Fallon Community Health Plan and UMass Memorial Health Care will design and build a software prototype to demonstrate the viability of exchanging health care information among the three organizations. Once the prototype is complete, SAFE Health Info will be able to securely provide updated patient medical history to clinicians at critical points of care.

“If a Fallon Clinic patient, for instance, is rushed to the emergency room at UMass Memorial Medical Center, in Worcester, our goal is to make sure that the physician on duty has access to the patient’s most updated medical history, including existing medical conditions, and can immediately screen for potential drug interactions and other medical concerns,” said Dr. Larry Garber, Medical Director for Informatics and a practicing physician at Fallon Clinic. “By working together, our three organizations can make sure that our patients receive well-informed care, even if they are outside of the walls of our individual organizations.”

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine released a startling report, stating that preventable medical errors claim the lives of at least 98,000 Americans nationwide each year. That same report concluded that computerized data sharing would significantly reduce the hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries caused by medical errors every year. Standardized health information exchange among health care information technology systems also would result in significant cost-savings, according to the Center for Information Technology Leadership. Those cost-savings would result from fewer unnecessary tests or procedures and improved efficiency of automated data sharing among health care organizations, with annual savings of up to $86.8 billion in the U.S.

“The health care system today is in a crisis of fragmentation. Our efforts to develop and implement new technology to connect a disparate health care system will ensure that physicians can quickly access clinical information in order to safely treat patients,” said Mark Fisher, Chief Operating Officer, Fallon Community Health Plan. “This partnership tackles an important patient safety issue and speaks volumes to the level of creativity and collaboration that exists here in central Massachusetts.”

For more information, contact:

Christina Sciammacco, Fallon Community Health Plan, 508-368-9536

Rhian Gregory, Fallon Clinic, 508-368-5449

Alison Duffy, UMass Memorial Health Care, 508-856-2000

About Fallon Community Health Plan

Fallon Community Health Plan is a not-for-profit health insurer serving the health care needs of more than 185,000 members throughout eastern and central Massachusetts. Founded in 1977, the health plan offers a range of targeted products, including HMO plans, a national preferred provider organization (PPO) and a Medicare + Choice plan. Both its commercial and Medicare + Choice plans have been awarded “Excellent” accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. For more information, visit www.fchp.org.

About Fallon Clinic

Founded in 1929 by Dr. John Fallon and a team of local physicians, Fallon Clinic was central Massachusetts’ first group practice, marking a fundamental shift in the delivery of patient care. As one of the most dynamic and progressive healthcare organizations in the country today, Fallon Clinic continues to challenge convention and transform patient care paradigms, and has set out to establish a new “gold standard” in patient care.

With 240 physicians practicing in 26 locations staffed by more than 1,700 employees, Fallon Clinic provides comprehensive care for more than one million patient visits a year, and is the largest private, multi-specialty group in central Massachusetts. Nationally recognized as a leader in healthcare quality, the Clinic is currently implementing key initiatives and technologies that ensure patients receive both the finest medical care and the highest levels of access and service.

About UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc.

UMass Memorial Health Care, Inc. is Central Massachusetts’ largest not-for-profit health care delivery system with 1,500 physicians and more than 12,000 employees. UMass Memorial’s comprehensive network of care includes a multi-campus tertiary hospital, owned and affiliated community hospitals, freestanding primary care practices, ambulatory outpatient clinics, long-term care facilities, home health agencies, hospice programs, a rehabilitation group, mental health services and a 700-member faculty group practice. UMass Memorial is the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts

Medical School. For more information, visit www.umassmemorial.org.

About Hewlett-Packard

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2004, HP revenue totaled $76.8 billion. More information about HP (NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

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