Axolotl Announces Agreement With Straub Clinic & Hospital; Clinical Results Delivery and ASP Services for Honolulu Physicians.

Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers

TAMPA, Fla.--(BW HealthWire)--Nov. 28, 2000

Axolotl Corporation, a leading provider of e-Health communication solutions, and Straub Clinic & Hospital, Honolulu, Hawaii, announced today the signing of an agreement to deploy the Elysium Clinical Messaging system to affiliated physicians in Hawaii. Under the terms of the contract, Axolotl will provide the Elysium system to affiliated physicians under an application service provider (ASP) agreement. The initial project rollout for 200 physicians commenced earlier this month.

Donna Lortrakul, Administrator, Information Services and Technology for Straub, expects the clinical messaging application to provide efficient Web-based results delivery as well as the infrastructure for future clinical automation initiatives. "We chose Axolotl's Elysium system because it uses proven Internet messaging tools to automate the delivery of clinical results and provides a growth path to advanced clinical automation for our physicians," said Lortrakul. "Elysium will shorten turnaround times and eliminate time-consuming administrative tasks so that Straub physicians and office staffs will be able to focus more of their attention on patient care."

"There is a significant cost related to many simple day-to-day tasks for physicians and their staffs including results lookup and forwarding, access to eligibility information, editing and signing of transcriptions, ordering and prescription writing," commented Dr. James Penoff, M.D., Chief Medical Officer for Straub. "Elysium provides the basic tools to efficiently access clinical results and transition our physicians' practices to full clinical automation--at our own pace."

"Straub Clinic & Hospital is an innovative organization that understands the value that the Internet can bring to physicians," stated Ray Scott, Axolotl's Chief Technology Officer. "Elysium was built by physicians for physicians and their support staffs. Using standard Web browsers to access, process, and manage clinical data, physicians can easily communicate and collaborate with other providers in the community without reengineering the way they work. We look forward to assisting Straub Clinic & Hospital in achieving this initiative."

About Straub Clinic & Hospital

Straub Clinical & Hospital (www.straubhealth.com) is a fully integrated health care system based in Hawaii with nearly 200 physicians in 32 specialties practicing at 14 neighborhood clinics and at the 159-bed Straub hospital. Straub also participates with more than 150 health plans and offers its own health plans as well. Straub Clinic & Hospital was founded as "The Clinic" in 1921 by Dr. George F. Straub and four other physicians. Since then, Straub physicians have introduced many medical firsts in Hawaii. Straub has been given a 5-star rating by HealthGrades.Com, an independent national rating service. HealthGrades.Com reports that Straub is best in Hawaii in angioplasty, by-pass surgery, and the treatment of heart attack, stroke and respiratory infection. In addition, HCIA-Sachs, an independent national healthcare research organization, has designated Straub as one of the Top 100 Cardiovascular Hospitals(TM) in the country.

About Axolotl

Axolotl Corporation uses advanced communications technology to connect physicians to the entire healthcare continuum. The company provides physicians and their staffs with integrated clinical and administrative applications and patient education programs to streamline workflow, increase efficiency, and improve the quality of care. Thousands of healthcare professionals nationwide use the Elysium suite of integrated Web-based applications to manage clinical and administrative tasks through standard Web browsers, reducing administrative costs and increasing the time available for treating patients. Through a strategic agreement with Gilat, Axolotl has the exclusive right to distribute its two-way broadband satellite in the healthcare market, providing high-speed, always-on Internet access to physician practices everywhere in the USA. Axolotl's AccentHealth Waiting Room Television Network delivers award-winning patient education programs, produced in conjunction with CNN, to over 11,000 waiting rooms and more than 18 million viewers each month. These programs enhance the physician/patient relationship and further empower patients to participate in managing their own health.

Statements in this press release concerning the Company's business outlook or future economic performance, anticipated profitability, revenues, expenses or other financial items, and service offering growth, together with other statements that are not historical facts, are "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined under the Federal Securities Laws. Any forward-looking statements are estimates, reflecting the best judgment of the party making such statements based upon currently available information and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated in such statements.