Baptist Hospital, Pensacola, Florida, Reports $2.56 Million Savings in Two Years from Cogent Healthcare Hospitalist Program.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 9, 2004

Program Continues to Improve Patient Care and Lower Costs,

Achieving Sustainable Results

Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, Florida, winner of this year's Malcolm Baldrige award for quality, announced that it has saved $2.56 million in two years due to its inpatient management program. The program, developed and operated by Cogent Healthcare, Inc., a leading inpatient management company, also was successful in improving the quality of patient care and in meeting the hospital's high standards of patient satisfaction.

In addition to these savings, length of stay decreased an average of two days, and cost per case was reduced by 44 percent for patients managed by the hospitalists. Thirty-day readmission rates for patients treated by hospitalists were 40 percent less than for patients treated by non-hospitalists. Satisfaction ratings by both patients and primary care physicians were over 99 percent.

"Many hospitals that have started hospitalist programs find that physician burnout and turnover, plus the need for an infrastructure to support the physician, impact negatively on their ability to sustain the initial positive results," said Ron Greeno, M.D., chief medical officer for Cogent. "Baptist Hospital's experience demonstrates that continuous improvement can be achieved with the right model."

"We decided to outsource our program originally because we realized the investment of time and resources required to meet our standards was more than we could commit, and we chose Cogent as the best company to partner with in this endeavor," said Craig Miller, M.D., senior vice president of Medical Affairs at Baptist Hospital. "During the two years that we have had this program, Cogent's agility and flexibility in working with us to build the right program for us, and to modify it as needed, was a major asset."

Miller added, "We have learned that having the best processes - which Cogent brings to us - is the most important element in a successful program. The quality of the aircraft is more important than who is flying it. At the same time, our hospitalists must be committed to the hospital's philosophy of customer service and customer satisfaction, and be incentivized to meet the hospital's goals. Cogent helped us put all these features together into a program that works to improve quality and efficiency, every day."

Baptist Hospital, a recent recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the highest honor given to American businesses, focuses on clinical care and excellent service to all patients. The facility has some of the highest patient satisfaction ratings in the nation, and is also among America's "100 Best Companies to Work For," according to Fortune magazine.

Cogent Healthcare operates hospitalist programs in 13 markets throughout the United States. Its programs are 30 percent more effective in lowering costs and improving quality than the average results of hospitalist programs, as reported by the Journal of the American Medical Association. Cogent patients on average report satisfaction ratings of 99 percent, as compared to only 80 percent of hospital patients nationally in a survey conducted by Consumer Reports. Cogent's unique discharge follow-up program helps to answer the questions that 80 percent of patients have when they go home, improving compliance and helping to avoid unnecessary hospital readmissions.

The Cogent model of inpatient care management is based upon a core group of experienced physicians who specialize in the care of hospitalized patients and who are available to the hospital 24 hours a day to attend to the changing needs of the patient. These hospitalist physicians are supported by clinical care coordinators, experienced nurses who manage the administrative tasks so that the physicians can focus on clinical care. Cogent also provides "best practice" guidelines for the most common hospital diagnoses, audits to determine how well the guidelines were followed, information systems to record data and measure results, and automated communication systems to keep all members of the care team informed, including the primary care physician who will resume care of the patient when they leave the hospital.

Cogent's hospitalist model also includes in-house physician coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This service provides the hospital with an efficient management system for the physicians who stay overnight, contributing to additional savings for the hospital.

For more information about Cogent Healthcare, contact Bill Behnke, at 949-399-6038.

About Baptist Hospital, Pensacola:

Leading the nation in patient satisfaction, Baptist Health Care is a network of hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient centers and behavioral health facilities. Its flagship entity, Baptist Hospital Inc., is a recipient of the 2003 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which is presented by the President of the United States. For three consecutive years, Baptist Health Care has been named by Fortune magazine as one of America's best places to work. For more information visit www.bhcpns.org.

About Cogent Healthcare, Inc.:

Cogent Healthcare, Inc. is a leading provider of services that improve the well being of hospitalized patients while reducing their associated costs through the creation and management of inpatient-based physician networks. Its vision is to improve care and efficiency by reducing variations in care, establishing best practices, identifying and removing barriers to efficient care, and measuring outcomes. To this end, the company provides comprehensive programs in clinical care staffing, communication, and data management that support the hospitalist physician in the delivery of inpatient care.

Cogent Healthcare's programs are currently in 13 major markets throughout the United States.

Cogent's physicians are leaders in the emerging practice of hospitalism, and were among the pioneers who started this movement 10 years ago. Dr. Ron Greeno, chief medical officer, was recently named one of the outstanding hospitalsits in America by the Society for Hospital Medicine. Cogent physicians continue to lead the profession by setting best practices for hospital medicine, providing a national mentoring program, and offering the first Internet-based continuing medical educational program for hospitalist physicians, which can be accessed on the company's website, www.cogenthealthcare.com.