Boca Raton Community Hospital Moves to McKessonHBOC Clinical Systems.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 2001

Hospital Cites Single-Vendor Solution as Key to Integration and

Improved Patient Care

McKesson HBOC, Inc. (McKessonHBOC) (NYSE:MCK) announced today that Boca Raton Community Hospital (BRCH) in Boca Raton, Fla., has selected clinical information systems from the Information Technology Business (ITB) to improve clinician access to patient data and - equally important - to the patients themselves.

This move to McKessonHBOC's Pathways Care Manager clinical documentation system and HorizonWPTM Physician Portal puts BRCH "ahead of the game" in terms of automation and integration throughout the enterprise, according to BRCH CFO Matt Moore.

"All organizations in healthcare are trying to be as efficient as possible," Moore said. "Like everyone else, we face nursing shortages and a tremendous amount of time wasted on paperwork. McKessonHBOC's clinical information systems provide the tools to eliminate much of that paperwork, streamline documentation and processes and enable caregivers to devote more time to patient care."

Moore noted that BRCH already had McKessonHBOC's STAR 2000 financial systems that were meeting the organization's needs on the business side of the house but faced increasingly complex IT needs. "BRCH was experiencing a lack of integration between the systems we had in place from different vendors," he stated. "We had several different systems feeding orders, charges and documentation and looked to McKessonHBOC for its breadth of clinical solutions and integration. By complementing McKessonHBOC's financial solutions with its clinical offerings, we will have a single-vendor solution with the ability to centralize operations, reduce the burden on nurses and offer physicians the best integration tool available for accessing patient data."

BRCH plans to use the Pathways Care Manager point-of-care solution with handheld devices to document care at the patient's bedside and reduce the risk of medication errors. Because the automated system is simple to use, Moore expects Pathways Care Manager to drastically reduce the time nurses spend on documentation. The Internet-based HorizonWP Physician Portal will give BRCH's approximately 700 physicians consolidated access to more data than ever before, including pharmacy, laboratory, radiology and medical records. Supporting workflow efficiencies and quality of care improvements, the HorizonWP Physician Portal provides a single place for anywhere, anytime access to information that is accurate and secure.

Barry Chaiken, MD, vice president of clinical marketing for McKessonHBOC's clinical applications, said, "It's easy to understand why Boca Raton Community Hospital is held in the highest esteem in its community. The organization never wavers from its chief focus of delivering the highest level of patient care, and McKessonHBOC's clinical information systems will allow them to deliver on that promise while increasing the level of satisfaction among the physicians and nurses on staff."

Boca Raton Community Hospital is the largest hospital in southern Palm Beach County, Florida. Built for and by the community over three decades ago after the tragic death of two young children, the hospital has been recognized as one of the top 100 hospitals in the nation. Well known for its tradition of excellence with the personal touch, the hospital's services include the Lynn Regional Cancer Center, the largest hospital cancer program in South Florida; the Women's Center/Center for Breast Care; One Family Place Maternity and Pediatrics; the Davis Therapy Centers including a Pain Management Center, Wound and Hyperbaric Medicine, and Rehabilitation Services; an after-hours urgent care center through its Toppel Center for Pediatrics; and its newest addition - the John W. Henry Center for Integrative Medicine and Mind/Body Medical Institute at Boca Raton, which combines the best of traditional medicine with integrative medical care. The 394-bed hospital's Emergency/Care Center, which recently underwent a $6.7 million renovation and expansion, provides medical care for nearly 52,000 patients a year - the largest volume ER in southern Palm Beach County. Its School Health Program, which has provided a registered nurse for each of its city's 18 public elementary, middle, and high schools since 1994, has documented over one-million student visits to the school clinics as a free community service since inception.

McKesson HBOC, Inc., a Fortune 40 corporation, is the world's largest pharmaceutical supply management and healthcare information technology company. McKessonHBOC provides pharmaceutical supply management and information technologies across the entire continuum of healthcare, including market-leading businesses in pharmaceutical and medical-surgical distribution, information technology for healthcare providers, services for payors and outsourcing. More information about McKessonHBOC is available on its World Wide Web site at www.mckessonhboc.com.

McKessonHBOC's Information Technology Business solutions include enterprisewide patient care, clinical, financial and strategic management software, as well as Internet-based and networking technologies, electronic commerce, outsourcing and other services to healthcare organizations throughout the world. For product information, visit the Web site at www.mckessonhboc.com or call 1-800-981-8601.