Bridge Medical Raises $9.5 million for Technologies Designed to Intercept Medication Errors.

Business, Health, Tech and Pharmaceutical Editors & Analysts

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SOLANA BEACH, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Dec. 20, 2001

Healthcare and Technology Leaders Invest in Patient

Safety Solution

Bridge Medical, Inc., has raised $9.5 million in cash from the issuance of its preferred stock to leading healthcare industry and technology financing organizations. Bridge President and Chief Executive Officer John B. Grotting made the announcement at the company's southern California headquarters.

"Proceeds of the financing will be used to fund Bridge's market expansion, as well as develop innovative new technologies to help hospitals and health systems improve patient safety, particularly in the area of medication errors," said Grotting.

An information technology firm known for its pioneering use of barcode technology in healthcare, Bridge has won awards for its patient safety solutions and educational initiatives.

Addressing the Issue of Medication Errors

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Rockville, Md., medication errors that harm patients result in 770,000-plus injuries and deaths each year, and can cost up to $5.6 million per hospital. Many of these adverse drug events (ADEs) can be prevented, says AHRQ, if hospitals make the right changes. According to a 1999 Institute of Medicine report, ADEs are among medical errors that together kill as many as 98,000 U.S. patients each year -- more than those caused by traffic accidents, AIDS and breast cancer combined.

"The public and private sectors are responding to the problem of medication errors with new legislation, regulations and business initiatives," said Grotting. "These, in turn, have compelled healthcare providers to explore new patient safety technologies and processes.

"Unfortunately, America's increasingly critical shortage of nurses and pharmacists, and the continued proliferation of new drugs, has further magnified the problem of medication errors, creating even more motivation to pursue proven solutions such as the Bridge MedPoint(TM) system."

"This most recent round of financing validates the success of our business model for delivering products and services that address the need of healthcare providers to improve patient safety quickly, easily and cost-effectively," explained Terance Kinninger, Bridge chief financial officer and senior vice-president of business development. "The beauty of Bridge technology is that it remains affordable, easy to implement and simple to use, while accessing a sophisticated knowledge base of drugs, therapies and protocols that helps hospitals intercept errors and dramatically improve quality.

"No wonder some of the smartest investors in healthcare and technology are Bridge shareholders."

Bridge Investors

Bridge investors include:

-- Affinity Capital Management -- Minneapolis, Minn. (www.affinitycapital.net)

-- Coral Venture Partners -- Minneapolis (www.coralventures.com)

-- General Motors Investment Corporation -- New York, N.Y. (www.gm.com)

-- Halpern, Denny and Company -- Boston, Mass. (www.halperndenny.com)

-- HEALTHSOUTH Corporation -- Birmingham, Ala. (www.healthsouth.com)

-- Nassau Capital LLC/Princeton University -- Princeton, N.J. (www.nassau.com)

-- New Enterprise Associates (NEA) -- Menlo Park, Calif.; Baltimore, Md.;
Reston, Va. (www.nea.com)

-- Premier, Inc. -- San Diego, Calif. (www.premierinc.com)

Bridge Leadership

Bridge's highly experienced senior management team -- which includes Grotting, Kinninger, and other former healthcare and high-tech industry executives -- is using its combined experience at such firms as McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc., Texas Instruments Incorporated, Ernst & Young LLP, Hewlett-Packard Company and PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP to help execute the company's plan to become the leading provider of patient safety technology solutions. In addition, Bridge's board of directors features a wealth of healthcare, technology and management experience.

Board members include:

-- John B. Grotting, MHA. Grotting brings 30 years of healthcare

management experience to the job of positioning Bridge as the

leading patient safety company. He has served as chief

executive or chief operating officer at Legacy, HealthOne and

Allina Health System (Minneapolis), and has been recognized

nationally for his healthcare leadership. Early in his career,

Healthcare Forum and Korn Ferry International honored Grotting

with the "Emerging Leaders Award," and the American College of

Healthcare Executives named him "Young Healthcare Executive of

the Year."

-- William J. LaPoint, MBA. A co-founding partner of Halpern,

Denny & Company in Boston, LaPoint was a consultant at Bain &

Company prior to founding Halpern. His particular expertise at

Bain was in manufacturing/operations and financial analysis,

where he led teams that worked in the lodging, healthcare,

distribution and paper and plastic manufacturing industries.

Prior to Bain, LaPoint was a production and operations manager

at Procter & Gamble Company

-- John M. Nehra. Nehra is a special partner at New Enterprise

Associates (NEA) in Baltimore, where he focuses on medical

devices, information technology and drug delivery companies. A

former managing director of Alex. Brown & Sons, Nehra had

primary responsibility for developing that firm's healthcare

research, investment banking and capital markets businesses.

Nehra also serves as the managing general partner of Catalyst

Ventures, LP. He currently sits on the boards of directors of

Aradigm Corporation, CVRX, Inc.; Celeris Corporation; evalve

Corporation; Iridex Corporation; Primax Recoveries; ProtoStar,

Inc.; Proxima Therapeutics, Inc.; TargetRx, Inc.; and

TransVascular, Inc.

-- G. Kirk Raab. A director of Applied Imaging, Inc., Raab is

chairman of the board of directors at both Connetics

Corporation and Oxford GlycoSciences, Ltd., as well as a

director of four private biotechnology companies. From 1985 to

July 1995, he was an executive officer of Genentech, Inc., and

was president and chief executive officer from 1990 to 1995.

Prior to joining Genentech in 1975, he was president, chief

operating officer and a director of Abbott Laboratories. He

has also held executive positions with Beecham Group, A.H.

Robins and Pfizer, Inc.

-- Gordon "Gordy" Sprenger. Recently honored by the Joint

Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and

the National Committee for Quality Assurance, Sprenger was one

of two inaugural winners of the JCAHO/NCQA Individual

Leadership in Patient Safety Awards. He was recognized for his

patient safety efforts during his tenure as chair of the

American Hospital Association's board of trustees and for

implementing system-wide patient safety initiatives while

chief executive officer of Allina Health System.

-- G. Rodney "Rod" Wolford. Wolford is currently chairman of the

board of directors of cMore Medical Solutions, Inc., and a

director at Image Guided Neurologics and Essent Healthcare. He

served as chairman and chief executive officer of Sterling

Diagnostic Imaging, Inc. -- formerly DuPont Diagnostic

Imaging, a major supplier of diagnostic medical X-ray film and

equipment -- until it was sold to Agfa, Inc. His former

positions in healthcare delivery include president and chief

executive officer of Alliant Health System, and president and

chief executive officer of HealthLink.

About Bridge

Founded in 1996, Bridge Medical, Inc. (www.bridgemedical.com), is an information technology firm that has pioneered the use of barcode technology in healthcare.

Endorsed by several leading hospital associations, the Bridge MedPoint(TM) patient safety software system is the first barcode-enabled point-of-care (BPOC) system to combine medication and blood product administration verification with laboratory specimen identification. A 2001 Microsoft Industry Solution Awards for Healthcare finalist, MedPoint helps hospitals and health systems increase efficiency and eliminate errors related to medication and blood transfusion administration, and laboratory specimen tracking. The proprietary software product uses barcode scanning, expert clinical knowledge bases, wireless networking and innovative integration capabilities to help nurses intercept potential medication errors at the bedside.

Headquartered in Solana Beach, Calif., Bridge is nationally known for "Beyond Blame," an award-winning documentary that hospitals around the country use to educate staff about medication errors and help create a culture of safety.

MedPoint is a trademark of Bridge Medical, Inc. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.