CHRISTUS Health Adopts McKessonHBOC HorizonWP Physician Portal.

Business Editors & Healthcare Writers

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 19, 2001

One of Nation's Largest Health Systems Plans Rollout for

4,000 Physicians

McKesson HBOC, Inc.'s Information Technology Business announced today that its HorizonWP Physician Portal is in productive use at CHRISTUS St. Patrick Hospital in Lake Charles, La.

The hospital's parent company, CHRISTUS Health, plans to deploy the physician tool to as many as 4,000 physicians on staff within the system. The tool will allow each physician to customize the Web portal to fit the way he or she views medical results and orders, as well as patient medication and census data.

The HorizonWP Physician Portal's Web interface and ease of use is key to physicians, according to Percival Kane, M.D., a family practitioner at Family Medical Center in Lake Charles who practices at St. Patrick Hospital. "Physicians spend a lot of time waiting for results, and the HorizonWP Physician Portal provides an easy way to get in and get out quickly with the information you need to care for your patients. I'm able to access lab and radiology results and keep tabs on my admitted patients at all times now."

In addition to workflow efficiencies and timesavings, Dr. Kane has experienced firsthand how the HorizonWP Physician Portal can help physicians make more informed clinical decisions. "A patient with a seizure disorder was admitted to the ER, and I ordered an MRI of her brain. Because of the portal, I was able to look at the results from home that night and compare them to a previous MRI report to see that her tumor had not changed and she could be discharged after a simple medication adjustment," said Dr. Kane.

The ability to offer clinicians access to real-time patient data while preserving their information technology investment is what led CHRISTUS Health to choose McKessonHBOC's HorizonWP solution to expand its competitive capabilities across 14 marketplaces, according to George Conklin, senior vice president, Information Management for CHRISTUS Health.

"We looked at other products in the marketplace, but they didn't have real-time access to clinical applications," he said. "McKessonHBOC's HorizonWP Physician Portal takes a lot of strain off of the hospital administration because it decreases user maintenance and support requirements on the server side to zero and provides a secure and uniform method of accessing patient data. Undoubtedly the greatest value to us as a healthcare system is that the HorizonWP Physician Portal enables us to provide state-of-the-art capability to our physicians and at the same time not have to scrap millions of dollars of legacy system investments."

"CHRISTUS Health is one of the country's premier health systems, so it's not surprising that they would choose this solution to expand their reach while leveraging existing IT investments," said Graham King, president of McKessonHBOC ITB. "Through the HorizonWP Physician Portal, CHRISTUS Health is leading the way in delivering information to its physicians when and where they need it."

Sponsored jointly by the Congregations of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in Houston and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, CHRISTUS Health is one of the largest Catholic health systems in the country, employing more than 25,000 people with total assets of $3.4 billion. With a mission to extend the healing ministry of Jesus Christ, CHRISTUS Health comprises more than 40 hospitals and long-term care facilities, as well as dozens of other health services in more than 60 communities in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Utah. CHRISTUS Health is headquartered in the Greater Dallas Metropolitan Area, with additional offices operating in both San Antonio and Houston to support the health system operations.

McKessonHBOC, 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.

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