CentraCare's St. Cloud Hospital of Central Minnesota Achieves Patient Safety Goals with Sunquest Collection Management System.

Nation's Top 100 Hospital Reduces Specimen Collection Errors to Zero with 100% Patient Identification Accuracy

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Sunquest Information Systems, Inc., a market leader in laboratory information systems, today announced that St. Cloud Hospital of Central Minnesota, listed as one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals for 2007 by Thomson Healthcare in Modern Healthcare Magazine, has used the Sunquest Collection Manager (CLM) solution to dramatically improve its patient safety results for collecting specimens. St. Cloud Hospital's staff performs approximately 20,000 to 25,000 specimen collections per month. Since implementing CLM in November 2007, the hospital has achieved 100% patient identification accuracy and reduced non-identification specimen collection errors to virtually zero. Sunquest Collection Manager integrates with Sunquest's award-winning Laboratory Information System (LIS) and allows organizations to save time and reduce errors by automating their processes for specimen collection, specimen labeling, and data entry.

"Our mantra is that patient safety is non-negotiable. It's our driving force," said Cindy Johnson, laboratory director at St. Cloud Hospital. "Historically, proper patient and specimen identification was one of the areas we were struggling with. Sunquest Collection Manager has all but eliminated that issue. Its implementation was very straightforward, on time, and even a little under budget."

"We believe that consumers of laboratory data - patients and care providers - have every right to expect 100% accuracy not only in the labeling of their samples, but also in the accuracy of their results," said Kelly Feist, vice president of marketing, Sunquest Information Systems, Inc. "With studies showing that upwards of 70% of medical decisions involve laboratory data for accurate diagnosis, treatment plans, and prognosis, the benefits of implementing a solution like CLM are far reaching and immeasurable."

About Sunquest Collection Manager

As nursing and phlebotomy staff are increasingly using Computers on Wheels (COW's) and Computers at Bedside (CAB's), the new Collection

Manager 3.0 can now be used on laptops, PC's and additional mobile devices to reduce duplication of efforts and speed up workflow by efficiently enabling positive patient ID and specimen collection at the patient bedside. Support for the Microsoft .net has also been added to make Collection Manager Windows platform independent and compatible with other bar-coded point of care applications such as medication administration.

Sunquest Collection Manager Key Features

* Improve turnaround times with wireless communications to a variety of devices

* Print labels at bedside, even for tubes collected before orders are placed as used in emergency rooms and trauma units

* Reduce or eliminate mislabeled phlebotomy specimens

* Migration to .net technology, making the application Windows platform agnostic

* Scanner independent

* Scan any patient or print temporary labels for "draw and hold" requests

* Logging errors in LIS

* Usage control for mobile devices

St. Cloud Hospital - Top 100 Hospital

St. Cloud Hospital was named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals for the third consecutive year by Thomson Healthcare in its 15th annual 100 Top Hospitals[R]: National Benchmarks for Success study on March 17, 2008. St. Cloud has been recognized six times in the program's 15 years. The Thomson 100 Top Hospitals: National Benchmarks for Success study appears in the March 17, 2008 edition of Modern Healthcare magazine.

About St. Cloud Hospital

St. Cloud Hospital (SCH) has a rich tradition of caring for the people of Central Minnesota. As the largest health care facility in the region, St. Cloud Hospital offers a full spectrum of inpatient and outpatient services. From state-of-the-art care for heart disease and cancer to preventive health screenings and behavioral health counseling, SCH has the technology and skilled professionals to meet the needs of the region. Currently the hospital has 489 beds, more than 3,600 employees and a medical staff of 360 physicians. St. Cloud Hospital is the largest employer in the St. Cloud area.

About Sunquest Information Systems, Inc.

Sunquest Information Systems, Inc., is a global market leader in clinical data management solutions with more than 1,200 hospitals and commercial laboratories using its products worldwide. The company is dedicated to providing best-of-breed solutions that enable quality patient care, clinical safety, and operational efficiencies. Its experienced sales and technical service teams deliver 24x7 assistance to customers for their procurement, implementation, and customer care needs. The Sunquest Laboratory[TM] system achieved "Best in KLAS" in the Laboratory Segment for 2007, which was its fourth consecutive year, (KLAS Enterprises, LLC, www.healthcomputing.com.)

Sunquest's professional services division provides a wide array of management and technical tools, including lab redesign and optimization, outreach and lab network program development, and operational business and implementation plans. For more information, call 800-748-0692 or visit: www.sunquestinfo.com.

Sunquest is a Trademark of Sunquest Information Systems, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners.