Claredi and Optio Partner for Initial HIPAA EDI Regulatory Compliance Action.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 25, 2001

Optio's HIPAASmart to be certified for HIPAA EDI Compliance

Optio Software, Inc. (Nasdaq NM: OPTO), a leading provider of e-business infrastructure software that enables healthcare organizations to communicate between their external patient care partners and applications, today announced a partnership with Claredi, the nation's first commercial provider of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) compliance certification.

Claredi and Optio are partnering to help healthcare organizations reduce risks in their HIPAA-compliance initiatives.

Claredi offers the only testing service of its kind that simplifies the EDI side of the HIPAA compliance process by allowing all players in the healthcare arena to test their own ability to initiate and receive HIPAA-compliant transactions. By working with Claredi, organizations are able to find errors in their EDI transactions early and make corrections before they are too far along in transaction development.

In addition, Claredi provides an independent certification of a healthcare organization's specific HIPAA EDI capabilities. By becoming certified through Claredi, a healthcare organization will reduce or eliminate the need to individually test their transactions with each and every potential trading partner in the market. Claredi's service is easy to use and is Internet-based with complete security and confidentiality measures.

Optio is in the process of developing a total solution to meet all four components of the HIPAA federal regulation - Transaction Codes, National Identifiers, Privacy and Security. The solution, HIPAASmart, combines Optio's core technology with new features to specifically address HIPAA regulations. Healthcare providers will be allowed to use a browser-based portal application to access, view and electronically disseminate electronic patient documents with the necessary authentication, access and auditing controls.

According to Kepa Zubeldia, president of Claredi, "Claredi is looking forward to working with Optio to supplement their excellent suite of services. From our perspective, an alliance with a company of Optio's caliber goes a long way toward the rapid deployment of HIPAA compliant EDI."

"We are very excited about the partnership we have formed with Claredi," stated Warren Neuburger, Optio's president and CEO. "Their expertise and clear understanding of the needs of the healthcare industry are a very good complement to Optio's team of healthcare professionals. We strongly believe that certification is a key factor to successful implementations for our complete HIPAA solution and therefore are taking the lead in the certification effort."

Claredi will take the transaction codes of Optio HIPAASmart through seven levels of testing which include:

1. Integrity Testing 

2. Requirement Testing

3. Balancing

4. Situation Testing

5. Code Set Testing

6. Specialty or Line of Business Testing

7. Trading Partner-Specific Testing

Once certified, customers will have a clear understanding of the capabilities that HIPAASmart offers for their specific installation, and will have reduced risk in implementing the solution as they work toward compliance.

About HIPAA EDI Compliancy 

The Administrative Simplification Subtitle of HIPAA was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1996 as part of the Kennedy-Kassenbaum bill. The bill was initially only intended to guarantee access to health insurance coverage for small business, individuals and people with pre-existing conditions. However, Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) saw this bill as an opportunity to improve on the inefficiencies and lack of standardization within the American healthcare system, as well as make inroads into a growing concern by patients - the security and privacy of their medical information. The bill includes requirements for standardized formats for electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions, standard code sets, national identifiers, as well as rules and regulations aimed at protecting a patient's confidentiality.

About Claredi

Claredi is the nation's first commercial provider of HIPAA EDI compliance certification and the only service of its kind to offer comprehensive testing of EDI transaction capabilities. Claredi is able to offer payers, providers, clearinghouses and vendors definitive assurance that their healthcare EDI is compliant with the requirements of HIPAA legislation. The company offers an extended range of testing, certification and interoperability services which will reduce or eliminate the costly process of establishing and maintaining electronic trading partner relationships. More information on Claredi, as well as a demo of their services, is available at www.claredi.com.

About Optio Software, Inc.

Optio Software, Inc. provides e-Business infrastructure software that enables providers, payers and patients to effectively exchange information throughout the care continuum. Optio's software improves the quality of an organization's communications by customizing, delivering and exchanging information over a global network of digital destinations.

Optio's products are being used to integrate diverse applications requiring high availability and throughput, as infrastructure for B2B and to tailor the information from enterprise, e-healthcare and legacy applications for delivery and exchange as XML, EDI, web content and customized documents according to individualized requirements. Optio has more than 4,000 customers including over 500 hospitals and some of the country's leading payor organizations. Optio has a dedicated healthcare team that includes development, consulting services, sales, marketing and product management. For more information contact Optio Software - Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone], E-Mail: [e-mail], Corporate Headquarters: 3015 Windward Plaza, Windward Plaza, Fairways II, Alpharetta, GA 30005, Web Site: http://www.optiosoftware.com

Forward Looking Statement

This press release contains statements which may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Optio Software, Inc. and members of its management as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Important factors currently known to management that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include fluctuation of our operating results, delays in product development, undetected software errors, competitive pressures, technical difficulties, market acceptance, availability of technical personnel, changes in customer requirements, difficulty integrating acquired companies and general economic conditions. Additional factors are set forth in Optio's Form S-1 Registration Statement dated December 13, 1999 and Form 10-K dated April 28, 2000. Optio undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results.