Cogent Healthcare Provides Inpatient Management Services For Kadlec Medical Center in Richland, Washington; Agreement Provides Hospitalist Services for Rural Washington Hospital.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 17, 2003

Cogent Healthcare, Inc., one of the nation's leading providers of inpatient management services, has signed an agreement to implement a hospitalist program for Kadlec Medical Center in Richland, Washington.

"Kadlec Medical Center's mission is to partner with our physicians to provide exceptional patient care and services," said Rand Wortman, the hospital's chief executive officer, "and the development of a hospitalist program is the next step in supporting our medical staff, improving patient care, and reducing expenses. We looked at several firms and decided Cogent can best meet our needs. We are excited about developing this program with them."

"We look forward to working with Kadlec Medical Center to develop an inpatient management program to improve the quality of care for their hospitalized patients," said Alan Puzarne, chief executive officer of Cogent Healthcare. "Cogent offers cost-effective solutions to the problems faced by community hospitals, such as treating growing numbers of uninsured patients, reducing medical errors, eliminating slowdowns in the emergency department, and determining and adhering to implementing our 'best practice' methodology."

The Cogent model of inpatient care management has at its hub experienced physicians who specialize in the care of hospitalized patients and who are readily available in the hospital to attend to the changing needs of the patient. These hospitalist physicians are supported by clinical care coordinators, experienced nurses that manage the administrative aspects of care so the physicians can focus on clinical care. Cogent also provides: "best practice" guidelines for the most common hospital diagnoses; audits to determine how well the guidelines were followed; information systems to record data and measure results; and automated communication systems to keep all members of the care team informed, including the primary care physician who will resume care of the patient when he or she leaves the hospital.

According to Ronald Greeno, M.D, chief medical officer of Cogent Healthcare, "Cogent's model was developed to assist hospitals like Kadlec Medical Center in achieving a high level of quality care while improving overall cost-effectiveness. Hospitals throughout the country are finding that our model helps them address the growing demands they face by improving patient throughput, ensuring patient safety and helping to decrease readmission rates."

Cogent's hospitalist model also includes in-house physician coverage for patient care on a 24 hour basis, seven days a week. This element provides the hospital with an efficient management system for the physicians who stay overnight, contributing to additional savings for the hospital.

For more information about Cogent Healthcare, contact Bill Behnke, at [phone].

About Kadlec Medical Center:

Kadlec Medical Center is a rural Washington state hospital that services the Tri-Cities and surrounding areas with its 153 bed capacity. In recent years the center has experienced explosive growth by opening a brand new emergency department, critical care unit and all-digital outpatient imaging center. In the last two years, Kadlec has also added open heart surgery, interventional cardiology and an intensivist program. For more information, please visit http://www.kadlecmed.org.

About Cogent Healthcare, Inc.:

Cogent Healthcare, Inc. is a leading provider of services that improve the well being of hospitalized patients while reducing their associated costs through the creation and management of inpatient-based physician networks. Its vision is to improve care and efficiency by reducing variations in care, establishing best practices, identifying and removing barriers to efficient care, and measuring outcomes. To this end, the company provides comprehensive programs in clinical care staffing, communication, and data management that support the hospitalist physician in the delivery of inpatient care.

Cogent Healthcare's programs are currently in 13 major markets throughout the United States. More than two years ago, Cogent Healthcare also launched the first Internet-based continuing medical educational program for hospitalist physicians. Its CME programs for physicians, nurses and pharmacists can be accessed at the company's website, http://www.cogenthealthcare.com.