KLAS Recognizes McKesson Information Solutions for Customer Satisfaction Improvements.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

ATLANTA--(BW HealthWire)--Feb. 15, 2002

McKesson Pursues Continuous Quality Through Industry-Recognized

Standards Programs

KLAS Enterprises recently honored McKesson Information Solutions with two awards recognizing outstanding achievements in customer satisfaction.

McKesson earned the "Most Improved" award for achieving the greatest overall improvement in customer satisfaction ratings out of more than 120 healthcare information technology vendors evaluated in the KLAS Fall 2001 Performance Report. McKesson's solutions accounted for four of the six products that demonstrated the most significant customer satisfaction gains since the previous KLAS report. Moreover, McKesson received "Best in KLAS" for its home healthcare product. McKesson was honored for both accomplishments during the 2002 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition in Atlanta.

"Typically, we bestow the most improved customer satisfaction honor on a single product," said Kent Gale, executive director of KLAS. "However, we felt that McKesson's outstanding achievement for multiple products deserved special recognition. It's truly our privilege to honor McKesson for showing the greatest overall improvement in this industry."

To be honored as a KLAS top performer, products from McKesson and other vendors were rated by HIT industry executives on more than 40 different aspects of performance. The performance metrics considered included commitment to technology, executive interest in the customer, implementation, quality of releases and support and other criteria. Ratings were based on vendor performance data gathered from IT executives in more than 3,000 healthcare organizations and from 120 vendors.

"We are thrilled to receive these awards, and all the more so because customer satisfaction is our No. 1 focus," said Graham King, president of McKesson Information Solutions. "We've made great strides over the past two years in improving our products and services, and we will continue to take our efforts to the next level. By providing high-quality, reliable solutions, we help our customers in their efforts to automate processes, improve quality and reduce variability of care, which will result in improved financial and clinical outcomes."

McKesson's strategy is to promote quality using industry-recognized standards programs that provide best practices and metrics for continuous quality improvement. Rather than certifying to general business-level requirements for all areas, McKesson selects targeted standards programs to ensure quality in its core business areas - Support Center Practices (SCP) certification program sponsored by the Services & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) for support and the Software Engineering Institute's (SEI) Capability and Maturity Model (CMM) for software development. McKesson also uses International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9000 standards for selected areas of its business in which there is no industry-recognized standards organization or where there is a specific requirement for ISO 9000 certification.

To date, McKesson has achieved SCP certification for five of its support centers: Horizon Clinicals(TM), Paragon(R), Series 2000(TM), Pathways Contract Management(TM) and Extended Care Solutions Group(TM) (ECSG). Several other McKesson support centers are in the final stages of preparing for the rigorous audit that precedes certification. "This `seal of approval' from SCP for support certainly played a role in helping Pathways Homecare, one of the products supported by ECSG, achieve `Best in KLAS' for its category," said Randy Spratt, McKesson senior vice president for technology and standards. "Furthermore, these programs bolster McKesson's internal initiatives to improve customer satisfaction. McKesson's third-party administered support surveys confirm the high level of customer satisfaction, with more than 25,000 surveys showing 93.7 of respondents are satisfied or better with overall support services."

KLAS Enterprises is a leading healthcare industry research and consulting firm, specializing in independently monitoring and reporting on the performance of Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) vendors and their products. The HIT vendor performance data is gathered directly and confidentially from healthcare provider organizations, and is entered into a national database. In exchange for HIT vendor performance data contribution, participating provider organizations receive a wealth of performance information free from the research firm. The database represents data from over 3,000 healthcare facilities on 180+ vendors and 250+ different products.

McKesson Information Solutions is the leader in helping healthcare organizations worldwide provide quality care in the most cost-effective manner possible. Healthcare organizations use our comprehensive solutions to improve patient safety and reduce the cost and variability of care as well as to better manage their revenue stream and resources. For more information, call 1-800-981-8601 or visit the Information Solutions section of our Web site at www.mckesson.com. With revenues of $42 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001, McKesson Corporation ranks No. 35 in the 2001 Fortune 500.