McKessonHBOC's New .com Pharmacy Solutions Provides Tools Critical to Success in Booming E-Healthcare Marketplace.

Business Editors/Health & High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BW HealthWire)--Feb. 23, 2000

Program provides most comprehensive websites for independent

pharmacies today, featuring award-winning yourhealth.com consumer

healthcare content and e-commerce capabilities

Leveraging the power of the Internet to enable everything from purchasing prescriptions to finding ways to stay healthy, McKesson HBOC, Inc., today announced the launch of the industry's most comprehensive Internet service for independent pharmacies.

The new .com Pharmacy Solutions(SM) is available to more than 4,600 members within McKessonHBOC's network of contracted and franchised Valu-Rite(R) and Health Mart(R) pharmacies, the largest "virtual" chain of retail pharmacies in the nation. McKessonHBOC has delivered the infrastructure to design, build and maintain websites for participating Valu-Rite and Health Mart customers, positioning them to compete efficiently and profitably in the online environment.

The websites offered by .com Pharmacy Solutions include 24-hour-a-day capability for ordering prescription refills, access to information about pharmaceuticals as well as OTC products and a pharmacy map locator service. The websites also include valuable patient information through McKessonHBOC's award-winning yourhealth.com consumer healthcare content. Through a link to yourhealth.com customized for the pharmacies, consumers can access a broad range of information on healthcare related conditions from a site that has been recognized and validated by leading health insurers across the country for its accuracy, timeliness and clarity.

"Through .com Pharmacy Solutions, the independent pharmacist's personal website with yourhealth.com consumer healthcare content simply becomes an extension of their neighborhood pharmacy, " said Marty Tuominen, executive vice president, retail marketing, McKessonHBOC's Pharmaceutical Group. "This gives consumers the comfort and convenience of knowing that their trusted independent pharmacist can service them and answer their questions whether they shop via the web or come into the pharmacy. This web program also gives independent pharmacists the opportunity to differentiate themselves in the local market with the tools and support to compete in an increasingly wired world."

Product pricing, services offered and the design of the website will be directed by the participating independent pharmacy. McKessonHBOC will provide assistance and manage program components designed to support the independent pharmacies overall business objectives. For example, to assist with the creation of a pharmacy's website, McKessonHBOC offers a full range of design options, color palettes, and library of photos and content from which the independent pharmacist can choose to create their own website. If preferred, the pharmacist can use his/her own photography, graphics and content. This strategy helps to ensure that the website becomes an extension of the independent pharmacists' retail location, which helps maintain the personal relationship independent pharmacists have with their patients.

To ensure that the Internet program was designed to meet the needs of independent pharmacists, McKessonHBOC conducted intensive research with a nationwide with a sampling of Valu-Rite and Health Mart pharmacists. The results clearly indicate that independents recognize the growing importance of the Internet and that they want to participate. Of the independent pharmacists McKessonHBOC interviewed in late 1999, 40 percent plan to launch a website in 2000 and another 35 percent within the next two years. Most importantly, more than 70 percent are looking to the Internet as a way to drive sales and expand their reach into their local community.

"Despite an incredibly competitive and complex environment, over the past few years, independent pharmacists have fought to find ways to remain competitive and to continue to serve their customers," said Tuominen. "On their own, many independents would not have the resources or time to develop a quality website and could risk losing their patient base. With our offering of affordable computer hardware options, low-cost Internet Service Provider (ISP) offering, a highly secure web hosting environment and fully customizable content features, we are providing independent pharmacies with the resources necessary to compete on par with other Internet pharmacies."

"The website service provided by McKessonHBOC is by far the best solution for enabling our pharmacy to jump into e-commerce without breaking the bank," said Jason Buckner, information systems manager for Grandview Pharmacy, an independent Health Mart franchise in Connersville, Indiana. "Other companies have proposed solutions; others have promised; but nobody has been able to come close to the integrated solution of McKessonHBOC's website program. The combination of the site design, integration and low cost made it an easy decision for us."

Under the new .com Pharmacy Solutions program, Valu-Rite and Health Mart pharmacies can create a customized website that links to the Valu-Rite and Health Mart-brand websites, http://www.valu-rite.com or http://www.healthmart.com. Individual pharmacy websites will have the capability to accept product orders and refill prescriptions on-line, and can include personalized information such as pharmacy hours, payment methods and delivery services. Each site also incorporates a pharmacy locator, details on services provided at member pharmacies and links to various health-related national organizations. Individual pharmacy websites will also have yourhealth.com Health and wellness content, which includes the Clinical Reference Systems Advisor series, provided through the Access Health Group, a leading care management and health information service provider.

For more information about McKessonHBOC's .com Pharmacy Solutions service, Valu-Rite and Health Mart pharmacies and other interested customers can call Valu-Rite Customer Service, at 800-884-8258 and Health Mart Customer Service at, 800-369-5467, or obtain details through their McKessonHBOC retail sales manager.

McKessonHBOC's Valu-Rite network and Health Mart franchise provides benefits to independent pharmacists usually associated with chains, such as private-label products, merchandising and marketing tools, and technologies for managing independent businesses.

The Access Health Group, a division of McKessonHBOC's Information Technology Business, is the leading provider of clinically based care management and healthcare information services in acute care management, population-based and person-based disease management, case management and utilization management. The Access Health Group provides services to more than 30 million members through their health plans, self-funded employer groups, integrated delivery systems or government groups. The unique expertise of the Access Health Group, and their independent strengths within the healthcare industry, create a synergistic effect for the creation of innovative programs and services such as those provided through .com Pharmacy Solutions.

McKesson HBOC, Inc., a Fortune 60 corporation, is the world's largest pharmaceutical supply management and healthcare information technology company. McKessonHBOC provides supply management and information technologies across the entire continuum of healthcare, including market-leading businesses in pharmaceutical and medical-surgical distribution, automation, information technology and outsourcing services for healthcare providers and payors. More information about McKessonHBOC is available on the company's World Wide Website at: http://www.mckhboc.com.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These statements may be identified by their use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects," "may," "should," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "anticipates" and similar words. Risks and uncertainties include: the resolution or outcome of pending litigation and government investigations relating to the Company's previously announced financial restatement; the Company's ability to recognize revenues in subsequent periods that had initially been improperly recorded in prior periods; the Company's ability to successfully integrate and operate acquired businesses and the risks associated with such businesses, including the merger that created McKessonHBOC; the changing U.S. healthcare environment, including potential changes in private and governmental reimbursement for healthcare services, the method by which such services are delivered, legislation or regulations governing such services or mandated benefits, or changes in manufacturers' pricing or distribution policies; the ability of the Company's Healthcare Information Technology business to retain existing customers and to attract new customers in light of rapid technological advances, slowing of demand for software products because of Year 2000 concerns and challenges in integrating the Company's software products; the effect of the events relating to, or arising out of, the Company's restatement of financial results on the Company's ability to manage its businesses and to attract and retain employees and management; the Company's ability and the ability of the Company's vendors and customers to complete the necessary actions to achieve a Year 2000 conversion for computer systems and applications; and other factors discussed from time to time in reports filed by McKesson HBOC, Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company assumes no obligation to update information contained in this release.

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