Penton's Expansion Management Magazine Announces "Healthcare Cost Quotient" State Rankings, Evaluating Employer Cost Factors.

NEW YORK -- Penton's Expansion Management([TM]), a business magazine for executives of companies actively looking to expand or relocate their facilities, today released its fifth annual "Healthcare Cost Quotient" (HQ) rankings. This year, Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin received the magazine's "5-Star" rating, signifying their overall placement as the ten highest-ranked states. The HQ rankings are based on evaluation of data in five major healthcare categories: health care facilities, health care providers, health insurance costs, health care provider costs, and malpractice insurance costs. A complete listing of all 50 states, including their ratings in each category, is available in the publication's January/February 2007 issue and on the Web at www.expansionmanagement.com.

Healthcare costs for business are expected to rise by 6 to 8 percent in 2007 and employee healthcare has become a major factor in company profitability. As a result, site selection consultants and executives are increasingly evaluating healthcare costs when choosing locations for future facility expansion or relocation.

"Many companies engaged in site selection understand that, by choosing the right state, they can realize significant savings in the area of healthcare. While this is just one of many factors to be considered, the rapid escalation of healthcare costs has increased its relative importance dramatically," said Bill King, chief editor of Expansion Management. "Employers want locations that offer reasonable health care costs, as well as an abundance of high-quality health care providers, which can assist their recruiting efforts."

For additional information on the Healthcare Cost Quotient survey, contact King at [phone] ([e-mail]), or Michael Keating, senior research editor at [phone] ([e-mail].)

Expansion Management is distributed to more than 45,000 CEOs, vice presidents, directors and other officers of companies that have indicated they are considering expanding into new geographic areas. In addition to its bimonthly magazine, the publication offers e-newsletters, Webcasts, conferences and additional digital information for its audience. For more information, visit www.expansionmanagement.com. Expansion Management is published by Penton Media, Inc.

Headquartered in New York, the new Penton Media, Inc. is one of the nation's largest business-to-business media and information companies, serving more than six million business professionals every month. Its market-leading brands are focused on 23 industries. The company was formed through the combination of Prism Business Media and Penton Media. The new company will adopt the Penton Media brand and expects to complete the transition to this new unified branding by March 15. Its growing portfolio includes 113 trade magazines, 145 Web sites, 96 industry trade shows and conferences and more than 500 information data products. The privately held company is owned by U.S. Equity Partners II, an investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co., LP, its co-investors, and by MidOcean Partners. For additional information on the company and its businesses, visit www.prismb2b.com and www.penton.com.