Siemens Trendsetting Healthcare IT Innovations Enable Care without Boundaries at HIMSS 2006; Siemens Highlights End-to-End IT and Imaging Workflow Solutions in Support of Interoperable EHR.

SAN DIEGO -- Demonstrating proven outcomes across the continuum of care, Siemens Medical Solutions (booth #1237) will showcase its trendsetting strategy and innovative portfolio of workflow-driven healthcare information technology (IT) solutions at the 2006 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference and Exhibition, Feb. 12-16 in San Diego.

"Patient care is no longer about one doctor's office or one hospital bed," said Tom Miller, president, Healthcare IT Division, Siemens Medical Solutions. "It's about care delivery occurring across multiple settings and among interdisciplinary care teams, each with a network of collaborative support systems that must act in a coordinated and timely manner. Siemens is transforming the way care is delivered by breaking down the traditional boundaries that exist in today's care settings: too few resources, unavailable information and broken processes."

Helping to expedite healthcare processes through workflow technology, Siemens' solutions bridge the boundaries and connect processes, providers, information and patients to support the delivery of safer, more effective and collaborative care - care without boundaries.

Visitors to the Siemens HIMSS booth will learn about the role of Soarian(R) and syngo(R) in delivering consolidated, continuous workflow capabilities, while providing the foundation for an interoperable electronic health record (EHR) by allowing real-time access to the complete patient record, including images and data.

Through Soarian, Siemens next generation workflow-driven health information solution (HIS), clinical and administrative cycles come together with the integrated image acquisition, Radiology Information System (RIS), Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), and post-processing capabilities of Siemens syngo Suite. The syngo image management platform delivers unprecedented linkages to Soarian, bringing together all Siemens software into a single instrument to support patient care. Soarian features a longitudinal clinical repository that gives clinicians browser-based, real-time access to patient histories, demographics, allergies, results, and images.

HIMSS attendees will see firsthand how Soarian's workflow technology reduces manual process steps; orchestrates clinical best practices; and monitors, tracks, and escalates processes automatically.

For example, Soarian's Pneumonia Workflow identifies patients with community-acquired pneumonia and initiates orders automatically, accelerating completion of the diagnostic phase. The system assists clinicians in completing tests and triggers an intravenous (IV) antibiotic protocol within four hours after admission, reducing manual paper work and phone calls. Similarly, a Soarian-driven IV Restart Workflow tracks and initiates IV site care protocols to prevent infection and maintain IV access, improving quality and patient safety.

From an administrative efficiency standpoint, disconnects between Radiology, Nursing and Dietary can cause patients with a Nothing By Mouth (NPO) dietary restriction to receive meals, resulting in the rescheduling of tests and inefficient utilization of medical equipment. A Soarian NPO Workflow can eliminate rescheduling of tests and subsequent delays in treatment, thereby optimizing Radiology throughput and workflow and maximizing resource utilization.

In continuing to expand Soarian's workflow efficiencies to the clinical departmental level, Siemens will also feature emerging Soarian departmental solutions as works-in-progress at HIMSS.

Additionally, Siemens will highlight outcomes healthcare providers across the country have achieved using its solutions. Featured customers presenting at Siemens in-booth theater include The Chester County Hospital, Nebraska Heart Hospital Heart Institute, Northwest Physicians Network, South Carolina Heart Center, Susquehanna Health System, East Texas Medical Center and Wyoming Valley Health Care System. In addition, several Siemens' executive and customer speaking engagements will be part of the HIMSS Core and Pre-Conference Education Sessions.

As issues of quality, patient safety, connectivity and interoperability continue to drive healthcare discussions from Washington, D.C., to points around the globe, Siemens is leading the way with innovative solutions designed to enable providers to deliver a cohesive, patient-focused experience - from registration to discharge - across the continuum of care.

Siemens Medical Solutions of Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) with headquarters in Malvern, Pennsylvania and Erlangen, Germany, is one of the largest suppliers to the healthcare industry in the world. The company is known for bringing together innovative medical technologies, healthcare information systems, management consulting, and support services, to help customers achieve tangible, sustainable, clinical and financial outcomes. Employing approximately 31,000 people worldwide and operating in more than 120 countries, Siemens Medical Solutions reported sales of 7.6 billion EUR, orders of 8.6 billion EUR and group profit of 976 million EUR for fiscal 2005. More information can be obtained by visiting www.usa.siemens.com/medical-pressroom.