St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital and the Texas Heart Institute Named ``Center of Excellence'' by Surgical Information Systems.

ATLANTA -- Healthcare Pioneer Joins Prestigious List of Facilities Committed to Technology and Excellence in Medicine

St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital and the Texas Heart(R) Institute in Houston, Texas, has been named a "Center of Excellence" by Surgical Information Systems (SIS), Alpharetta, Ga. St. Luke's joins a prestigious group of health care facilities committed to practicing the best clinical care while providing the most advanced technology to patients and providers. As a Center of Excellence, St. Luke's will serve as a model site for other health care facilities seeking to experience the real-time use of the Surgical Information Systems technology. St. Luke's, home to world-renowned physicians in a full range of specialties, is unequaled for coordinating patient care with cutting edge research and technology. For thirteen consecutive years, the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the best cardiology and heart surgery center in the Southwest -- and among the top ten centers nationwide -- in the publication's annual "America's Best Hospital" survey.

In December 2000, St. Luke's began implementing the latest in surgical management systems, installing technology modules from Surgical Information Systems in its 44 O.R. surgical suite. Their goal in implementing the SIS technology was to improve patient care by enhancing surgical processes and procedures at the point of care. By implementing modules for Nursing documentation, Scheduling and Rules Based Charging, the hospital gained instant access to critical patient information with the ability to calculate accurate surgery costs. St. Luke's selected SIS because of the system's integration capabilities and functionality. The software has helped the St. Luke's team increase time devoted to patient care by eliminating or reducing many administrative tasks. St. Luke's conducts more than 12,000 inpatient surgeries and 15,400 outpatient surgeries each year.

St. Luke's selected the SIS Rules Based Charging (RBC) module to gain real-time billing and a more efficient way to capture charges in the surgery department. RBC makes it possible to automatically capture all of the charges related to a surgical case, virtually eliminating late charges. This not only ensures that the hospital properly bills for all of its surgical procedures, but also that it captures the proper reimbursements from insurance contracts. Since installing the RBC module, St. Luke's has seen their late charges decrease from a high of 3.5% of gross revenue in 2002 to a low of 1.7% of gross revenue in February 2003. RBC reduces data entry time and errors for both nurses and billers, and gives the nurses more time for patient care.

"With the government's increased focus on the use of technology in healthcare, along with the recent appointment of HHS Czar, hospitals have seen increasing pressure to use technology to improve healthcare delivery," said Richard L. Jackson, president and CEO of Surgical Information Systems. "St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, a pioneer in innovative healthcare, has now distinguish themselves as a technology innovator and trailblazer for other hospitals to follow suit." Jackson added, "Their success with SIS Rules Based Charging is a clear indication of the benefits information technology can provide to the business of healthcare."

Surgical Information Systems provides the most comprehensive integrated suite of modules focused specifically on the OR to supply clinicians and administrators with ALL the clinical and financial data relative to every surgical case. The system includes modules for case and staff scheduling, materials management, rules-based charging, and clinical documentation for pre-admission testing (PAT) through post-anesthesia care unit (PACU). Other modules include automated surgeon's operative notes, and SIS PACS, which allows secure access to diagnostic images and videos from anywhere via the Internet. The company's StatCom-O.R. is a workflow communications tool that tracks the surgery department's most important assets -- patients, beds, staff and equipment. Together, the system enables healthcare professionals to provide the highest quality care at the lowest possible cost. The Surgical Information Systems product utilizes an open architecture and a Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows- or Unix-based operating system that is tied into an Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) database. Visit the company's Web site at http://www.ORsoftware.com. Learn more about St. Luke's at www.sleh.com.