U.S. Air Force Expands Contract with HealthCare Resolution Services, Inc. (HCRS); HCRS to Provide Health Information Management Services for Two Additional Bases.

LAUREL, Md. -- HealthCare Resolution Services, Inc. (HCRS) (www.hcrs-inc.com) today announced the addition of two Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) to its existing roster of Air Force clientele. The U.S. Air Force awarded HCRS a five-year contract to provide services to the 20th Medical Group at Shaw Air Force Base (AFB) in South Carolina and a one-year contract to provide services to the 436th Medical Group at Dover AFB in Delaware. At both locations, HCRS will provide Health Information Management services that encompass the areas of medical records auditing and audit-based provider training. With this addition, HCRS now staffs over 200 full-time certified coders for the Department of Defense.

HCRS currently provides medical records coding, auditing and training services at 17 of the Air Force's MTFs nationwide and at a combined total of 31 MTFs across all military services.

"These contracts have enormous significance for HCRS," explains Kathryn Feldmann, HCRS Director of Business Development. "They enable us to spread our wings beyond the Air and Education Command--where we have an established relationship--and demonstrate to other Air Force Commands how we can support their data quality efforts."

HCRS received a contract to provide services to the Shaw AFB in October and began providing auditing and training services to the base later that month. At the Dover AFB, HCRS began reviewing medical record documentation at the contract start date of January 1, 2006.

Since the contracts began, data quality at the bases has already shown significant improvement. Between last October and March alone, the Shaw AFB Pediatrics Department saw coding accuracy in Evaluation & Management increase from 60% to 94.7%, an impressive gain of 58%.

"We've enjoyed some real successes with our provider training component," says Suzanne Motta Plavnieks, HCRS Director of Operations and Project Manager for the Shaw contract. "Our staff came onto the base, audited the medical records coding and used their findings as the basis of a new training program for medical providers. The fact that we did so while accommodating the schedules of military medical personnel during wartime just made the process a bit more of a challenge," Plavnieks adds.

As the statistics demonstrate, this is a challenge to which HCRS has been more than equal. In addition to auditing all aspects of medical coding and implementing a provider training program, HCRS has supported both bases in transitioning to a paperless medical record coding system using the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technological Application (AHLTA), the Coding Compliance Editor (CCE) and all associated coding tools. Shaw AFB is the first MTF in the Air Combat Command to which HCRS has provided services; Dover AFB is the second MTF in the Air Force Material Command to receive support from HCRS.

"We're always excited about building new relationships," says Valerie Pair-Biggs, Project Manager for the Dover AFB. "This is a great opportunity for HCRS to shine and demonstrate our expertise by supporting the base in exceeding Air Force coding and data quality standards and fiscal responsibilities."

About HCRS

HealthCare Resolution Services, Inc. provides project management, data abstraction, quality assurance, business process improvement and staffing services to public and private clients in the health care industry. The company's track record for responsiveness, customer service and effective working relationships with clients and contractors is reflected in the tendency of leading government and commercial clients to return to HCRS for additional services after the initial contracts end. HCRS currently employs more than 300 full-time licensed and certified health professionals nationwide. For more information, visit www.hcrs-inc.com or call 866-599-4277.