Partners In Care, Corp. Community Physician Organization to Participate in Grant Award for Medicare Electronic Prescribing Pilots

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Partners In Care, Corp. Community Physician Organization to Participate in Grant Award for Medicare Electronic Prescribing Pilots

_{January 30, 2006}

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J., Jan. 31, 2006 -- Partners In Care, Corp. (http://www.piccorp.com), a physician organization serving more than 850 private practice physicians, announced today that it will participate in a $2 million grant awarded to SureScripts, a provider of electronic prescribing services, to conduct tests of electronic prescribing as part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicare prescription drug benefit program.

These awards are a part of the requirements under the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act (MMA), which called for the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to require pilot testing of electronic prescribing standards as a part of the agency's Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit program. Medicare Part D encourages physicians to transmit new prescription and refill requests electronically to a Medicare patient's choice of pharmacy.

Select physicians participating with Partners In Care will use the Care360(TM) Physician Portal solution to further overall understanding of how different eprescribing standards work in a variety of practice settings. The Care360 Physician Portal was developed by MedPlus, the healthcare information technology subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics.

The Care360 Physician Portal is designed to enable physicians to order diagnostic tests and review laboratory results online, prescribe medications, view clinical and administrative information from multiple sources, file documents received electronically or in hard copy into a health record, and share confidential patient information with medical colleagues in a manner that is consistent with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) privacy and security requirements.

"We're looking forward to this new collaboration with MedPlus and SureScripts," said Steven Goldberg, M.D., Chairman, Partners In Care. "PIC has led the way in the application of analytical and reporting technology for the practicing physician, and this trial should provide answers on the benefits of eprescribing technology on healthcare quality and patient safety."

The pilot projects will be evaluated by the Secretary of HHS, and a report of the evaluation will be sent to Congress by April 1, 2007 as required under the Medicare Modernization Act. Based on the results of the pilot project, the Secretary will adopt final uniform standards in 2008 in accordance with the timing prescribed by the statute.

"Similar improvements in healthcare quality and reductions in cost to local employers should be apparent in the data PIC collects through our direct-to-employer programs," said Kevin O'Brien, President, Partners In Care. "We've been able to directly impact the medical costs and quality for them - now we'll have additional tools to improve the pharmaceutical utilization."

About Partners In Care, Corp.

Physician owned and governed, Partners In Care is a physician organization dedicated to 21st century health care delivery and financing throughout Central New Jersey. Partners In Care has been successfully operating performance based incentive programs involving approximately 80,000 members over the past ten years. As a leading Health Care Delivery System Management firm, PIC serves three participating physician groups: the United Medical Group, PC, Central Jersey Physician Network, and Vista Health System. These groups collectively represent approximately 850 physicians, serving about one million patients, and deliver/coordinate over $2 billion in annual healthcare expenditures. PIC currently provides health plan improvement services to a number of health plans and employer/plan sponsors. The clinical/financial reporting capability allows PIC to deliver actionable information to physicians who participate in our various programs.