Allscripts Launches Patients Interactive; New Service to Help Patients

    Business Editors/Healthcare Editors

    CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 17, 2005--Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (Nasdaq:MDRX), the leading provider of clinical software, connectivity and information solutions for physicians, today introduced Patients Interactive(TM), an innovative solution that redefines the way physicians and their patients work together to better manage diseases and improve medication adherence. Patients Interactive will be integrated with TouchWorks(TM) iHealth, a new patient-physician connectivity solution announced by Allscripts in a press release earlier this week that will provide patients secure online access to their own personal health record and to online consultations with their physician. According to estimates, the U.S. healthcare industry could save an estimated $100 billion a year if all patients followed their physicians' therapy plans and this product provides a solution to begin to address the problem.
    Patients Interactive provides a customized care plan that educates a patient about their condition and delivers the tools necessary to improve patient outcomes and therapy adherence. The service, which is free to both physicians and patients, uses e-mail reminders and interactive educational programs from the physician, as well as offline components, such as letters, coupons, call center support and point-of-care handouts to improve patients' adherence to their therapy plans.
    According to Jupiter Research, physicians are best positioned to influence patient behavior, but lack the tools necessary to help in the adherence effort. Payers, health plans, employers and pharmaceutical companies spend billions of dollars every year on disease management and medication adherence efforts that bypass the physicians rather than working with and through them. Patients Interactive puts physicians at the center of the process and offers them the ability to effectively monitor their patients' adherence levels.
    "The problem with traditional payer-driven, paper-based disease management and adherence programs is that they do not apply to all of my patients, and enrolling patients is not part of a physician's workflow," said C.T. Lin, MD, Senior Medical Director of Informatics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. "Patients Interactive is the first solution I have seen that does both things effectively."
    Utilizing Allscripts' award-winning TouchWorks electronic health record and TouchScript(TM) e-Prescribing solutions, physicians can effortlessly enroll patients into the program at the point-of-care. As the physician prescribes a medication for the patient's condition, Patients Interactive can be initiated with the patient's permission to initiate enrollment into the program. In full compliance with HIPAA privacy standards, the patient is directed to a secure personalized website, which contains information about their condition and therapy including educational programs from Physicians Interactive(TM), dietary recommendations, potential side effects, and clinical content derived from Medem, the premier physician-patient communications network that was founded and is governed by the nation's leading medical societies. Like a personalized health coach, Patients Interactive will send reminders and alerts to patients when prescription refills are due, as well as e-mails and letters from their physician providing information on their condition and promoting therapy adherence.
    "Allscripts has always believed that the physician should be and is at the center in directing patient behavior and motivating their adherence to medical therapies," said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts. "Patients Interactive is a breakthrough that for the first time provides a point-of-care tool to close the loop between writing a prescription and everything that happens thereafter. This program will have a direct and very positive impact on improving patient outcomes."
    In addition to improving disease management, Patients Interactive provides a number of valuable offerings and integration capabilities to reduce healthcare costs and improve the quality of patient care. Patients can receive coupons and prescription drug discounts, as well as provide valuable feedback on clinical visit satisfaction. Patients can conduct online consultations with their physician using Medem's Secure Messaging and Online Consultation(TM), as well as create and maintain their personal health record.
    "With little to no burden placed on the physician, Patients Interactive is embedded into the physician-patient care plan and becomes an extension of the physician-patient relationship, forming the basis for ongoing communication that is customized to the patient's particular health condition," said Mark Thierer, President of the Physicians Interactive Group of Allscripts. "With the growing demand for patient education surrounding consumer directed healthcare and Medicare Part D, Patients Interactive is well positioned to meet a significant industry need."

    About Allscripts Healthcare Solutions

    Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (Allscripts) is the leading provider of clinical software, connectivity and information solutions that physicians use to improve healthcare. The Company's business groups provide unique solutions that inform, connect, and transform healthcare. The Clinical Solutions Group's award-winning clinical software applications include electronic health record (EHR), e-prescribing and document imaging solutions. Additionally, Allscripts provides clinical product education and connectivity solutions for physicians and patients through its Physicians Interactive(TM) Group and medication fulfillment services through its Medication Services Group. Visit Allscripts on the Web at www.allscripts.com.

    This announcement may contain forward-looking statements about Allscripts Healthcare Solutions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are developed by combining currently available information with Allscripts beliefs and assumptions. Forward-looking statements do not guarantee future performance. Because Allscripts cannot predict all of the risks and uncertainties that may affect it, or control the ones it does predict, Allscripts' actual results may be materially different from the results expressed in its forward-looking statements. For a more complete discussion of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may affect Allscripts, see the Company's 2003 Annual Report on Form 10-K, available through the Web site maintained by the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.

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CONTACT: Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Dan Michelson, 312-506-1317 dan.michelson@allscripts.com

KEYWORD: ILLINOIS INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HARDWARE MEDICAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE NETWORKING PRODUCT SOURCE: Allscripts Healthcare Solutions

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