Atlantic Health System Selects McKesson to Provide Physicians with Remote Access to Patient Information; Solution to Leverage Investment in Horizon Clinicals

SAN FRANCISCO--Jan. 25, 2002--Physicians affiliated with Atlantic Health System (AHS), headquartered in Florham Park, N.J., will soon have secure access to online patient information from anywhere in the hospital, as well as from their homes and offices.

AHS recently signed a deal with McKesson Information Solutions totaling $12.8 million to purchase a variety of McKesson's Horizon Clinicals(TM) solutions, including HorizonWP Physician Portal(TM) (to be branded Access1 by AHS) which will provide secure, seamless access to current as well as historical patient information via the Web or intranet. Horizon Clinicals is McKesson's comprehensive suite of next-generation, integrated solutions for physicians and clinicians in virtually every care setting.

The AHS agreement with McKesson also included purchase of the Horizon Care Record(TM), a longitudinal clinical data repository that creates an integrated, cross-episodic electronic medical record. Other solutions included Horizon Passport(TM), the industry's first Web-based EMPI (enterprise master person index) for accurate medical record coordination across the enterprise, and WebTREND(TM), which provides healthcare managers easy access to consolidated enterprise information via a Web browser.

Part of the Horizon Clinicals family of solutions, HorizonWP Physician Portal is achieving rapid adoption because it allows physicians to personalize and integrate the delivery of information according to their workflow needs. It enhances the quality of care delivery by unifying patient information from disparate systems.

"Physicians need access to accurate information in a timely manner that doesn't slow down their day. What we needed was a solution with a `follow me' mentality -- a way to give physicians an information system that could support their access requirements at every location," said Robert Hendricks, chief information officer and vice president for AHS. "HorizonWP Physician Portal will provide integrated and secure access to our clinical systems and other information sources, enabling us to improve patient care and workflow efficiency."

"Clearly, anytime physicians have the ability to retrieve all active and historical information on their individual patients, they will make better decisions," agreed Steven Papish, M.D., who practices at AHS and is a member of the organization's Physician Information Systems Committee. "HorizonWP Physician Portal will give our physicians the ability to share data more readily, so we will be able to provide more coordinated care for our patients. With the portal, I will have the flexibility to personalize the data the way I want to see it -- that's something I believe every doctor in our system will appreciate," he added.

Hendricks sees HorizonWP Physician Portal as a focal point of synergy for both its new and its existing solutions. "The Physician Portal definitely leverages every investment we already have in McKesson information technology," said Hendricks. "I see it as being supported by three sources of information. One source is the data coming from the care documentation solutions. The second source is data coming from interfaces to other clinical information such as radiology, transcription, pharmacy and laboratory. As coordinated through Horizon Care Record, all of this information will be available in a truly patient-centric, longitudinal manner. And the third source is the integration with our McKesson STAR registration system, which provides a foundation to coordinate a single patient record throughout the organization. In addition, HorizonWP Physician Portal provides the foundation for the integration of new solutions, either from McKesson or elsewhere, further leveraging that single point of contact for the physician."

"The medical staff at AHS are our stakeholders," said Joe Trunfio, AHS president and chief executive officer, "and we rely heavily on them to help us make smart decisions concerning our infrastructure. Information technology, and specifically the Horizon Clinicals project, is an important part of our ongoing effort to attract the finest physicians to AHS. We believe it will be a significant benefit to have IT solutions in place that help our clinicians do their jobs more efficiently."

Morristown Memorial in Morristown, N.J. and Overlook Hospital in Summit, N.J. have had McKesson's patient care management solutions in place since 1994. The new agreement expands the relationship with McKesson and provides Overlook Hospital with Horizon Clinical Documentation(TM) and Horizon Order Management(TM), while giving both hospitals Horizon Passport and HorizonWP Physician Portal. Nurses and other clinicians use Horizon Clinical Documentation to complete charting in real time at the point of care, and the information becomes an integrated part of the multidisciplinary electronic patient record. Documentation is legible, accurate, and complete; it can also be tied to charges, which makes billing more appropriate and hospital audits much easier.

According to Graham King, president of McKesson Information Solutions, "With a `refuse to lose' philosophy, AHS has established itself as a healthcare technology leader in the northeast United States. Our job is to empower them, and we have committed to doing that with information technology solutions that enable their clinicians to make the best possible care decisions as efficiently as possible."

The four hospitals of Atlantic Health System offer a total of 1,662 beds and serve nearly five million people in 11 counties in northern and central New Jersey, making AHS one of the largest healthcare systems in the state. In addition to striving for clinical excellence, AHS is committed to the communities it serves, offering education, support groups and a variety of community-based services. For more information, visit www.atlantichealth.org. McKesson Corporation is the leader in helping healthcare organizations worldwide provide quality care in the most cost-effective manner possible. Healthcare organizations use our comprehensive solutions to improve patient safety and reduce the cost and variability of care as well as to better manage their revenue stream and resources. For more information, visit McKesson's website at http://www.mckesson.com. With revenues of $42 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001, McKesson ranks No. 35 in the 2001 Fortune 500.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These statements may be identified by their use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "approximates," "intends," "plans," "estimates" or the negative of these words or other comparable terminology. The most significant of these risks and uncertainties are described in the company's Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and include, but are not limited to: the resolution or outcome of pending litigation and government investigations relating to the company's previously announced financial restatement ("Restatement"); the effect of the events relating to, or arising out of, the Restatement on the company's ability to attract and retain employees and management; the changing U.S. healthcare environment, including potential changes in private and governmental reimbursement for healthcare products and services, the method by which such products and services are delivered, legislation or regulations governing such products and services, or mandated benefits or changes in manufacturers' pricing or distribution policies; substantial defaults in payment or a material reduction in purchases by large customers; the ability of McKesson Information Solutions to retain existing customers and to attract new customers in light of rapid technological advances, challenges in integrating the company's software products, or the slowing or deferral of demand for such products resulting from the impact of current or pending government regulations; the timing and amounts of the ongoing customer settlement process; and the company's ability to successfully integrate and operate acquired businesses, and manage the risks associated with such businesses, including the acquisition of the business formerly known as HBO & Co. The company assumes no obligation to update information contained in this release.

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