CHICAGO, IL, April 16, 2005 -- Today's healthcare organizations are discovering that the scientific advances in staff management software introduced recently by AtStaff, Inc., position them to improve patient care and staff satisfaction, and align clinical needs with financial objectives.

In February of this year, AtStaff, Inc., unveiled AtStaff(R) Advantage,(TM) the first staff management system to deliver the patient-focused, evidence-based staffing capabilities that nursing managers need to provide safer, higher quality care, and the clinical justification of staffing utilization and expenses that financial managers need to better control costs and improve productivity.

Two key software advances within AtStaff Advantage ---- an event-driven workload methodology and predictive modeling --- clearly differentiate the system from other staffing products in the marketplace. They work in concert to ensure that staffing decisions are based on detailed, moment-to-moment measurement of actual clinical events and activities, and on accurate predictions of ongoing patient demand and employee availability. The result is that staffing workload is precisely matched to meet documented patient needs and requirements at all points of care and time.

Given its direct impact on healthcare quality, patient safety, cost control, and employee productivity and satisfaction, AtStaff Advantage is generating acclaim among those healthcare organizations who have already selected it.

Customer response to event-driven workload methodology within AtStaff Advantage

"The event-driven workload methodology within the AtStaff software gives validity to determining staffing needs for patient care units," says Rita Haxton, RN, MSN, Vice President of Patient Care at Rapid City Regional Hospital in Rapid City, South Dakota. "It helps you maintain appropriate standards of care, and recognize how occurring clinical events and conditions impact staffing needs."

Unlike the traditional, interval-driven approach to calculating staffing workload, which aggregates data within large, fixed time periods or bases staffing on patient numbers, the event-driven methodology captures and time stamps all clinical factors and timelines associated with each patient encounter. Report periods are scalable along all units of time, from shifts and partial shifts to hours and minutes.

Access to detailed, real-time patient events allows clinicians to precisely assess the direct care hours required to deliver quality, safe care at any point in time. This helps caregivers optimize daily staffing allocation and deployment, adhere to proper staffing ratios, and implement both retrospective and prospective decision support on quality and patient safety initiatives.

"We're committed to providing safe, effective care while working with a limited number of staffing resources," explains Haxton. "To use our resources in the best and most efficient way, we must make decisions centered around actual clinical conditions and not just patient numbers on units. The event-driven workload methodology helps us use our dollars wisely and safely for our patients and staff. Through this, we'll control costs and also improve staff satisfaction."

Patient care leaders at Blessing Hospital in Quincy, Il., another new AtStaff Advantage customer, concur, emphasizing that they expect to gain clinical and financial improvements, and enhance staff satisfaction and retention, by implementing the software.

"From a clinical perspective, we're very excited with this software and this new workload model because we feel it will better position us, as an organization, around meeting patient needs and expectations," reports Jill Mason, Administrative Director of Acute Care Services at Blessing Hospital. "As we move forward with this, we feel we'll be better able to predict what those patient needs will be, so we're not reacting to things, but anticipating them many days in advance."

Mason says she is particularly intrigued about "the ability to drive staffing workload and base staffing utilization on the true standards of care that we're experiencing, whether it's in the ED, Critical Care, Med/Surg or other areas. This is key for us, and much different than anything we've ever found in a software product before.

"Of course, cost and resource management is important as well," she continues. "You have to balance cost and quality in providing the staffing that's needed at the right time, and in using scarce resources, a challenge we work with on a day-to-day basis. I believe that many of the fundamental capabilities of the AtStaff system will help us improve cost control, but the event-driven workload methodology takes it steps further, and helps us document and justify our staffing workload and costs."

Another great benefit, Mason says, of a patient-focused approach is the ability to better attract and retain qualified caregivers.

"We feel that by deploying our staff to meet actual patient needs, and sharpening our focus on patient safety and establishing patient safety standards, that we will attract quality nurses here. It's part of our commitment to provide excellent healthcare, and move us as an organization toward Magnet status. We recognize that our approach to patient care and staffing processes are essential, and they have a key impact on our reputation and ability to recruit the best people."

Customer response to predictive modeling within AtStaff Advantage

In a healthcare environment marked by sometimes dramatic fluctuations in patient volume and demand, the predictive modeling capabilities within AtStaff Advantage are also eliciting strong marketplace interest.

The software utilizes a powerful search analyzer and a series of predictability engines to forecast, up to 14 days ahead, both the demand for staff and the availability of staff. The software detects patterns and changes in clinical demand, which vary by unit and time period, and relies on search analysis to pinpoint the most effective and accurate predictor of patient census and census acuity.

Accurate forecasting enables managers to prepare for upcoming scenarios, and gives them the opportunity and alternatives needed to pinpoint and assign --- well in advance --- the most qualified, competent and cost-efficient caregivers for patient care needs. Staff satisfaction is improved because most staffing decisions are made days ahead. Employees gain more reliable and consistent schedules, and greater lead time on filling open assignments.

"Several weeks ago, we had a huge staffing crisis in our nine-bed ICU," recalls Deb Pokorzynski, Clinical Nursing Director at Alpena Regional Medical Center in Alpena, Mi, another new AtStaff Advantage customer. "At first, we thought it was a fluke. We had to staff with an agency, which cost us big bucks. After the crisis had passed, we realized that this had happened last year at about the same time. If we had the predictive modeling in use at that point, we would have had two weeks time to plan for our staffing needs."

Pokorzynski says she expects the predictive modeling with AtStaff Advantage will provide a scientific and orderly means of minimizing overtime and registry use.

"In the past, we've implemented what we called demand planning," she explains. "This was a very manual and time-consuming process, but it helped us better predict where our vacancies would occur. We were able to create and fill nursing positions based on this information. We're hoping that the automated predictive capabilities within AtStaff Advantage will replace this process, and continue to help us reduce our overtime."

Innovative software technologies such as AtStaff Advantage will play a key role in the future of healthcare, Pokorzynski predicts, as organizations seek ways to increase quality as well as efficiency.

"Technology is essential for us to remain competitive in today's healthcare world," she emphasizes. "We need to utilize advanced capabilities in order to keep our costs down, and ensure we are using the most cost-effective means to staff our medical center."

About Rapid City Regional Hospital

Rapid City Regional Hospital is a not-for-profit regional medical center in Rapid City, S.D., that is licensed for 417 beds. The medical center includes a comprehensive set of healthcare facilities and services, including various community hospitals, a rehabilitation hospital, a center for behavioral health, a cancer care institute, nursing homes, assisted living centers and numerous clinics.

More information is available at www.rcrh.org

About Blessing Hospital

Blessing Hospital in Quincy, Il., is a private, not-for-profit, 367-bed acute care medical center that provides a wide range of health services to residents in a 15-county area of northeast Missouri, western Illinois, and southeast Iowa. It provides primary, acute, emergency care and specialty care services, and is home to centers of excellence in the treatment of cancer, heart and cardiovascular ailments, wound care, and women's health issues.

More information is available at www.blessinghospital.org

About Alpena Regional Medical Center

Alpena Regional Medical Center (ARMC) incorporates a 146-bed acute care facility and a complete range of inpatient services in Alpena, Mi. Supported by a healthcare team of nearly 100 physicians, over 800 employees and approximately 250 volunteers, ARMC delivers comprehensive healthcare services for residents of Northeastern Michigan, including those in Alpena, Alcona, Montmorency, Iosco, Oscoda and Presque Isle counties.

More information is available at www.agh.org/

About AtStaff, Inc.

AtStaff, Inc., develops staff management software that enables healthcare organizations to improve healthcare quality and patient safety, increase profitability, and enhance staff recruitment and retention.

The latest and most advanced version of the company's software is AtStaff(R) Advantage,(TM) which leverages predictive modeling and event-driven staffing capabilities to meet critical operational, clinical and financial objectives.

Enterprise-wide staff scheduling, nurse scheduling and physician scheduling software systems from AtStaff, Inc., serve more than 1,200 healthcare organizations, medical facilities, nursing departments and group practices.

More information is available at www.atstaff.com.

Stephen Werk, 919-382-8282, Ext. 205 
swerk@atstaff.com