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Banner Health System Activates E&C’s OB System at Estrella Medical Center First of 17 Banner Facilities to Go Live with IPROB™

New York City and Phoenix, AZ– May 9, 2006 – E&C Medical Intelligence, Inc., the leading provider of risk reduction and clinical quality improvement systems and services for obstetrics, today announced that Banner Estrella Medical Center, Phoenix, has successfully activated E&C’s Intelligent Patient Record for Obstetrics (IPR_OB™). The IPR_OB™ is recognized as the most advanced real-time best practice and risk management support tool for the OB practitioner. Used in over 100,000 births to date, IPR_OB has demonstrated statistical reductions in the risk and prevention of critical clinical errors. Banner signed an agreement to provide the IPR_OB, including its full risk reduction package, to the entire Banner system of 17 facilities this past summer.

“The implementation is just underway but we are extremely pleased with the addition of IPR_OB to our system of obstetrical care,” said John Hensing, senior vice president of Care Management and Quality for Banner Health. “Our physicians and nursing staff are also very excited. By using such a clinically and technically sophisticated tool, we are taking another step in meeting our mission of ‘making a difference in people’s lives through excellent patient care.’”

"The IPR_OB improves patient safety and quality through real time smart technology and the documentation of care is easy and complete. With the use of care guidelines and clinical protocols, it is like having another medical professional at your side," said Dan O’Keeffe, MD, a perinatologist and member of Phoenix Perinatal Associates, a 16-member physician group in Phoenix. Dr. O’Keeffe also serves as a physician liaison to the clinical risk intervention team that defined, selected and customized the system.
Diane Rogers, Banner Health’s system director of Clinical Risk Intervention added, “The enhancements provided by the OB intelligent information system offer an extra layer of safety, and assists our caregivers in providing better, safer care to our mothers and babies”.

E&C helps eliminate clinical errors in real-time and improve the quality of care in the OB environment through its IPR_OB product. Functioning as a complete intelligent OB chart for both physicians and nurses, the system proactively supports clinicians in providing the highest level of care and avoiding clinical mistakes, while generating meticulous documentation. At its core is a comprehensive clinical knowledgebase comprised of over 6,500 best practice rules and 13,000 clinical data fields. IPR_OB's powerful inference engine analyzes the latest patient data against this extensive clinical knowledgebase to offer clinicians appropriate choices of care, documentation and risk management pathways for the current clinical situation. The complete IPR_OB package also includes an extensive risk management consultancy to help address variations from the hospital’s accepted best practices.

About E&C Medical Intelligence, Inc.
E&C Medical Intelligence, Inc. is a pioneer in automated clinical management support and documentation. The company provides breakthrough real-time, knowledge-based best practice software systems featuring an intelligent patient record and associated consulting services that, together, reduce risk and improve the quality of care. E&C currently offers proven solutions along the obstetrics continuum: prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum. The company is based in New York City with offices in Chicago, Orlando, Phoenix and Nashville. Visit the E&C website at: www.ecmed.com. www.ecmed.com.

About Banner Health and Estrella Medical Center
Phoenix-based Banner Health is one of the largest non-profit health care systems in the country. The system owns or manages 20 acute-care hospitals, four long-term care centers and an array of other services, including family clinics, home care services, hospice, a nursing registry, and home medical equipment services in seven states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado , Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming.
Banner Estrella Medical Center is the newest facility to join the Banner Health system. Banner Estrella opened January 2005 to serve the rapidly-growing communities of Avondale, Buckeye, Glendale, Goodyear, Litchfield Park, Peoria, Surprise, Tolleson and west Phoenix. The 50-acre campus includes a 172-bed hospital, an outpatient surgery center and a medical office building. Services offered at the medical campus include general surgery, cardiac services, ambulatory care, medical imaging, orthopedic services, emergency services and a comprehensive women and infants services program.

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