American Gastroenterological Association and MedAssurant to Develop Outcomes Registries to Improve GI Care

Leaders in GI Medicine and Healthcare Analytics Combine Capabilities to Advance
Evidence-Based Insights into Gastroenterological Care and Outcomes
BETHESDA, Md. & BOWIE, Md.--(Business Wire)--
The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), the leading association
representing clinicians and researchers who specialize in the digestive tract,
and MedAssurant, Inc., a leading provider of data-driven healthcare solutions,
announced today the collaborative initiative to develop a set of registries to
assist physicians, payors, policy makers, and other healthcare stakeholders in
the study and improvement of clinical and quality outcomes, care management, and
cost effectiveness of care delivered to Americans with gastrointestinal disease.

"As part of our commitment to advancing the science and practice of
gastroenterology, AGA is taking the lead in collecting, aggregating, and
analyzing data on gastrointestinal diseases. The AGA Digestive Health Outcomes
Registry is a groundbreaking project that will support clinicians in advancing
the quality and effectiveness of care, researchers in investigating GI disease,
and policy-makers in making decisions based on sound evidence," said Gail A.
Hecht, MD, MS, AGAF, president of the AGA Institute, which administers practice,
research and education programs of the organization. "The AGA is committed to
responding to this need, and doing so quickly and effectively. MedAssurant`s
experience with the aggregation and analysis of data, and its extensive
infrastructure and datasets, will make it possible for AGA to achieve this
quickly, and to provide both our members and the broader healthcare community
with a set of tremendously valuable registry-based tools. We look forward to
partnering with stakeholders on this important initiative."

According to the National Institutes of Health, there are between 60 and 70
million Americans afflicted with digestive diseases. The cost of this burden
exceeds $140 billion per year in both direct and indirect expenses. MedAssurant
maintains a nationwide clinical and technology infrastructure which enables
efficient, large scale, healthcare data aggregation throughout the United
States, sophisticated clinical data management platforms, and advanced
healthcare data analytic prowess. These toolsets, combined with MedAssurant`s
MORE2 Registry, a powerful clinical dataset designed around medical outcomes
research for effectiveness and economics, enables rapid achievement of advanced
insights for healthcare advancement and improvement.

"There is a growing call for evidence-based decision-making at all levels of
health care," said Cary Sennett, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer at MedAssurant
and Vice-Chair of the AMA Physicians Consortium for Performance Improvement.
"Physicians are seeking the benefit of evaluating their own results, researchers
desire better tools to guide advancement and safety surveillance, and
policy-makers need to be able to compare the effectiveness of alternative
treatments. Bringing together the unmatched clinical expertise of AGA and the
data collection, aggregation, and analytics capabilities of MedAssurant creates
a powerful combination that promises to accelerate efforts to gain improved
insights into the quality and cost-effectiveness of GI care."

The AGA-MedAssurant initiative will launch a series of registries to address
high cost and high variation aspects of care for patients with GI disease,
including colonoscopy/colorectal cancer screening, inflammatory bowel disease,
GERD, viral hepatitis, and obesity, as well as other conditions and procedures.
Areas of interest have been expressed by industry-leading gastroenterological
stakeholders and these interests will be used to shape the initiative.

About the American Gastroenterological Association

The American Gastroenterological Association is the trusted voice of the GI
community. Founded in 1897, the AGA has grown to include more 17,000 members
from around the globe who are involved in all aspects of the science, practice
and advancement of gastroenterology. The AGA Institute administers the practice,
research and educational programs of the organization. www.gastro.org

About MedAssurant, Inc.

MedAssurant, Inc. is a leading healthcare solutions provider focused on the
importance of healthcare data and its ability to drive dramatic, objective
improvements in clinical and quality outcomes, care management, and financial
performance throughout the healthcare community. Proprietary healthcare
datasets, aggregation, and analysis capabilities, combined with a national
infrastructure of leading-edge technology, clinical prowess, and deep human
resources empowers MedAssurant`s advanced generation of healthcare assessment
and improvement through highly informed solutions. In partnership with many
members of the healthcare community, MedAssurant provides local, regional, and
nationwide health insurance plans, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies,
regulatory bodies, government organizations, physician organizations, and their
many covered patients with powerful turnkey solutions to address matters of
clinical outcomes analysis, quality of care, cost improvement, risk adjustment,
disease management, utilization, and healthcare data verification. Altogether,
MedAssurant solutions are provided to more than 200 healthcare organizations,
supporting more than 100 million Americans. Driven by a mission to improve
today`s healthcare landscape, the employees of MedAssurant proudly apply care,
ingenuity, and dedication to delivering a new approach to healthcare - one
driven by data and insight - one resulting in meaningful action.

Merritt Group on behalf of MedAssurant, Inc.
Melissa Chadwick, 703-390-1539
chadwick@merrittgrp.com

MedAssurant, Inc.
Kimberly Putnam
Phone: 301-809-4000
Fax: 301-809-4040
kputnam@medassurant.com
www.medassurant.com

American Gastroenterological Association
Aimee Frank
Phone: 401-941-2620
Fax: 301-652-2099
afrank@gastro.org
www.gastro.org

Copyright Business Wire 2009