Franciscan Health System Launches Telemedicine Care Initiative in Partnership With Emerge.MD

TACOMA, WA, May 02 (MARKET WIRE) --
In March 2011, Franciscan Health System launched its Telemedicine Care
consult program to improve the efficiency and quality of care delivery to
critical care patients in its emergency departments and intensive care
units. The program provides access to specialty resources for physicians
and other care providers that empowers them to collaborate in real-time
for patients presenting with challenging symptoms.

Leveraging Emerge.MD's Consult Accelerator(TM) solution, specialists
within Franciscan's care network seamlessly provide live consults from
web-accessible devices, such as tablets, smart phones and desktop PCs, in
a secure, context-aware manner. Franciscan clinicians now have the
ability to review difficult clinical cases via voice/video and screen
sharing (including radiology and EEG screens). In the initial phase of
the project, Franciscan neurologists are examining patients, directing
the attending physicians at the bedside, and assisting in the diagnosis,
treatment, and follow-up care for patients.

The benefits to patient care are already becoming clear. Last month, an
ICU patient at a Franciscan hospital in Gig Harbor, Wash, about 10 miles
from Tacoma, required the immediate attention and expertise of a
neurologist. The hospitalist at the Gig Harbor facility contacted Dr.
Seth Stankus, Director of Neurology at the Franciscan Health System, by
phone and requested a transfer of the patient who was unstable.

Prior to approving the transfer, Dr. Stankus elected to initiate a remote
care session using Consult Accelerator(TM). This consult included a
stabilizing therapy that eliminated the need to transfer the patient from
the Gig Harbor hospital to Franciscan's St. Joseph Medical Center in
Tacoma. As a result the patient recovered and was released within days
from the Gig Harbor hospital's intensive care unit.

"It was clearly a success," said Dr. Stankus. "And the use of the
telemedicine solution completely changed my clinical impression formed
during the initial telephone conversation with the Hospitalist."

"Being able to quickly see the [remote] specialist from our local
hospital made sure my husband received the best care right away. It was
amazing to see the neurologist, who was hosting a dinner at his home,
step away and just appear in the ICU room to talk to me and see my
husband. I am really grateful to all the doctors and nurses at the
Franciscan hospitals who took great care of my husband, even when they
weren't at my hospital!" Mrs. Janet Olson, Patient's wife.

A dedicated team of neurologists, hospitalists and nursing care
professionals at the Franscian Health System have devised the program to
ensure the delivery of the highest quality of patient care across their
system. Over the next few months, Franciscan expects to expand the
program to other service lines and facilities.

"Franciscan Telemedicine Care helps us deliver the right care at just the
right time at all of our community hospitals. It also gives us a way to
keep our patients close to their homes and families during their hospital
stay while also receiving the best specialized care available," said
Trish Niehl, Associate Administrator of the Neurosciences Service Line
for the Franciscan Health System.

"We are thrilled to be collaborating with innovative partners such as the
Franciscan Health System and the Catholic Health Initiatives system to
enable the Telemedicine Care Initiative and offer the industries' first
workflow aware telehealth solutions, delivering real time clinical
collaboration, improved patient access and care anywhere in the world,"
said Eric V. Trappen, Emerge.MD CEO.

Emerge.MD will showcase its complete suite of workflow aware telehealth
solutions at the American Telemedicine Association annual meeting in
Tampa, FL on May 1 - 3, 2011. Demonstration can be seen inside of
Emerge.MD's strategic partner Cisco's booth #617.

About Franciscan Health System:
Based in Tacoma, Wash. Franciscan
Health System includes five full-service hospitals; a large primary-care
and specialty-care medical group; in-home and inpatient hospice and
palliative care; same-day surgery centers; occupational health and
physical therapy clinics; and centers for advanced medicine that are
distinguished by expertise and state-of-the-art technology. For more
information, visit www.FHShealth.org

Franciscan is affiliated with Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), a
national non-profit health organization with headquarters in Englewood,
Colorado. The faith-based system operates in 19 states and includes 73
hospitals; 40 long-term care, assisted- and residential-living
facilities; two community health services organizations; and home health
agencies.

About Emerge.MD:
Emerge.MD is a 10-year-old privately held company
based in Phoenix, Arizona. It offers the industries' first workflow-aware
telemedicine and teleconsultation solutions in a software-as-a-service
model. Emerge.MD solutions are multi-lingual and can be deployed anywhere
in the world. For more information visit: www.emergemd.com

For more information contact:
Jacquie Goodwill
Franciscan Health System
(253) 382-3872 Office
jacquiegoodwill@fhshealth.org

Vince Balsamo
Emerge.MD
216-236-3743 Office
vbalsamo@emergemd.com

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