MedInformatix, Inc., formed in 1992, is a company that has grown out of the long-term experience and problem solving abilities of its founders in the medical field.

In 1985 the current CEO and CIO of MedInformatix undertook the restructuring of Orthopedic Associates, a large privately held group located in Santa Monica, California. They searched for 2 years to find an effective technological alternative to their "paper driven" practice management system before finally meeting Roberto Cordero, the architect of a comprehensive billing system in California. They implemented his system with great success and the personalities, complementary skill sets and common vision of the three men then led to a more permanent business relationship.

One of their first challenges was to turn around the Marina del Rey Surgery Center, a 4,000 patient facility with a low collection to gross charges ratio. By employing their system to improve record keeping and billing procedures they were able to produce astounding results œ within 7 months they had increased collections by over 650%! They went from an average of $82,700 in collections per month to over $535,000 purely through the implementation of their innovative technology. The following table shows how with constant refinement of the system they steadily improved the company‘s results month by month.

Marina del Rey Surgery Center

Month	Amount of Adjustment	Amount of Write Offs*	Gross Charges	Amount of Collections
April	N/A	N/A	150,358.45	82,763.45
May	N/A	N/A	369,128.30	138,958.00
June	22,888.47	N/A	378,222.85	184,972.75
July	36,784.90	52,433.63	493,882.60	312,744.45
August	63,284.49	67,218.25	762,365.85	411,448.08
September	42,630.80	40,301.43	688,863.95	278,767.95
October	64,630.83	64,698.41	958,394.23	454,627.70
November	64,559.36	61,585.41	951,546.95	538,123.85
TOTAL	294,778.85	286,237.13	4,752,763.18	2,402,406.23

* Write off - Difference between total billed and settled account (negotiated).

The three men built on successes such as these, increasing their list of satisfied clients. By 1992 they had formed MedInformatix, Inc. and expanded the functionality of their system, transforming it from a billing and collections solution to comprehensive and cost-effective medical practice management solution.

The company has grown from strength to strength continuing to provide quality products in the field of Solutions, Integration and Workflow Management that are easy to use, cost effective and, most importantly, produce significant Returns On Investment for their clients. Return on Investment is a prime consideration for any client considering a practice management solution. They want to know that not only does their expenditure result in an easier and more streamlined work-flow and improved patient health, but they also need to insure that there is a significant financial as well as qualitative return. MedInformatix has case studies that show tangible results proving that the ROI of their system is significant and real.

A summary of some of the results speak for themselves:

   A 34-physician cardiology practice in Chicago had great success with the MedInformatix management solution that included electronic medical records, billing, scheduling and other features designed specifically for cardiology practices. Using the system they:

         Increased the number of patients seen by 15%

         Avoided after hours paperwork eliminating about 1.5 to 3.0 hour per week

         Streamlined the prescription refill process so that where 4.0 FTE were needed to complete the work now only 1.5 FTE are required at each site.

         Eliminated medical record pulls for the refill process with a cost saving of between $600-$1,000 per week

         Reduced transcription requirements by 80% that, together with proficient use of the EMR, equated to a savings of about $63,000 per year.

The following table summarizes potential ROI for a 15 physician practice based on the experience of the larger practice in Chicago:

   Talley Medical-Surgical Eye Car Associates of Indiana is a large group with a primary clinic, a secondary clinic in another state, an Ambulatory Surgical Center six blocks away and 8 satellite offices. They did a ROI study a year after implementing the MedInformatix practice management system and their returns were realized primarily in the following areas:

         saving time by entering patient demographics once for multiple uses and users

         no longer wasting time pulling and refilling of charts for patient visits

         correct billing without loss of fee slips

         increased income from correct coding

         integrating the MedInformatix system with the XeroxDocucenter and cutting costs of printing and faxing as well as by scanning data that was previously manually transcribed.

Talley‘s extensive study of quantifiable results is summarized below:

   Mid-Carolina Cardiology, with 25 cardiologists at 7 office sites, also had great results with the Gateway Electronic Medical Management System, specially designed for cardiology. They realized a return on the technology investment within the first year. Their results included:

         seeing 25% more patients with no increase in staff

         35% more revenue collected

         Medicare denial rate reduced from 25%-40% to less than 1% (in 2000 the practice billed Medicare $7.8 million with only $22,000 in errors)

         transcription costs reduced by $72,000

         postage costs reduced by $20,000

         accounts receivable improved œ 50% of accounts are now 30 days or less (where best practices standard is keeping 36% under 30 days).

         nursing staff was freed up to do more diagnostic testing and the increased testing generated more revenue.

         savings generated by eliminating duplicate work between the front desk and billing department because the new system allowed for simultaneous access to records.

   American Healthways Inc., the nation‘s largest disease and care management company, together with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota implemented the practice management solution to initially help manage the plan‘s patients with heart disease, diabetes, asthma and chronic diseases before planning to roll it out to over 2.1 million members. They used registered nurses who worked with patients by phone to follow-up on recommendations made by their physicians. The MedInformatix software application improved their productivity to such a degree that not only did they see a significant increase in patient numbers, they were also able to reduce the number of nursing staff required at a ratio of 4 to 1 -where they required 4 nurses before they now only need 1 to complete the same amount of work.

   The GartnerGroup did a study important to individual practitioners wondering about the cost benefits from using the practice management system. The group monitored the results of an ambulatory computer-based patient record system at a solo practice over a period of 18 months. Those results extrapolated to 50 physicians would produce the following cost savings:

         $10,000 per month on physical chart savings ($2 each for supplies x 5,000 new charts per month)

         $50,000 per month on transcription services no longer needed

         $112,500 per month on staff time related to physical chart manipulation (6 hours per day on cutting, pasting, pulling and filing charts x $15 per hour salary x 25 work days per month x 50 physicians)

Total cost savings of $172,500 per month or $2,070,000 per year.

In addition, the following revenue improvements further enhanced the returns:

         seeing one additional patient per hour due to faster information retrieval and documentation

         average office visit generated $60 in revenue

         able to see patients for 45 hours per week, 4 weeks per month.

With larger numbers of physicians the economies of scale and improved clinical quality from physicians sharing patient information across multiple settings creates an even greater potential return. In 1998 Gartner Group IDS Survey reported that the average IDS employs over 100 primary care physicians (PCP‘s). If an IDS with 100 PCP‘s were to implement a fully-functional ambulatory CPR in each of its doctor‘s offices with only a conservative saving of say $10,000 per year savings and $25,000 per year increased revenue per physician, the enterprise wide financial impact would be enormous - revenue increases of $2.5 million and cost savings of $1 million. As their report stated "the potential implications are staggering and certainly worth the investment“.

Any practitioner, medical facility or large medical group cannot ignore these results when making a decision regarding a management practice solution. Not only does the MedInformatix system pay for itself in a relatively short time but studies show a significant return on investment as well as improved medical outcomes and greater patient satisfaction.

Clearly, the company‘s background of hands-on experience in practice management together with its leading-edge technology provide a rare combination in the marketplace and insure outstanding results.