With Passage of ARRA, Budget Tightening, Staff Shortages and Patients Demanding Better Service, IT Staff Outsourcing Increasingly a Critical Hospital Management Strategy

Eclipsys Corporation^® (NASDAQ:ECLP), The Outcomes Company^®, and Springhill Medical Center (Springhill, AL) today announced that the outsourcing agreement between the two organizations has won a 2009 Outsourcing Excellence Award. The award, “Best Impact,” recognizes the business and healthcare quality benefits the outsourcing relationship has delivered to Springhill Medical Center and the patients it serves.

The 252-bed, privately owned acute care facility has successfully engaged Eclipsys’ outsourcing services and technology to undergo a complete technology transformation in its competitive market. Engaged to provide IT operations support, strategic planning, budget management, staffing and telecommunications support, Eclipsys’ IT staff has successfully guided Springhill Medical Center through the installation of new electronic medical record (EMR) and revenue cycle technology, as well as instill a culture of ISO best practices, policies and procedures that has led to a 44 percent increase in system availability. Patient satisfaction in the hospital’s emergency department rose from 11 percent to 92 percent and medication errors fell 80 percent while infection rates fell by two-thirds.

Moreover, the strategic relocation of a data center to higher ground was another outcome of the relationship, enabling the hospital to sustain 100 percent uptime during direct impact from Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina. The IT system transformation also has helped the hospital attract a leading cardiology practice and a number of orthopedic surgeons.

“We went with Eclipsys as our IT outsource partner and system provider because they have expertise in healthcare and the company’s products offer the flexibility to accommodate the different practice requirements of our clinical specialties,” said Jeffrey St. Clair, Springhill Medical Center’s president and chief executive officer.“Eclipsys’ team came in and instilled best practices and a vision that improved our profitability, control and internal and external costs and reestablished our credibility with the clinical community. Perhaps most important, our clinical patient outcomes, safety, quality of service and physician adoption has turned us from a technology follower to a leader. Plus it has placed us in a solid position to receive the benefits of the forthcoming federal economic stimulus package related to the adoption of EMR technology.”

According to John McAuley, Eclipsys’ senior vice president, Outsourcing and Support, the expanded use of outsourcing in the health care industry reflects the competitive and environmental pressures currently faced by healthcare service providers.