Press Releases

Alta Bates Medical Group Signs Two-Year Licensing Agreement for RelayHealth Online Communication Services

Potential Benefits Include Reimbursement and Patient Satisfaction

Emeryville, CA, April 6, 2005  — RelayHealth Corporation, the nation's premier provider of health plan-reimbursed online doctor-patient communication services, today announced a two-year licensing agreement with Berkeley, California-based Alta Bates Medical Group, an Independent Physicians Association (IPA) serving 70,000 patients in northern California.

The 600-plus physicians of the Alta Bates Medical Group are affiliated with Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, an affiliate of Sutter Health, one of the nation's leading not-for-profit networks of community health services. The Group's primary care physicians and authorized staff will be the first to communicate with patients through the secure RelayHealth service, which includes webVisit® online medical visits, ™ electronic prescribing services, online appointment requests, lab and test result reporting, and referral requests.

"We're always looking for unique and progressive ways to serve our patient-physician community," said Jim Slaggert, CEO of Alta Bates Medical Group. "RelayHealth is a patient-friendly service built on a strong clinical foundation. Through this channel, our patients and physicians can effectively manage non-urgent healthcare with convenience and security."

Alta Bates Medical Group physicians choosing to conduct webVisits with patients may qualify for health plan reimbursement under guidelines introduced by a growing roster of participating health plans in California.

An independent study found that more than half of physicians surveyed preferred the RelayHealth webVisit to an in-office visit for non-urgent medical issues. The same study reported satisfaction ratings among regular RelayHealth physician-users of more than 90%, while 95% of patients who received next-business-day replies gave RelayHealth a high rating for quality and convenience.

"By offering a new avenue for convenient, confidential care, Alta Bates Medical Group has demonstrated its responsiveness to the growing needs of its providers and patients," noted Giovanni Colella, MD, president and chief executive officer of RelayHealth." In California alone, more than 2,500 physicians and over 50,000 patients use this convenient, and increasingly reimbursable, method of care. We're pleased to add the providers and patients of Alta Bates Medical Group to this growing tally."

To date, over 40 medical groups and integrated delivery networks representing more than 15,000 affiliated physicians have selected and licensed the RelayHealth service.

About Alta Bates Medical Group
Alta Bates Medical Group is an Independent Physicians Association (IPA) comprised of over 600 physicians serving 70,000 health plan members in the East Bay area. The Alta Bates Medical Group is affiliated with Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, the East Bay's largest private, not-for-profit medical center with three campuses, two acute care hospitals, birthing services, and a full array of the most advanced specialty services.

About RelayHealth Corporation
RelayHealth is the premier provider of secure online healthcare communication services linking patients, healthcare professionals, payors, and pharmacies. RelayHealth's Web-based, doctor-patient messaging platform connects doctors and their patients efficiently, affordably, and securely. Tuned for both small and large practice environments, the RelayHealth® service improves and streamlines healthcare delivery and access through modular features — like the webVisit® clinical consultation — which tackle complex issues unique to the healthcare market, including clinical structure, practice workflow, and reimbursement. More secure and efficient than telephone or e-mail, RelayHealth combines HIPAA-ready messaging and eScript end-to-end electronic prescribing for the most seamless, comprehensive, and powerful messaging platform available to healthcare professionals and their patients. For information, visit www.relayhealth.com.