RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC USA -- PATIENT SAFETY UPDATE NEWS SERVICE™ -- OCTOBER 6, 2006: "In order to do business with the federal government, you've got to help us develop a qualitative standard so the people that we're trying to help know what they're getting," said President Bush to a gathering of healthcare stakeholders in Minneapolis on August 22, the day he signed the Executive Order.

Approximately one in four Americans will be affected by the President's August 22 Executive Order, directing insurance carriers that cover federal employees/retirees, Medicare, and military personnel to use computer systems that securely exchange health information with public and private providers and provide quality of care results.

To understand how one of healthcare's most ambitious orders impacts you and your organization, Physicians EHR presents a dynamic audio seminar on October 26, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. EST.

In this 90-minute seminar, you will learn:

• What's the plain language overview of the Executive Order?
• How does it impact businesses, providers and payers?
• Who or what has to show the cost of services provided and quality reports?
• How does quality reporting translate into improved consumer health care?
• How can hospitals, physician groups, and nursing homes implement programs to achieve quality reporting?
• What is the federal government doing to support implementation?

• Cathie Markow, BSN, MBA, Senior Project Manager, Pacific Business Group on Health, manages the California Cooperative Healthcare Reporting Initiative - a statewide initiative to promote collaboration instead of competition in health plan and provider-level data collection and performance reporting. Accordingly, she manages the health plan HEDIS reporting project, the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey, the Patient Assessment Survey (PAS), and the Provider After Hours Access Survey.
  
  Prior to joining PBGH, Ms. Markow lead clinical data repository, quality improvement and office redesign projects for NAS Consulting. She has successfully lead teams through business process improvement in both the payer and provider environment. With over 20 years experience in the health care industry, Ms. Markow has held senior level management positions leading product development for various healthcare information technology systems including practice management, disease management, and eHealth. As Vice President for Product Management at Velos, Ms. Markow lead the effort to develop web based tools for primary investigators to more effectively manage the recruitment and data collection processes for pharmaceutical clinical trials.
  
  Ms. Markow has a BS in Nursing and BA in Sociology from Hartwick College and an MBA from Northeastern University.
  
  
• Richard Gilbert, MD, MBA, President, CEO, Southeast Anesthesiology Consultants (SAC) is Chief Executive Officer, Southeast Anesthesiology Consultants, and Founder, Southeast Pain Care in Charlotte, North Carolina, a 60-physician group based in Charlotte, NC. Its physicians service seven hospitals and nine pain centers that range from tertiary care centers to small rural hospitals. The group sees approximately 100,000 patients each year with 70 percent through anesthesiology and 30 percent in pain management. Dr. Gilbert received his BA from Brandeis University, his MD from the University of California School of Medicine-San Francisco, interned at Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Hospital, where he also fulfilled his residency in anesthesiology and fellowships in pain management and cardiovascular anesthesiology. He also holds an MBA from Duke University.
  
  
• Moderator, Carolyn Hartley, is President, CEO of Physicians EHR, LLC, an organization that advises physicians and health communities on technology selection, patient communication strategies, consensus building, and return on investment. Ms. Hartley's publishing history speaks to the trust she has established with health care provider organizations. She is lead author and/or author team leader of a dozen health IT products published by the American Medical Association (AMA), including Technical and Financial Guide to EHR Implementation (AMA, 2006), EHR Implementation: A Step by Step Guide for the Medical Practice, (AMA, Feb. 2005), with a foreword by Newt Gingrich. She also is editor-in-chief and publisher of "The Physician's e-Health Report," a free bimonthly publication that examines health IT topics critical to physician adoption.