SUPC Superior Consultant Holdings (MM)

Superior Consultant and Port Huron Hospital Reach Agreement On Seven-Year, Full-Service Information Technology Outsourcing Contract Superior and Port Huron Hospital to Effect Technology-Enabled Clinical Transformation SOUTHFIELD, Mich., June 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Superior Consultant Company (NASDAQ:SUPC) and Port Huron Hospital (PHH), a member of Blue Water Health Services, a Port Huron, Michigan-based health system, today announced they have entered into a seven-year, full-scale information technology outsourcing contract. The agreement, signed today in Port Huron, becomes effective on July 1, 2004. Superior will employ its extensive knowledge of healthcare applications and procurement capability, along with its healthcare-specific IT infrastructure to help Port Huron Hospital successfully transform its clinical and financial operations. A major focus of the partnership is to effect a comprehensive clinical business transformation at Port Huron Hospital. Superior's clinical and information technology professionals will implement best practice clinical and business operation processes. The scope of the effort will include procurement and implementation of advanced clinical information systems, redesigning clinical business processes and assisting PHH in its pursuit of the Baldrige Award for quality. "As an independent health system serving Port Huron and surrounding communities, we sought the best information technology avenue to serve our patients, physicians and stakeholders while ensuring careful stewardship of our resources," said Brian Connolly, Port Huron Hospital's President and Chief Executive Officer. "By partnering with Superior, we will expand our information capabilities, and we look forward to improved performance. Other Superior outsourcing clients have experienced improvement in services, customer satisfaction and patient care." "Our future depends upon strong information technology support based on an understanding of the healthcare clinical and financial environment," said Julee Thompson, Port Huron Hospital's Vice President of Operations. "After an extensive due diligence process and visits to Superior's outsourcing clients and technology centers, we concluded that Superior brings a full-service, independent, and healthcare-specific solution that is right for Port Huron Hospital. We look forward to working with Superior's experienced professionals as we embark on a comprehensive program of information-supported clinical transformation." Thompson continued: "We are pleased that Superior Consultant Company will be Port Huron Hospital's IT Partner. Superior will provide us with a 'get it done' capability that we could not achieve with any other approach." Port Huron Hospital will benefit from Superior's industry-leading transformational expertise and investments and state-of-the-art technology centers. For more than 20 years, Superior has delivered healthcare-specific application implementation, process change and integration. Superior's network control center provides around-the-clock network management, network monitoring and help desk services, which offer hospital stakeholders an immediate resolution to the majority of their computer-related issues. Port Huron Hospital's information technology systems will fully migrate to the Superior Processing Center, which will house the health system's computing assets in a secure, power- and communication-redundant facility at a fraction of the cost that could be obtained independently. Port Huron Hospital will also benefit from its membership in a consortium comprising all of Superior's full-scale outsourcing clients. This specialized user group, organized and managed by Superior, gives participating health systems the opportunity to share resources, leverage purchasing power, share ideas and promote successes regarding information technology in general and outsourcing in particular. "We are pleased to welcome Port Huron Hospital as an outsourcing client and new member of Superior's outsourcing consortium," said Richard D. Helppie, Superior's Chief Executive Officer. "We will leverage our extensive healthcare knowledge and expertise to enhance the value of Port Huron Hospital's information systems through the implementation of information technology solutions. Our goals under this outsourcing agreement, which was previously announced as a Letter of Intent, are to introduce innovations from our deep experience and client work, deliver best practice solutions, and perform in concert with the metrics and benchmarks of our client." About Port Huron Hospital Port Huron Hospital is a 186-bed not-for-profit hospital that provides a full spectrum of inpatient and outpatient healthcare services to residents in St. Clair and Sanilac Counties. Port Huron Hospital is part of a larger system, Blue Water Health Services, which also includes Port Huron Hospital Women's Wellness Place; the Wismer Health Center; Port Huron Hospital Sport & Spine; Port Huron Hospital Industrial Health; Port Huron Hospital Medical Equipment; Port Huron Hospital Pharmacy Place; Port Huron Hospital Outpatient Counseling; Marwood Nursing & Rehab; Port Huron Hospital Foundation; and community health centers in Capac, Lexington, Marysville and Yale. About Superior Consultant Holdings Corporation Recipient of Frost & Sullivan's 2003 Best Bang for the Buck Award for providing services and solutions with the highest ratio of value to cost, Superior Consultant is a leading national provider of transformational outsourcing, management and information technology consulting services and solutions to the healthcare industry. Superior specializes in Digital Business Transformation(TM) services that enable clients to thrive in the information-driven economy, and its outsourcing, management and information technology consulting services and solutions help clients plan and execute better business strategies and meet their fiscal challenges while advancing clinical quality. Superior's best practices outsourcing model includes a full range of flexible business process and information technology solutions, including data center services, 24/7/365 network monitoring and help desk services, facility management, interim management, and application outsourcing services. For 20 years, Superior has been recognized as an innovative leader within the healthcare industry and has been rewarded with full and partial outsourcing contracts, thousands of engagements, approximately 170 interim management assignments, and nearly 3,000 clients. For more information on Superior Consultant Holdings Corporation simply dial 1-800-PRO-INFO and enter the Company ticker: SUPC (a no-cost fax-on- demand service) or visit the Company's Web site at http://www.superiorconsultant.com/ . DATASOURCE: Superior Consultant Company CONTACT: Richard D. Helppie, Chief Executive Officer, or Susan M. Synor, Executive Vice President, of Superior Consultant Company, +1-248-386-8300 Web site: http://www.superiorconsultant.com/

Copyright