Baptist Health System of San Antonio Signs Agreement with Cogent Healthcare, Inc. to Provide...

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 25, 2001

Five San Antonio Hospitals Become Part of Growing

Trend for Hospitals to Turn to Inpatient Management Specialists

Baptist Health System, a leading provider of

"We chose Cogent Healthcare as the partner for our inpatient management program because of their management experience, their clinical excellence, and their information technology," said Dr. Charles Duncan, executive vice president of medical affairs of Baptist Health System in San Antonio. "Cogent differs from many other companies in that they use physicians who are already established and known in the community and in the hospitals. Consequently, physicians and patients are more receptive to the program. The Cogent physicians are supported by a sophisticated data management and clinical support system, which enables them to provide a higher level of care to hospitalized patients with greater efficiency than the traditional approach. The Cogent systems will provide measurable results so that we can document these improvements and continuously enhance the quality of care at our facilities."

"We are very pleased to be given this vote of confidence by Baptist Health System, which joins the rapidly growing group of leading hospitals that are turning to companies like ours for inpatient management," said Alan Puzarne, CEO of Cogent Healthcare. "Hospitals today are under intensive pressure to improve the quality of care to their patients, while at the same time reducing or effectively managing the cost of care. Our model promotes the `best practice' of medical care while removing barriers to the efficient delivery of that care."

The program begins this Fall at five Baptist Hospitals with more than 1500 hospital beds: Baptist Medical Center, North Central Baptist Hospital, Northeast Baptist Hospital, Southeast Baptist Hospital, and St. Luke's Baptist Hospital.

Cogent already has a contract with the Aetna healthplan in San Antonio, providing services to members of that health plan. The new agreement with Baptist Health System significantly increases the volume of patients in the area who will be cared for by experienced Cogent physicians and their team.

"Hospitalist" physicians are specialists in the care of hospitalized patients. By being available around the clock, hospitalists are able to attend to a patient's changing condition as it occurs rather than having care delayed until the primary care physician can arrive from his/her practice. The critical care skills of these specialists are important factors in helping today's more critically ill hospital patients get the level of care they need. Thus, hospitalists improve the quality of care patients receive and enhance the efficiency of the care process. By delivering more efficient and timely care, the time the patient spends in the hospital may also be reduced.

About Cogent Healthcare Inc. (www.cogenthealthcare.com)

Cogent Healthcare, Inc. (www.cogenthealthcare.com) is a leading provider of services that improve the well being of hospitalized patients while reducing their associated costs through the creation and management of inpatient-based physician networks. The mission of Cogent Healthcare is to improve medical outcomes and safety for hospitalized patients through innovative physician partnerships, clinical and information systems and resource management. The goal is to improve care and efficiency by reducing variations in care, establishing best practices, identifying and removing barriers to efficient care, and measuring outcomes. To this end, the company provides comprehensive programs in clinical care staffing, communication, and data management that support the hospitalist physician in the delivery of inpatient care.

Cogent Healthcare's programs are currently in 11 major markets throughout the United States. The company has contracts with more than 65 facilities including 155 hospitals with 1,300 referring primary care physicians, covering more than 2,000,000 lives. Cogent clients include most of the nation's largest health plans such as United Healthcare, Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Humana, and Kaiser Permanente, plus leading hospitals and hospital systems such as Intermountain Healthcare, Baptist Health Systems in Florida and Texas and St. Vincent's Medical Center in Santa Fe.

In addition to traditional hospitalist programs, the company has a program with Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest HMO, which has 2.7 million members in Southern California, to provide hospitalists to handle emergency care sought by its members at non-Kaiser hospitals.

In May 2000, Cogent Healthcare also launched the first Internet-based continuing medical educational program for hospitalist physicians. Its CME programs for physicians, nurses and pharmacists can be accessed at the company's Web site, www.cogenthealthcare.com.

To extend its successful inpatient management model beyond the hospital walls, Cogent is developing a network of resources to enhance management throughout the continuum of care, addressing home care, sub-acute care, disease management and end-of-life issues.

About Baptist Health System:

Founded in 1902, Baptist Health System (www.baptisthealthsystem.org) is a leading provider of health care in San Antonio and South Texas. Baptist Health System includes five not-for-profit acute-care hospitals (Baptist Medical Center, North Central Baptist Hospital, Northeast Baptist Hospital, Southeast Baptist Hospital and St. Luke's Baptist Hospital), Baptist Regional Children's Center, Baptist Cancer Center, Baptist Women's Health Center, HealthLink-North Fitness and Wellness Center, community health and wellness programs, ambulatory surgery centers, medical office buildings, San Antonio AirLife air medical transport service, Healthmaster occupational health clinic, a teaching center (Institute of Health Education), and other health-related services and affiliations.