e-MEDx Inc. Signs Contract with Regional Health CareSystems.

Business Editors/Medical Writers

BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23, 2000

Specialty Carve-in Management Group selects e-MEDx's MaterniChek

to support its Medicaid Obstetrical Initiative

e-MEDx Inc., a leader in Web-based care management software solutions,

today announced that it has signed a contract with Regional Health Care Systems for the purchase and installation of MaterniChek, a high-risk maternity management system. By using MaterniChek, Regional Health Care Systems will be able to more quickly and efficiently determine women at risk for pre-term births (babies born before the ninth month of pregnancy).

"MaterniChek is the only product available that is specifically designed for tracking obstetrics. Other companies offer one or more components of the care management package, but MaterniChek offers all three - utilization, disease and case management," said John Dwyer, chief executive officer of e-MEDx. "By using this product, Regional Health Care Systems will be able to manage larger patient loads, reduce costs and achieve higher quality results."

In 1998, 11.6 percent of babies born in the United States were born pre-term. Pre-term birth is a major risk factor for many health problems including neurodevelopmental and respiratory disorders, as well as infant mortality. Pre-term babies are 28 times more likely to die within the first month of life than a full-term infant.

"My goal to reduce the pre-term birth rate, increase birthweight and reduce neo-natal intensive care unit days can be accomplished through early identification and education of high-risk moms, steerage to appropriate community agencies, as well as ongoing medical and case management," said Chuck Green, vice president of Regional Health Care Systems. "The cost of a pre-term infant is high, from the financial perspective of the payor as well as from the emotional perspective of the family. Regional Health Care Systems is working to eliminate this burden."

The cost for neo-natal intensive care ranges from $1,000-$2,500 a day. These costs can be significantly reduced through identifying women at high risk and taking a proactive approach to monitoring the pregnancy. According to a recent study at Johns Hopkins University, women who underwent prenatal care incurred fewer hospital expenses and a lower incidence of pre-term delivery than women who did not undergo prenatal care. Their babies also had higher birthweights and shorter stays in neo-natal intensive care units.

How MaterniChek works--the basics:

The MaterniChek program provides a methodology to help a medical management organization support pregnant women in learning more about their pregnancy and help to lower the risk of a pre-term birth. Benefits of the program include:

      --  Access, advice and counseling from a specially trained
        obstetrical nurse.

      --  Complete confidentiality--physicians only receive
        notification of the risk factors identified.

      --  Unlimited information about pregnancy.

      --  A healthy baby.

About Regional Health Care Systems

Regional Health Care Systems is an obstetrical population health management firm. The company provides complete innovative solutions to healthcare problems, specifically by reducing the number of pre-term births. Founded in 1997, Regional Health Care Systems has home offices in Jackson, Miss. and Germantown, Tenn.

About e-MEDx

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., e-MEDx develops and deploys business-to-business application software for care management, combining time-tested enterprise applications with powerful e-healthcare products to create innovative care management solutions for payors, providers, suppliers, patients and other partners. e-MEDx, Inc. was formed in November 1999 as a result of the merger between Health Cost Consultants Inc., and ellora.com. e-MEDx's disease and care management software products use the Internet to connect healthcare participants to provide high quality, efficient solutions for preventive care as well as chronic or acute-care patients.

e-MEDx systems serve more than 1.5 million Americans and more than 70 clients. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.e-medx.com.