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Healthland Helps Rural Hospitals Prepare for Healthcare IT Requirements Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009

Company to provide customers with educational webinars, informational web updates, IT solution assessments and financing options

GLENWOOD, Minn., March 17, 2009 – Healthland, America's market leader of healthcare information solutions for small community and critical access hospitals, today announced its support and commitment to rural hospitals and physicians with new tools and services to help them maneuver through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The tools and services will help Healthland customers and prospects prepare for new healthcare IT provisions and gain funding for EHR (Electronic Health Record) solutions. Through its partnership with Grants Office and affiliations with HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) and EHRA (Electronic Health Record Association), Healthland will provide educational webinars, informational updates and financing options. In addition, the company will offer customers IT solution assessments to help hospitals and clinics meet the new government requirements.

“The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is an unprecedented move that will help improve the quality of healthcare across the country,” said James Burgess, president and CEO of Healthland. “We will support this legislation by taking a proactive role to become a resource for our customers as they prepare for the new ARRA guidelines. With our partners - and through the newly created Healthland ARRA committee - we are closely monitoring all activity surrounding the bill to help inform and educate our customer base, ensuring we provide the most up-to-date information and the tools needed to maximize the benefits of the economic stimulus package.”

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009, will aid in the adoption of EHR solutions with $19.2 billion allocated to health information technology projects - $17.2 billion will be used for incentives through Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement systems to assist in the adoption of EHRs, with the remaining $2 billion used to help organizations get a “jump start” on healthcare IT adoption. The historical bill will offer healthcare providers incentive payments as they implement and demonstrate “meaningful use” of a certified EHR beginning in 2011. Officials encourage healthcare providers to act soon to be eligible for maximum incentives.

As part of Healthland’s comprehensive offering to support the ARRA, the company will expand its Assessment Services. Healthland assessments involve a detailed analysis of client operations to identify its strengths and weaknesses, with an eye toward meeting what will be defined as “meaningful use.”
The company has also signed a contract with Grants Office, an organization dedicated to obtaining grant dollars from federal, state and foundation sources. Grants Office will provide grants intelligence and services to assist Healthland customers. The partnership will allow Healthland access to Grants Office’s Help Desk Support Service, which includes unlimited access to grant experts who will provide customized grant consulting such as:

• Research and identification of relevant grant funding for customer projects
• Research reports/funding matrices
• Analysis of grant programs
• Grant recommendations
• Points of caution, contingence and/or disclaimers when needed
• Feedback on customer-written grants

Under Healthland’s new contract, Grants Office will also provide grant education and on-line access to daily updates on grant opportunities for Healthland customers. Access to the new Healthland ARRA tools and services are available at www.healthland.com/stimulus. The company will update information on a regular basis and - through ongoing communication with its customer base - will expand its tools and services as needed in the coming months.