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McKesson's Medical Imaging Solution Garners Top Industry Rankings

Best Practices Implementation Methodology Combined With Outstanding Customer Support Strategy Fuels Strong Community Market Acceptance

McKesson today reported that its Horizon Medical Imaging(TM) picture archiving and communication system (PACS) has achieved top rankings for customer satisfaction and market acceptance in reports issued this month by KLAS Enterprises. McKesson's PACS achieved top overall scores in service indicators in the KLAS PACS - Acute Care 2005 Report and a No. 1 overall vendor ranking in KLAS' Community Hospital PACS 2005 Report. The company noted that community hospitals are the market segment currently experiencing the most rapid adoption of medical imaging technology.

The top rankings come as McKesson continues to drive strong growth and success with its enterprise medical imaging strategy. The number of exams processed by McKesson's medical imaging PACS has increased 48 percent over the past year, and McKesson systems currently store 15 petabytes of data representing approximately 120 billion images.

McKesson's "ease of implementation" methodology has enabled most customers to go live on its PACS within 90 days after project kick-off, with minimal disruptions to ongoing operations. The methodology includes comprehensive training that enables customers to accelerate time to value by optimizing user proficiency from the point of go-live. Once the system is in use, McKesson product support specialists answer service calls in less than six seconds on average and handle more than 95 percent of all requests within minutes over the phone.

"McKesson's KLAS rankings demonstrate our strong focus on the customer. They also validate our unique ability to offer the best software solutions along with in-depth process expertise," said Rod O'Reilly, vice president and general manager of McKesson's Medical Imaging Group. "Customers have responded to our track record of minimal disruption to ongoing operations, superior training and support. McKesson also is focused on delivering a solution that will integrate with diverse modalities and systems, not to mention handle massive volume of images on a daily basis."

Last year, the Interior Health Authority in British Columbia, Canada, deployed the Horizon Medical Imaging solution. Today, 26 facilities with an annual exam volume of 388,000 are 99.5 percent filmless. "We had a very aggressive implementation schedule and were pleased that McKesson met our timelines," said Zeno Cescon, director of diagnostic imaging, Interior Health Authority. "Thanks to the efforts of McKesson's knowledgeable, experienced staff, it was a very smooth process. We're very impressed with the product -- our radiologists love it. McKesson has been there for us every step of the way, from sales to implementation to support. We purchased not just a product, but a relationship, and we are very happy with McKesson."

WestCare Health System, a nonprofit community healthcare provider in Sylva, N.C., delivers care to more than 80,000 area residents. "Everyone was pleased with the installation of our PACS system," said Jacky Bradley, RT ( R ) (CT) (MR), director of radiology, WestCare Health System. "We could not have had a better training experience. McKesson's training team went above and beyond to make the transition as seamless as possible. I highly recommend this PACS system to anyone."

Based on more than 16-years experience with rapidly evolving RIS/PACS technology and systems installed in nearly 500 medical facilities of all types, McKesson's applications offer better clinical utility and faster integration of off-the-shelf technology. Coupled with 30 years of healthcare IT experience delivering solutions such as its market-leading physician portal for secure Internet-based information access, McKesson is uniquely positioned to deliver an integrated RIS/PACS solution. McKesson's solution includes reporting and scheduling with "anytime, anywhere" access to the complete patient record.

For more information or to see a demonstration of McKesson's Horizon Medical Imaging PACS and other enterprise imaging solutions, visit McKesson's Booth No. 1119 during RSNA 2005, Nov. 27 - Dec. 1, in Chicago, Ill.

About KLAS Enterprises

KLAS Enterprises is a research and consulting firm specializing in monitoring and reporting the performance of information technology vendors in the healthcare field. KLAS has created a database of information on the performance of 300 vendors and 500 products, as judged by executives and clinicians from more than 4,500 healthcare facilities. The company gathers data through written evaluations and confidential interviews, and publishes results regularly. For more information on KLAS, visit www.healthcomputing.com. Copyright ©2005. KLAS Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved.

About McKesson

McKesson Corporation is a Fortune 15 healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and improving the quality and safety of patient care. Over the course of its 172-year history, McKesson has grown by providing pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare, and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information: http://www.mckesson.com

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