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Aegis Health Group Enters Into Agreement With Bon Secours Charity Health System to Help Grow Market Share and Improve Community Health in the Hudson and Delaware Valleys

The hospitals included in the new agreement are Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern and St. Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick. Together these three hospitals operate more than 600 beds in New York along the borders with Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The new agreement marks the third Bon Secours system to contract with Aegis. As with the other two, the program being launched within Bon Secours Charity Health System is designed to match at-risk local employees with appropriate early detection, prevention and education initiatives offered by the medical centers and their respective medical staffs.

As part of this agreement, Aegis will provide the three hospitals with its proprietary software designed to calculate a company's expected savings with projected employee health behavior changes and value-add Internet applications. The agreement also includes a full-time "employer relations specialist" who will work within the hospitals and oversee this program day-to-day. Other tools Aegis will provide to the hospital include employer-based Personal Health Surveys, Personal Health Reports, Health Information Centers and other features designed to address each business' workforce needs.

"As the leading healthcare provider in the region, we are pleased to partner with Aegis Health Group to bring the finest health assessment tools and services into the workplace. As healthcare continues to evolve, Bon Secours Charity Health System will continue to be out front when it comes to innovative solutions resulting in better health for our communities," said Philip Patterson, CEO, Bon Secours Charity Health System.

"Through cultivating, nurturing and tracking relationships with local employers, these hospitals will be able to attract new customers, build profitable market share, and distinguish themselves as the healthcare destination of choice in their communities," noted Henry Ross, president and chief executive officer of Aegis.

By working in partnership with area employers to identify specific employee health risks, Ross says that Bon Secours hospitals can help local employers mitigate potential health-related claims and thus reduce their rising healthcare costs. "Doing so puts hospitals at the center of the healthcare solution; and for the first time, this truly makes the hospital and employers allies in their quest for affordable, accessible quality healthcare," said Ross.

Aegis' Employer Relationship Management solution succeeds because it achieves a win-win-win relationship for all of the involved parties. Hospitals win by driving desirable patients into their facility and establishing themselves as the provider of choice in the community. Employers win by creating a healthier workforce, which increases productivity and saves them dollars in insurance premiums, absenteeism and workers' compensation claims. And employees win by learning more about their health risks and developing the knowledge and tools they need to lead a healthier lifestyle.

About Aegis Health Group

For more than 20 years, Aegis has helped many of the nation's most progressive hospitals form lasting relationships with area employers while improving the health of the workforce. They have translated their success in the employer-health arena with a sales-focused physician relationship management solution that is strategic and measurable. Aegis' health initiatives are currently helping hundreds of hospitals achieve a competitive advantage and a more dynamic marketplace presence with proven results. Further information may be obtained at http://www.aegisgroup.com.

About Bon Secours Charity Health System

Bon Secours Charity Health System serves over half a million people in communities within New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey and is composed of three acute-care hospitals located in the Hudson-Delaware Valley of New York: St. Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick, Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis and Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern as well as Good Samaritan Home Care, two long-term care facilities, an assisted living and adult home facility, and several other medical programs. The Bon Secours Charity Health System provides the region's only open heart surgery program; level II neonatal intensive care unit; advanced cancer, stroke and vascular therapies; and the widest array of health and wellness programs in the region. It has been recognized nationally for superior patient outcomes, patient satisfaction and as the place to practice for physicians throughout the area. For further information visit our Web site at: www.bschs.org.

For Aegis Health Group
Carol Stevenson, 818-597-8453, x-3
carols@kevinross.net