VISICU Wins Microsoft Healthcare Award Awards Acknowledge Innovative Use of Microsoft Technology by Healthcare-Industry Leaders February 25th, 2004 ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 25 -- Today at the HIMSS 2004 Conference & Exhibition, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT - News) and Microsoft Healthcare Users Group (MS-HUG) announced the winners of the 2004 MS-HUG Awards. The annual awards from MS-HUG, a part of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), recognize individuals and organizations in the healthcare industry for their innovative development on, and use of, Microsoft® technology to provide tangible business benefits and improved patient care. "We are pleased to recognize the efforts of these organizations and individuals to improve the overall efficiency and productivity of the healthcare industry using proven technology," said David Lubinski, managing director of the Healthcare and Life Sciences Group at Microsoft. "Microsoft commends the demonstrated commitment of this year's winners to improving patient care through the development and implementation of innovative solutions." "This year's MS-HUG winners epitomize the successful use of technology to address key challenges faced by the healthcare industry," said Andrew Fowler, chairman of the MS-HUG Advisory Committee. "Each winner has demonstrated an ability to increase value across an organization by reducing the complexities faced by healthcare workers on a daily basis." Winners of the 2004 MS-HUG awards were announced Tuesday, Feb. 24, at the Microsoft booth (No. 3069) during the HIMSS conference. A panel of healthcare industry judges selected winners for Customer of the Year Awards based on the entrants' innovative deployment and utilization of Microsoft-based technology solutions. Judges selected the ISV winners after viewing finalist demonstrations at the Microsoft booth. The ISV winners for 2004 are as follows: Administrative/Financial Systems -- NextGen Healthcare Information Systems Inc.: NextGen EPM. NextGen EPM contains a diverse range of functionalities designed to meet billing, reporting, registration and scheduling needs for healthcare practices. It includes measures for quality assurance in managing patient financials and customizable scheduling and billing processes to streamline clinical workflow, cut costs and increase operational efficiency. Acute Care: Clinical/Patient Information Systems -- VISICU Inc.: eICU® Solution. The eICU® solution uses intensivist resources with high-fidelity telemedicine and computer software. Intensivists and critical care nurses can use a centralized eICU® facility to monitor and manage ICU patients in multiple hospitals around the clock when the attending physician is not at the bedside. These enabling tools and care model reduce clinical complications and mortality, and reduce ICU and hospital lengths of stay, improving patient throughput and reducing costs. The eICU® solution provides business value by providing potential market share improvements, significant financial benefits, and improved productivity and efficiency by reducing clinical complications and mortality, ICU and hospital lengths of stay, and costs. Ambulatory Care: Clinical/Patient Information Systems -- NextGen Healthcare Information Systems Inc.: NextGen EMR. NextGen EMR facilitates clinical workflow and manages outcomes data to improve the quality of care, reduce risk and increase revenue. It creates and maintains complete medical records with minimal effort while streamlining workflow, controlling utilization and managing patient care outcome data. Enabling Technologies -- Synergistix Inc.: Call Activity Tracking System (C.A.T.S.). C.A.T.S. is a pharmaceutical sales force automation system that can run on any laptop, pen-enabled subnotebook or Tablet PC running Windows. The solution provides lists of targets and contact information for doctors and institutions, sorting and filter capabilities for daily and weekly planning, and market data for client and competitor products. It is compatible with Prescription Drug Marketing Act rules and guidelines for sample distribution and digital signature capture, and allows users to track the kinds of calls that are most successful for each sales representative. About MS-HUG Microsoft Healthcare Users Group is a membership community within the HIMSS Users Group Alliance Program, providing technology leadership and knowledge for improving healthcare delivery and efficiency. The alliance provides HIMSS with targeted industry expertise to help broaden its professional and industry contributions, and MS-HUG members with the opportunity to reach new markets with educational and professional development programs. MS-HUG is the leading healthcare industry forum for exchanging ideas, promoting learning and sharing solutions for information systems using Microsoft technologies. MS-HUG works to provide industry leadership, drive appropriate standards and develop associated requirements in support of healthcare solutions. The diverse membership of MS-HUG is united by a shared interest in implementing vendor- and user-developed software based on Microsoft technology to improve quality and efficiency in healthcare. More information can be found on MS-HUG's Web site at www.mshug.org. About HIMSS HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) is the healthcare industry's membership organization exclusively focused on providing leadership for the optimal use of healthcare information technology and management systems for the betterment of human health. Founded in 1961 with offices in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other locations across the country, HIMSS represents more than 13,000 individual members and some 150 member corporations that employ more than 1 million people. HIMSS shapes and directs healthcare public policy and industry practices through its advocacy, educational and professional development initiatives designed to promote information and management systems' contributions to quality patient care. Visit www.himss.org for more information. HIMSS. The Source for Healthcare Information. About Microsoft in Healthcare and Life Sciences Microsoft provides standards-based products and technology to help the healthcare and life sciences industries break down information barriers between the disparate IT environments across provider organizations and physicians, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, government and private-sector employers, health insurers, and consumers. With Microsoft technology in place, healthcare organizations and individual workers collaborate more effectively, are more productive, and are able to spend less time managing their IT infrastructure and more time delivering quality patient care. About Microsoft Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any device. 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