Baltimore, MD - VISICU, Inc., the creator of the eICU^®, an advanced solution that improves critical care outcomes and costs, announces today a contract with NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System. The eICU^® is a telemedicine network connecting critical care patients to a remote eICU^® command center, staffed around-the-clock by board-certified intensivists and critical care nurses. The contract calls for two eICU^®s, one connecting 50 beds at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and the other connecting 50 beds at NewYork Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Michael A. Berman, MD, Executive Vice-President and Hospital Director of NewYork-Presbyterian stated that, "Numerous medical studies have proven that full-time intensivist coverage in the ICU can significantly reduce mortality rates. The challenge has been the nationwide shortage of intensivists. VISICU's technology and proven successes in remote ICU care will enable us to leverage intensivist talent from our two academic medical centers throughout our health system. This will provide the best ICU care possible and set the standard for the region."

Steven J. Corwin, MD, Senior Vice-President and Chief Medical Officer, NewYork-Presbyterian reinforced physician enthusiasm for the new technology. "VISICU's technology will be an important addition to our health care system for improving quality in both our intensive care units and step-down units. The highly complex multidisciplinary care delivered to critically ill patients requires the minute-to-minute coverage that the VISICU eICU^® solution will provide us."

Frank T. Sample, VISICU President and CEO stated, "We look forward to partnering with NewYork-Presbyterian and being able to provide the most advanced technology to help this world-class organization enhance its care delivery and fight the war against medical errors." Sample added, "We are especially proud that the eICU^® Solution is the first commercialized offering to meet the Leapfrog Group's ICU patient care safety standards and that NewYork-Presbyterian will be the first in the New York Metropolitan area to offer this advancement to their patients."

The VISICU eICU^® solution offers an innovative way for hospitals to standardize care processes and leverage the scarce number of intensivists while meeting Leapfrog quality standards. From the eICU^®, intensivists and nurses care for patients using VISICU's eCareManager^™ technology which provides air traffic control-like monitoring and electronically connects the "patient to the doctor". Outfitted with a VISICU state-of-the-art network and database, clinicians use the systems' high-fidelity telemedicine technology and proprietary Smart AlertsT to proactively manage patients at multiple hospitals. The eICU^® Solution has been in use for more than a year at the company's first installation-Sentara Healthcare. At Sentara a Cap-Gemini E&Y study has proven the systems full clinical and financial benefits and the Chair of the Leapfrog Group's Standards Committee has stated, "Sentara's successful implementation of its eICU^® demonstrates that hospitals need not be constrained by shortages in intensivists if they are visionary in their use of clinical information technology".

About VISICU, Inc.

VISICU, Inc., a private company founded in 1998 by two nationally recognized intensivist physicians, is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. VISICU's remote care concept and advanced technology is revolutionizing the delivery of critical care medicine. A recent independent study of VISICU's unique eICU^® care delivery proved that it reduces mortality and lowers costs while leveraging scarce intensivist expertise to more patients across ICU facilities. The eICU^® is powered by VISICU's eCareManager^™ technology which provides communication tools for instant eICU^® to ICU communication, Smart AlertT proprietary software to enable earlier patient interventions and a decision support system called The SourceT, for on-line evidence-based treatment guidelines. VISICU won the 2001 Healthcare Informatics and Technology Award and is currently the only ICU solution to enable hospitals to meet the Leapfrog Group's patient care safety standards.

About NewYork-Presbyterian

NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System brings together 30 hospitals, 15 continuum-of-care facilities, 10 home-health agencies, 109 ambulatory care centers and 4 specialty institutes, serving more than 20 percent of the New York metropolitan population. At the center of the Healthcare System, is NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital - with its NewYork Weill Cornell Medical Center, its Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, and its Children's Hospital of New York. Whether providing specialty care to the tiniest newborns, performing complex cardiothoracic surgery, or offering comprehensive primary care, NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System delivers excellence in health care with compassion and caring.