Sage Selected as Preferred Vendor by New York eHealth Collaborative

NYeC Regional Extension Center vendor partnerships will increase quality of care and improve public health.

Tampa, June 15, 2010 — Sage North America Healthcare division, a leading provider of electronic health record (EHR) and practice management software, has been named a preferred vendor by the New York eHealth Collaborative Regional Extension Center (NYeC REC), one of the largest nonprofit RECs in the country. The Sage Intergy EHR system will be available to all NYeC’s participating providers.

As part of the nationally subsidized program, NYeC recently received $27 million in federal funds provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to help New York state providers adopt EHRs to improve patient care. NYeC will provide recommendations, insight and step-by-step technical assistance to healthcare providers to assist their efforts to implement the technology upgrades to qualify for meaningful use incentives.

NYeC is part of an extensive network of 60 RECs that serves as a neutral source for EHR and HIT-related information as providers seek to navigate EHR options and select vendors that meet meaningful use requirements. NYeC performed an exhaustive analysis of vendors in the HIT landscape prior to recommending solutions to its physician base. Sage is one of five vendors selected to serve NYeC’s members.

“Those clinics and providers who adopt EHR technology early will be in a better position to use the technology tomorrow, and will be better equipped to keep their patients engaged and loyal to their practices,” said Paul Wilder, Director of Healthcare IT Adoption at NYeC Regional Extension Center. “Early adopters also will be able to deliver higher quality of care and attract and retain new providers.

“We sought companies with a proven track record of success in New York state who demonstrated a commitment to serving NYeC’s clinical partners. Sage met our standard with its Intergy line of products and services. We look forward to their continued success as they help providers implement and take advantage of fully automated EHRs in their practice and enable their achievement of meaningful use. Sage supports our goal to increase quality of care and improve public health and we look forward to a successful partnership.”

Clinics eligible to utilize NYeC’s subsidized services include Priority Primary Care Providers (PPCP) in the area of family medicine, obstetrics, and gynecology, general internal or pediatric medicine. In addition, practices must be either individual or a small group practices (defined as 10 or fewer professionals with prescriptive privileges in the practice) primarily focused on primary care; public and critical access hospitals; and community health centers and rural health clinics.

“NYeC is very advanced in the implementation of its Regional Extension Center Services — and their work in creating a health information infrastructure to support clinicians and consumers with information at the point of care, while working with clinicians to help enhance quality and outcome measures, is a roadmap to true healthcare transformation,” said Ken Ernsting, Sage Vice President of Business Development. “As a leader in the EHR space, we’re excited to be working with an organization that is quickly connecting with their clinical community and look forward to the opportunity to meet NYeC’s goals and help its thousands of members improve patient care while they improve their practice’s efficiency.”

About New York eHealth Collaborative
The New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) is the federally designated Regional Extension Center for all areas of New York State except New York City. Founded by health care leaders across the state, with leadership and support from the New York State Department of Health, NYeC is a public-private partnership that serves as a focal point for health care stakeholders to build consensus on state health IT policy priorities, and collaborate on state and regional health IT implementation efforts. More information about the NYeC Regional Extension Center is available at www.nyecrec.org. For information on NYeC visit www.nyehealth.org.

About Sage North America
Sage North America is part of The Sage Group plc, a leading global supplier of business management software and services. Sage North America employs 4,000 people and supports 3.1 million small and midsized business customers, including medical practices supporting more than 80,000 physicians in the United States. The Sage Group plc, formed in 1981, was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and now employs 13,100 people and supports 6.2 million customers worldwide. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.sagenorthamerica.com.