News Releases

Memorial Hermann First in the South to Purchase the eICU® Solution

eICU® technology enables proactive, life-saving ICU care

Houston, Texas, July 21, 2003 – Memorial Hermann Healthcare System and VISICU, Inc., creator of the eICU® solution, have signed a multimillion-dollar contract to further improve ongoing patient safety initiatives at Memorial Hermann with VISICU’s life-saving eICU solution. The contract, which calls for linking 200 ICU beds throughout the health system, will be initially installed at Memorial Hermann Hospital, Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital and Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital and will make Memorial Hermann the first health system in the South and in the state of Texas to use the technology. The eICU solution transforms ICU care using telemedicine technology, early warning software and electronic monitoring to connect off-site critical care physician specialists known as intensivists and critical care nurses to ICU patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Memorial Hermann is proud to be the first in the Houston market and in the state of Texas to offer this exciting new technology to our critical care patients,” said Dan Wolterman, president & CEO, Memorial Hermann Healthcare System. “After we reviewed the research and looked at the system in use at other sites, the decision to invest in this exciting new technology was not difficult. We wanted our ICU patients to have the added benefit of the eICU solution. The technology will provide intensive care physicians and nurses with the advanced tools they need to provide even faster, more responsive care.”

Hugh Gilmore, M.D., Memorial Hermann vice president of Clinical Affairs, added: “Our clinical leadership is genuinely excited about this initiative, and we fully expect that the eICU solution will help us to enhance our culture of quality by reducing complications and mortality rates and enabling shorter hospital stays for our sickest patients.”

Frank T. Sample, president and CEO of VISICU commented on the company’s opportunity to partner with this prestigious organization. “We are thrilled that the eICU solution is rapidly expanding across the country into major health care delivery networks and that the citizens of Houston will benefit from this life saving technology.” Sample continued, “The Memorial Hermann contract represents a significant opportunity to further demonstrate the value of proactive ICU care by partnering with a highly recognized organization that is leading the way in patient safety.”

About VISICU
VISICU, Inc., a privately held company founded in 1998 by two intensivist physicians, is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The eICU® solution enables hospitals to standardize ICU care across multiple hospitals and leverage scarce intensivist talent. From a centralized eICU, intensivists and nurse’s monitor and care for ICU patients through a high-fidelity telemedicine network, that has been likened to air traffic control. The proprietary software is used to proactively manage patients and electronically connect the “patient to the doctor”. A Cap-Gemini E&Y study of the eICU proved the clinical and financial benefits and the eICU is currently the only technology solution that enables hospitals to meet the Leapfrog Group’s ICU patient care safety standards. VISICU won the 2001 Healthcare Informatics and Technology Award and in 2002 the eICU was recognized as one of the Top 100 technical innovations by InfoWorld magazine. For more information please visit www.visicu.com. eICU® is a registered trademark of VISICU, Inc.

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