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Beaver, PA – (February 1, 2008) – Heritage Valley Health System has been named a finalist for the 2008 Microsoft Healthcare User Group annual MSHUG Healthcare Innovation Award for Clinical Records – Inpatient. Hertiage Valley is competing against two other finalists for the award. They are Hospital Sao Sebastiano from Portugal and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Department of Anesthesiology.

Heritage Valley and their development partner Athena Technologies is being recognized for their Mobile Clinical Access Portal (M-CAP) solution which is a secure wireless handheld solution providing physicians with 3 years of on-line clinical data from any WIFI or Broadband connection point. The M-CAP solution provides a cross continuum view of our patients and their electronic health record.

Dave Carleton, chief information officer of Heritage Valley said, “We are truly honored to be selected as a finalist for this global award. Being nominated for this award validates our ability to develop and implement information technology as a critical enabling tool to achieving national leadership in patient care.”

The MS-HUG Healthcare Innovation Awards showcases how organizations uses technology to enhance and transform the quality of patient care, reduce costs, streamline clinical and business processes, drive interoperability, improve productivity and workflow, and enable informed decisions.

The MS-HUG Healthcare Innovation Awards are presented annually to the healthcare organization and technology solutions partner—with which it has collaborated—that best demonstrates industry leadership in using technology to achieve innovation excellence. Finalists are judged primarily on the following three criteria. First, does the innovation represent a breakthrough from the industry’s historical approaches? Second, does the innovation go beyond incremental improvements on technologies that already exist? Third, does the innovation measurably improve significant business and/or clinical processes that positively impact patient care?

Norm Mitry, president and chief executive officer of Heritage Valley added, “The vision of our health system is to be a leader among community health systems nationally through a high quality seamless integrated delivery network. Being selected as a finalist demonstrates our board’s vision and commitment, our physician’s leadership, and our senior team’s ability to execute and support innovative solutions that enhance patient care by providing the right information at the right place at the right time.”

About Heritage Valley Health System

Heritage Valley Health System provides comprehensive health care for residents of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties, in Pennsylvania; eastern Ohio; and the panhandle of West Virginia. In partnership with more than 500 physicians, Heritage Valley offers a broad range of medical, surgical and diagnostic services at its two hospitals, Heritage Valley Beaver, and Heritage Valley Sewickley; in physician offices; and community satellite facilities. Additional information about Heritage Valley Health System is available online at www.heritagevalley.org.