Toronto Stock Exchange Symbol: SXC
Systems Xcellence announces informedrx Contracts with three u.s. health plansMILTON, Ontario, March 22, 2004, Systems Xcellence Inc., ("SXC") (TSX: SXC) a leading provider of healthcare information technology solutions throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain, today announced the sale and implementation of its InformedRx pharmacy benefit administration services to three U.S.-based healthcare providers. The contracts have a combined value of approximately US$1,000,000 over three years. SXC's InformedRx offering is a broad suite of à la-carte pharmacy benefits services that provide a flexible and cost-effective alternative to traditional pharmacy benefit management offerings typically employed by managed care organizations (MCOs). The InformedRx suite provides healthcare benefit plan design, prescription drug claims adjudication, retail pharmacy network reimbursement contracts, drug utilization review, pharmaceutical manufacturer contracting and rebate management, and web portals for members as value-added services, all built around SXC's industry leading pharmacy claims processing system, RxCLAIM(R). "In the area of pharmacy benefits processing for health plans, our InformedRx suite of services continues to gain traction in the marketplace and we are very pleased to announce these initial customers," said Gordon S. Glenn, President & CEO at SXC. "Increasingly, health plan sponsors are looking for alternative solutions to manage their prescription benefit programs. InformedRx is an attractive proposition for these organizations as our applications allow them to take greater control over their drug benefit programs as well as the associated relationships with drug manufacturers and plan members at compelling cost savings. Additionally, these three organizations are also operators of out-patient pharmacies and are users of SXC's RxEXPRESS® pharmacy practice management system. Organizations that provide these multiple services to their plan members represent a market niche where SXC can place its full suite of products and services." The Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin - an health maintenance organization (HMO), with more than 50,000 lives under management and a licensed client of SXC's since 1999 - recently decided to outsource its pharmacy benefit management program with SXC's InformedRx model, as a highly efficient means of administering its claims program. For more information on The Group Health Cooperative, visit www.ghc-hmo.com. In bringing management of its plan in-house, Security Health Plan of Wisconsin, Inc., an 118,000 life MCO based in Marshfield, Wisconsin, will be able to provide healthcare benefit plans that can quickly adjust to changes in the marketplace and will be better able to serve the unique needs of its plan member organization. For more information on Security Health, visit www.securityhealth.org. Evanston Northwestern Healthcare of Chicago, Illinois, will utilize SXC's products to design flexible and cost-effective health plans while leveraging SXC's network of more than 40,000 pharmacies to support its own clinic pharmacy network. Evanston Northwestern, with 5,000 employees, is the first employer group to become a customer of SXC. For more information on Evanston Northwestern, visit www.enh.org. About Systems Xcellence Inc. Systems Xcellence ("SXC") is headquartered in Milton, Ontario with offices and processing centers in Lombard, Illinois, Scottsdale, Arizona and Victoria, British Columbia. SXC is a leading provider of healthcare information technology solutions and services to the healthcare benefits management industry. The company's product offerings and solutions combine a wide range of software applications, application service provider ("ASP") processing services and professional services, designed for many of the largest organizations in the pharmaceutical supply chain, such as pharmacy benefit managers, managed care organizations, retail pharmacy chains and other healthcare intermediaries. For more information please visit www.sxc.com. This press release contains forward-looking
statements based on current expectations. These forward-looking statements
entail various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements.
Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully
discussed in the Management Discussion and Analysis published in the
Company's annual report. For more information, please contact:
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