Sutter Health Selects Healthwise® Knowledgebase for Web Content

Agreement joins leading nonprofit health care services network with leading nonprofit consumer health information organization.

Healthwise, Incorporated   
Contact: Brenda Foster
Phone: 208-331-6963/208-345-1897 (fax)
E-mail: bfoster@healthwise.org   
Web site: www.healthwise.org

Sutter Health
Contact: Karen Garner
Phone: 916-286-8297/916-286-8107 (fax)
E-mail: garnerk@sutterhealth.org
Web site: www.sutterhealth.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sutter Health Selects Healthwise® Knowledgebase for Web Content
Agreement joins leading nonprofit health care services network with leading nonprofit consumer health information organization.

Boise, Idaho, March 18, 2002-Healthwise, Incorporated, announced today that Sutter Health, a leading Northern California network of physicians and nonprofit community-based hospitals and health services, has licensed the award-winning Healthwise Knowledgebase for its Web site, www.SutterHealth.org. Sutter selected nonprofit Healthwise to provide its Web-based consumer health information because of the products commitment to a rigorous and unbiased editorial development process. The Healthwise Knowledgebase includes uniquely in-depth decision-support information on thousands of health topics, and Healthwise is one of only 13 organizations to receive first-ever URAC Health Web Site Accreditation.

Like those across the country, our patients are seeking information from the Web to better partner with their physicians in making decisions about their health," said Gordon Hunt, M.D., chief medical officer for Sutter Health. To support this trend and better serve our communities, its critical that we offer clear, trustworthy, and accredited consumer health information on our Web site. On www.SutterHealth.org, our patients, their families, and the community at large now have access to trustworthy, safe, and convenient guidelines critical to making informed decisions about common health issues."

Across the Sutter Health network, we emphasize patient education," said Cyndi Kettmann, Sutters senior vice president for public affairs. In our newest clinical improvement project that focuses on improving outcomes for first-time moms and their babies, for example, were enhancing our patient education to improve our patients experience and satisfaction. Through Healthwise, the health education section of our Web site now offers excellent supplemental information about pregnancy and reproduction as well as thousands of other topics."

People within Sutter Healths service area can count on the Healthwise Knowledgebase to help them work effectively with their doctors to make wise health decisions," said Healthwise President and COO Gene Drabinski.

About Healthwise
Healthwise, Incorporated (www.healthwise.org), a nonprofit consumer health information company, has distributed trusted information to more than 22 million families to help them make wise decisions about their health. Healthwise health information products include the Healthwiseâ Handbook, a self-care guide (now in its 15th edition) on 200 common health problems, the Healthwise Knowledgebase, an in-depth online resource, and the Healthwise Decision Support nurse call center software.

About Sutter Health
Sutter Health is one of the nations leading nonprofit networks of community-based health care providers, delivering high-quality care in more than 100 Northern California communities. Sutter Health is the regional leader in infant deliveries, neonatology, orthopedics, pediatrics, and cancer care services. Sutter Health supports more than two dozen locally run acute care hospitals; physician training programs; medical research facilities; region-wide home health, hospice, and occupational health networks; and long-term care centers. For more information, visit www.SutterHealth.org.

###