AMCI Leads Innovative Team For Ohio's Smallpox Distribution and Tracking Effort

Atlantic Management Center, Inc., along with partners The Orkand Corporation and Symbol Technologies, has been selected to implement a smallpox registry in the State of Ohio to assist in the tracking of the mass distribution of the smallpox vaccine.

FALLS CHURCH, Va., February 21, 2003 -- Atlantic Management Center, Inc. (AMCI) announced today that they have been awarded a contract by the Ohio Department of Health to develop, implement, and execute tracking of the States smallpox vaccination plan.

On October 28, 2002, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued post smallpox event planning guidance to all 50 states; the District of Columbia; the commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands; American Samoa; Guam; the U.S. Virgin Islands; the republics of Palau and the Marshall Islands; the Federated States of Micronesia; and the nations three largest municipalities (New York, Chicago and Los Angeles County). In addition, CDC issued supplemental guidance on November 22, 2002 that specifically addressed how the state and local health departments intend to vaccinate their communities. The resultant plans contain information on the number of people comprising each public health smallpox and health care smallpox response team, information on where the vaccines would be administered, the number of health care facilities identified to participate, and the number of clinics needed to support this effort.

The AMCI team, that includes The Orkand Corporation and Symbol Technologies, will be implementing a smallpox registry to assist Ohio in tracking the mass distribution of smallpox vaccine to the 11.4 million residents of the State. Utilizing wireless technology and two-dimensional bar coding software developed by Orkand and AMCI, the State will have the ability to scan the unique identifying information of the recipient directly into the web-enabled registry. The scanning of drivers license and medical identification numbers will be performed using Symbol Technologies multi-purpose handheld Pocket PCs. For those individuals who are not candidates for scanning the registry is equipped with a mass inoculation module that allows for the streamlined capture of the vaccination data that is also integrated with the States IMPACT Statewide Immunization Information System (SIIS). The solution is designed to capture essential health care information on each patient receiving the smallpox vaccine and sending the information to CDC in a standardized format using HL7 messaging. The Smallpox Registry is a secure, reliable web-based information system that gathers data quickly and accurately providing the Department of Health with the necessary information to make authoritative decisions for the people of Ohio.

We are honored to partner with AMCI on such a critically important program and are anxious to begin working with the AMCI team to demonstrate the benefits of this cutting-edge information assurance technology to the State of Ohio," commented Orkand CEO, Dr. Donald Orkand.

AMCIs CEO, Gloria Phillips stated, We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to support Ohios health care community as it pertains to this critical endeavor. The national importance of these efforts cannot be understated and is only intensified by President Bushs December 13th announcement of the Smallpox Vaccination Program and we are excited to be a part of this initiative."

About The Orkand Corporation

Established in 1970, The Orkand Corporation is a recognized leader in providing mission-critical information technology solutions to federal government clients.

The Orkand Corporation has provided continuous support to the Department of Health and Human Services for more than a quarter century. The company is the second largest IT service provider to the Department of State and the third largest to the Department of Labor. Headquartered in Falls Church, VA, The Orkand Corporation operates in more than 200 overseas locations and in client facilities across 20 states in the U.S.

About AMCI

AMCI is a woman-owned small business headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia. Founded in 1983 with the singular purpose of providing practical, relevant tools for improving business practices between government and its industry partners, AMCI is a specialized provider of customized information technology (IT) solutions to U.S. Federal and State government organizations. For more information, visit www.amciweb.com.