Press Release
ZONARE MEDICAL SYSTEMS AND SISTERS OF MERCY HEALTH SYSTEM AGREE TO TWO YEAR CONTRACT
<h2>St. Edward Mercy First in Arkansas to Begin Scaling Premium Convertible Ultrasound™ Services</h2>
<p>Santa Clara, Calif. – November 16, 2006 – Faced with the challenge of providing premium ultrasound imaging at four rural satellite locations, Tracy Enloe, director of Capital Planning for Sisters of Mercy Health System, worked with Ruben Miller, director of Radiology at St. Edward Mercy Medical Center in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, to search for better methods than transporting a 400 pound ultrasound system between each facility. Shared ultrasound services were necessitated due to lower initial patient volumes at the remote locations and limited economic resources.</p>
<p>"We knew it was imperative to provide high quality imaging for our patients, yet do so as economically as possible," said Miller. "Fortunately, as we were looking into innovative methods to provide ultrasound services to these three rural facilities and one clinic, our group purchasing organization announced a contract with ZONARE Medical Systems, developer of the world’s first Convertible Ultrasound system. It seemed to be the perfect answer to our needs."</p>
<p>At the recommendation of Mercy’s System Capital Management Department, ROi (Resource Optimization & Innovation), the group purchasing organization for Sisters of Mercy Health System located in St. Louis, Missouri, and ZONARE Medical Systems, a developer of next generation ultrasound technology, recently entered into a two-year contract. The contract provides Sister of Mercy facilities the ability to purchase the z.one ultrasound system from ZONARE at ROi’s contract prices.</p>
<p>Based on revolutionary Zone Sonography™ technology, ZONARE has brought the first Convertible Ultrasound platform to the industry with superb image quality at a substantial price to value ratio. Clinicians are able to instantly convert the z.one platform from a full-featured, cart-based system into a premium compact, ultrasound system with all the performance of substantially larger and more expensive ultrasound units, yet, with greater portability and clinical flexibility than conventional compact systems. </p>
<p>"The ability to convert from a cart to a portable system was exactly what we needed to serve multiple locations without buying four separate systems," said Miller. "Instead, we bought four of the z.one carts, one for each facility, and just a single 5.5 pound scan engine which our sonographer easily hand carries, along with transducers, between the locations every week. We are very excited with how this has so economically met our needs while still providing very high image quality. I know of no other technology that can offer this solution with this convenience and quality."</p>
<p>Combining a fundamentally new advance in ultrasound, Zone Sonography technology, coupled with the z.one platform’s radically new physical design, provides the maximum flexibility offering significant clinical and workflow solutions for a wide variety of customer challenges. The z.one platform’s Zone Sonography software-based architecture ensures that its performance will increase as improvements in processing power become available. This allows for fast, convenient upgrades in clinical capabilities, keeping clinicians at the forefront of diagnostic capabilities as well as protecting their investment. With ZONARE’s latest release, upgrades can now be downloaded via the internet, another industry first.</p>
<p>"We are excited about the versitility and flexibility of the z.one system," said Larry Aubrey, senior consultant, Mercy Capital Planning, "This provides a very economical solution for situations similar to St. Edward’s. Imagine the ability to scale premium ultrasound services based on patient volume growth. It is an ideal answer to managing economic resources while still providing state-of-the-art ultrasound imaging for our patient populations."</p>
<p>Sisters of Mercy Health System was founded in 1986 and now has 18 acute care hospitals plus numerous outpatient facilities located in seven states. St. Edward serves the general Ft. Smith area and was recently named a Consumer Choice Award winner by National Research Corporation (NRC) for most preferred hospital in the region. The hospital is the first in Arkansas to offer the z.one Convertible Ultrasound system.</p>
<p>"Sisters of Mercy is an outstanding group of healthcare facilities representing excellence in patient care," said Donald Southard. "We are pleased to be able to provide our next generation ultrasound technology in support of the group’s patient mission, allowing wide access to premium ultrasound imaging. We look forward to our continued partnership."</p>
<h2>About Sisters of Mercy Health System</h2>
<p>The Sisters of Mercy Health System (Mercy) was established in 1986 to serve as the parent corporation of a variety of health care facilities and services sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy of the St. Louis Regional Community. Mercy consists of 18 acute care hospitals, a heart hospital, outpatient care facilities, physician practices, skilled nursing and long-term residential care facilities, clinics, a managed care organization and other health-related services. Mercy is the 9th largest Catholic healthcare system in the U.S., based on net patient service revenue. Today, Mercy operates facilities and services in a seven-state area encompassing Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Health System services are provided by approximately 26,000 co-workers and 3,100 physicians. For further information, visit www.mercy.net.</p>
<h2>About ZONARE Medical Systems</h2>
<p>ZONARE Medical Systems, Inc. designs, develops, and manufactures premium compact performance ultrasound solutions, which combine revolutionary technology with an innovative physical design. Zone Sonography technology, ZONARE’s unique patented approach to ultrasound imaging, is focused on bringing the highest performance to all clinical settings, leading to advanced diagnostic capabilities, more cost effective operation and increased value to providers. For more information, please visit www.zonare.com. </p>
<p># # #</p>
<p>Media Contacts:</p>
<p>Laurie Hallwyler<br />
ZONARE Medical Systems<br />
lhallwyler@zonare.com<br />
650-248-9081
</p>
<p>Barb Meyer<br />
Sisters of Mercy Health System<br />
bmeyer@corp.mercy.net<br />
314-579-6100
</p>