Moses Taylor Hospital has completed an implementation of Amelior EDTracker. Charlotte, NC and Scranton, PA (March 4, 2009) – Patient Care Technology Systems (PCTS), a subsidiary of Consulier Engineering, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSLR), today announced that Moses Taylor Hospital (MTH) has completed an implementation of the company’s Amelior EDTracker® software to automatically track patients and assets in its 35,000 census emergency department. The software uses an ultrasonic positioning system from PCTS business partner, Sonitor Technologies.

The Amelior EDTracker solution is part of PCTS’ enterprise visibility suite which comprises departmental to facility-wide software solutions and services designed to more efficiently and safely orchestrate patient care through the real-time visualization of patient flow. Hospitals can scale their implementations by the entities they wish to track (movable medical equipment, patients, staff), purpose (asset management, patient flow, infection control) and by the scope of hospital workflow (emergency department, perioperative department, outpatient services, med/surg, facility-wide).

The web-based Amelior tracking software visualizes workflow by automatically identifying the location of people and equipment and the care progression of patients. Location information is generated by integrating with a facility’s choice of real-time locating system (RTLS) including ultrasonic, infrared, radio-frequency, and hybrid technologies. Workflow algorithms within the software interpret the meaning of location, movement and interactions between patients, staff and equipment to alert mobile caregivers to patient care milestones as they occur through patient status and department map view screens. Additional interfaces to ADT, lab and radiology systems create a centralized workflow communication and management portal that eliminates the need for manual updates and delays caused by a lack of information.

At MTH’s emergency department, PCTS installed large flat panel monitors to display big-screen views of the main tracking board and waiting room in status screen and map layouts. Icons indicate the status of patients and rooms as well as to indicate patient flow roadblocks and patient safety alerts.

“We are very pleased to have implemented the Amelior EDTracker system,” said Edward Roman, chief information and privacy officer at Moses Taylor Hospital. “The system has given our caregivers a new level of patient flow management capability through the many ways we can visualize and communicate patient status.”

PCTS will be demonstrating the Amelior EDTracker system at the ENA Leadership Conference in Reno, Nevada on March 6 – 7 in booth #211.

About Moses Taylor Hospital

Moses Taylor Hospital is a community-based health care facility with a long tradition of providing quality health care services to the residents of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Founded in 1892 by a New York City merchant, banker and industrialist named Moses Taylor, the mission of the hospital was to care for the railroad workers and coal miners of the region. The main campus of the hospital remains at its original site, located at 700 Quincy Avenue, Scranton, PA.

Moses Taylor Hospital has 173 beds, 22 geropsychiatric inpatient beds, 32 skilled nursing beds as well as a 14-bed inpatient rehabilitation unit. In addition to a full-service emergency department, Moses Taylor Hospital has medical/surgical and other acute care specialty services. Our Family Birthing Suites provides a family-focused environment for births and our unique, private room Neonatal Intensive Care Unit provides state-of-the-art services for our tiniest and most fragile patients. Other services provided at the Hospital include wound care, MRI/CT and hospice or palliative care.

With over 400 physicians on staff, Moses Taylor Hospital employs more than 1,500 people who are dedicated to providing quality and cost effective health care that is patient-focused. Moses Taylor Hospital is part of an integrated delivery system known as Moses Taylor Health Care System, comprised of Mid-Valley Hospital and Physicians Health Alliance, Inc., a 60-member, multi-specialty physician group. The Hospital is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).

About Patient Care Technology Systems

Patient Care Technology Systems, a subsidiary of Consulier Engineering, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSLR), helps health care providers to improve patient flow, increase capacity and improve patient and staff safety by visualizing the real-time location of resources and the care status of patients throughout their facility. Proven return on investment in high turnover, high acuity departments such as the emergency department and perioperative suite where PCTS solutions have supported over 5 million patient visits with automatic tracking and emergency department documentation solutions. Compatible with all leading locating technologies including active-RFID, infrared, ultrasound, ultra-wideband, Wi-Fi and ZigBee. PCTS customers have been recognized nationally for improvements in efficiency and clinical excellence. For more information, visit www.pcts.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. PCTS and CSLR caution you that any statements contained in this press release which are not strictly historical statements constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those related to PCTS’s and CSLR’s expectations regarding continued business growth. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, (copies of which may be obtained at the SEC’s website at: http://www.sec.gov) — could impact the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Readers should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. PCTS and CSLR disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any such statements to reflect any change in PCTS and CSLR’s expectations, or in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

July 23, 2008

Sioux Falls, S.D. – University of Sioux Falls (USF) President Mark Benedetto today announced that the school will be receiving a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) for the creation of a school of nursing. The gift represents the largest grant that USF has ever received. The University will submit a formal application with the South Dakota Board of Nursing in September with the hope of enrolling its first students in fall 2009. USF will begin an immediate search for a nursing program director.

“We’re grateful the DOE recognized our past success and commitment to increasing access to faith-based postsecondary education,” said Chairman of the USF Board of Trustees Bob Veninga of St. Paul, Minn. “The leadership of USF is committed to students’ intellectual growth, but we’re equally interested in their spiritual formation and character development. This is a formula that will prove successful in preparing top-quality nurses for the 21^st Century and beyond.”

The five-year, $2 million award under the department’s Title III Strengthening Institutions Program serves as an enhancement to the University’s recently completed Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce-approved “Science for Success” campaign. The DOE funds will be used to recruit and employ highly qualified nursing faculty, develop curricula, acquire supportive instructional resources, purchase state-of-the-art equipment and fund the renovation of new science classrooms and teaching labs within the Salsbury Science Center. Additionally, a portion of the grant will provide seed money for an endowment that will be used to provide student scholarships in the future.

“The proposed nursing program aligns well with the expressed mission of the University and would eventually translate into increased student enrollment,” said Benedetto. “Additionally, it would compliment similar programs offered throughout South Dakota that focus on providing quality healthcare for the state’s population.”

USF has experienced unparalleled growth since Benedetto began his tenure in 1997. Total enrollment has more than doubled, annual giving has increased by over 600 percent per year and the University’s endowment has grown from $5 million to more than $21 million. Within the past decade, USF has been involved in 14 building projects and has added roughly $32 million of institutional assets at two campus locations. New academic programs and adult learning programs in education and business administration have also been added. In May 2008 the University graduated more students, 420, than any other private college in South Dakota.

Since 2000 USF has seen a significant increase – 63 percent – in the number of students who declare science majors.

“Each year the University admissions office fields numerous inquiries from students interested in pursuing a nursing degree,” said Brett Bradfield, vice president and dean for academic affairs. Marketing research conducted for USF by an external agency indicated strong regional interest in a nursing program at the University. Given the statistical data forecasting a continuing shortage of qualified nurses for the state and region, USF is hopeful that this initiative will forge the way for collaborative and cooperative relationships across the state with a common goal to increase the pool of nurses serving in healthcare roles.

Founded in 1883, USF offers 33 major areas of study, 2 degree completion programs, 7 pre-professional programs, master’s degrees in business administration and education and a collaborative doctorate in education with the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. Total enrollment for fall 2009 is expected to approach 1,700 students. USF draws 66 percent of undergraduates from South Dakota, and the neighboring states of Iowa, Minnesota, Wyoming and Nebraska make up the majority of the remaining student body.

For all additional information please contact
Barbara Vellenga, PhD, RN
Director, School of Nursing
University of Sioux Falls
1-605-331-6671 or 1-800-888-1047
Nursing@USiouxfalls.edu

Both receive the Kathy Ruccione Founder’s Award for Excellence In Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nursing

CONTACT: Steve Rutledge at (323) 361-4121

LOS ANGELES – Two Childrens Hospital Los Angeles nurses – Rita Secola, R.N., MSN, CPON and Anne Nord, R.N., BSN – received the Kathy Ruccione Founder’s Award for Excellence in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nursing from the Southern California Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses (SCAPHON) at the Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses (APHON) conference, May 10-11, 2007, in San Diego.

In 1995, the SCAPHON board of directors bestowed the first Founder’s Award to Kathy Ruccione, R.N., MPH, FAAN, CPON, nursing administrator in the Childrens Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and an associate professor of clinical pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Ms. Ruccione was the driving force behind establishing the Southern California chapter of the Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses.

“It is an honor and privilege for all Childrens Hospital Los Angeles nurses to work with Rita and Anne,” said Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Mary Dee Hacker. “They are role models for all of us to strive to be the best nurses possible to the children and families we serve.

“The Kathy Ruccione Founder’s Award for Excellence in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nursing is the highest honor bestowed by SCAPHON and [Childrens Hospital Los Angeles] we are proud and honored that two of our very best were recognized this year with this award.”

Ms. Secola is the clinical nurse manager of the Hematology/Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation units in the Childrens Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

Ms. Secola received a bachelor’s degree in nursing (1983) from Carlow College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree in nursing (1988) from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. She became a certified pediatric oncology nurse (CPON) in 1993.

Ms. Nord is the hematology research nurse coordinator in the Childrens Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. She coordinates clinical trials in Hematology and assists in the planning, development and implementation of clinical protocols in accordance with the parameters established by the principal investigator and the hospital’s Institutional Review Board.

Ms. Nord received both an associate’s degree in nursing (1989) and a bachelor’s degree in nursing (1990) from Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles.

Founded in 1901, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has been treating the most seriously ill and injured children in Los Angeles for more than a century, and it is acknowledged throughout the United States and around the world for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. Childrens Hospital is one of America’s premier teaching hospitals, affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California for more than 75 years. It is a national leader in pediatric research.

Since 1990, U.S. News & World Report and its panel of board-certified pediatricians have named Childrens Hospital Los Angeles one of the top pediatric facilities in the nation.

Only five percent of hospitals in U.S. have received Magnet status

CONTACT: Steve Rutledge at (323) 361-4121

LOS ANGELES – The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) yesterday (Feb. 20, 2008) granted “Magnet Recognition” to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles for nursing excellence, according to an announcement by Richard D. Cordova, FACHE, president and CEO of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

“The ANCC made ‘official’ what so many of our patient families and those within the profession have come to know,” Cordova said, “….that this hospital is a very, very special place, and its nurses are, too.”

The Magnet Recognition Program® was developed by the American Nurses Credentialing Center to recognize health care organizations that demonstrate nursing excellence. Only five percent of the hospitals in the United States have received Magnet Recognition, including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, and only the very best children’s hospitals throughout the country.

The Magnet Recognition for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is the culmination of an extended process that began under the leadership of Vice President for Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer Mary Dee Hacker, R.N., MBA, more than three years ago.

“Our nurses work tirelessly to provide the highest quality of care available, anywhere, built on a foundation of evidence-based best practices,” Cordova said. “They have embraced the goal of becoming leaders in research and education, too. Their work is found in professional journals, publications and textbooks.

“Our nurses participate in national and international conferences,” he said, “presenting their work in posters and at the podium. They are considered experts, and they are sought as consultants, nationally and internationally.

“Many of our nurses are leaders within the profession or serve as members of the faculty in nursing departments at colleges and universities in and around Los Angeles,” Cordova said. “They volunteer in their communities and abroad.”

The three-year Magnet Recognition application process was under the direction of Susan Cline, RNC, MSN, MBA, who is now operations manager in the Newborn and Infant Critical Care Unit at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. The process involved more than 100 nurses in the creation of a document, with addenda, of more than 3,500 pages.

The original Magnet research study in 1983 identified 14 characteristics that differentiated organizations that were best able to recruit and retain nurses during the nursing shortages of the 1970s and 1980s. These characteristics became the ANCC Forces of Magnetism that provide the conceptual framework for the Magnet appraisal process – attributes or outcomes that exemplify excellence in nursing.

The full expression of the current 14 Forces of Magnetism is the requirement for designation as a Magnet facility and embodies a professional environment guided by a strong and visionary nursing leader who advocates and supports excellence in nursing practice.

They are Force 1: Quality of Nursing Leadership; Force 2: Organizational Structure; Force 3: Management Style; Force 4: Personnel Policies and Programs; Force 5: Professional Models of Care; Force 6: Quality of Care; Force 7: Quality Improvement; Force 8: Consultation and Resources; Force 9: Autonomy; Force 10: Community and the Healthcare Organization; Force 11: Nurses as Teachers; Force 12: Image of Nursing; Force 13: Interdisciplinary Relationships; and Force 14: Professional Development.

Founded in 1901, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has been treating the most seriously ill and injured children in Los Angeles for more than a century, and it is acknowledged throughout the United States and around the world for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. Childrens Hospital is one of America’s premier teaching hospitals, affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California since 1932. It is a national leader in pediatric research.

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles treats 62,000 patients a year in its Emergency Department. It admits more than 11,000 children a year to the hospital, with almost 50-percent of those admissions children under four years of age. There are approximately 287,000 visits a year to its 29 outpatient clinics; nearly 2,800 visits at community sites through its Division of Adolescent Medicine. Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is able to offer the optimum in multidisciplinary care, with more than 100 pediatric subspecialty services.

Since 1990, U.S. News & World Report and its panel of board-certified pediatricians have named Childrens Hospital Los Angeles one of the top pediatric facilities in the nation.

AFGE Applauds Senator Rockefeller and Representative Filner for Introducing Key Legislation

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) today applauded the efforts of Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and Representative Bob Filner, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs for authoring legislation to amend Section 7422 of Title 38, expanding the workplace voice and negotiating rights of physicians, dentists, registered nurses and other frontline health care employees in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Sen. Rockefeller and Rep. Filner introduced legislation, S.362 and H.R. 949, clarifying Congress’ clear intent to afford VA health care professionals the same collective bargaining rights enjoyed by their counterparts in military hospitals and Bureau of Prison facilities. “This critical legislation will go a along way to ensure that the VA is a model employer who can compete for the best health care professionals to care for our veterans,” said J. David Cox, AFGE national secretary-treasurer.

Over thirty years ago, Congress recognized the importance of collective bargaining rights when it enacted the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, declaring that collective bargaining rights are in the public interest. Since that time, employees throughout the federal government have utilized collective bargaining to voice concerns about important workplace matters. Congress took action again in 1991 to ensure equal bargaining rights for VA health care professionals by enacting Section 7422 of Title 38. However, over the past six years, the VA has increasingly used this section of the law to directly contradict Congressional intent and deprive these clinicians of the very same rights used every day by their colleagues working side by side with them at the VA, such as pharmacists, social workers, psychologists and licensed practical nurses.

“Collective bargaining rights play a critical role in improving public safety and the quality of public services provided by federal, state, and local governments, including safe air travel, crime control, and safe health care,” said J. David Cox, AFGE national secretary-treasurer. “Congress outlined its intent to afford VA employees the same collective bargaining rights as other federal employees, but unfortunately for the VA workforce and the veterans they care for, the VA’s current human resources policy has acted contrary to that intent.”

The American Federation of Government Employees is the largest federal employee union representing 600,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.
SOURCE American Federation of Government Employees

Regence Foundation awards $380,000 for local clinics and health technology projects

PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 17 /PRNewswire/ — The Regence Foundation announced today eight grants geared toward building healthier communities and improving health care technology in Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington. The grants, totaling $380,000, range from rural nursing education to building a health care quality Web site.

“The Regence Foundation believes philanthropy is a meaningful tool to help transform health care,” said Michael Alexander, Regence Foundation board chair. “And in these tough economic times, it’s even more important to support the good work of local nonprofits to help the most vulnerable among us.”

• Mountain States Group (Boise, ID): $10,000 to fund its Cover Idaho Kids Project. The program will help school nurses in 15 rural Idaho school districts enroll uninsured children in the Idaho Health Plan Coverage for Children and Teens program (formerly called the CHIP/Medicaid Program).
• United Way of Lane County (Springfield, OR): $25,000 to help the organization’s 100% Access program strengthen the county’s clinic safety net system. Lane County has the second highest rate of uninsured residents in Oregon, and 100% Access is working to improve the coordination of care for the uninsured and increase the resources and support available to safety net clinics.
• Western Washington Health Education Center (Seattle, WA): $135,500 to support a distance learning program for rural nursing students so they can pursue nursing education while continuing to live and work in their own communities. The distance learning program is intended to help ease Washington’s nursing shortage, which is especially severe in rural areas.
• Medical Foundation of Marion and Polk Counties (Salem, OR): $21,600 to help connect uninsured people with available providers. In the Salem area, a significant number of uninsured patients rely on free or reduced-fee care from local physicians, and Project Access developed a systematic way of efficiently linking people needing care with providers able to give it.
• Coalition of Community Health Clinics (Portland, OR): $44,200 to create a prescription drug toolbox for its member clinics. The toolbox will contain strategies to help reduce the cost of prescription drugs for the clinics and its patients, because medication cost is often a barrier to following through on treatment plans.
• Rinehart Clinic (Wheeler, OR): $58,900 to implement electronic health records to improve the clinic’s chronic disease management program, prevent prescription drug errors and interactions, increase preventive medicine focus and expedite access to patient records and lab results.
• Christ Clinic (Spokane, WA): $30,000 challenge grant to fund the organization’s hire of an additional nurse practitioner and its ability to treat patients. Currently, the clinic is understaffed and forced to turn patients away. This grant will help triple the number of uninsured patients it is able to see.
• Utah Partnership for Value-Driven Health Care (Salt Lake City, UT): $54,800 to build a consumer-focused health Web site. The organization is dedicated to helping consumers make smart health care choices, and the site will feature a health care rating system and information about health care quality, cost and access.

“The Regence Foundation is committed to supporting the work of nonprofits tackling some of the root causes of our broken health care system,” said Monique Barton, Regence Foundation executive director. “These eight grants all recognize and support transformative nonprofits improving the health care system through innovative methods.”

The grants were funded through The Regence Fund at The Oregon Community Foundation. For more information, please visit regencefoundation.org.

About The Regence Foundation

The Regence Foundation is the corporate foundation of The Regence Group, the largest health insurer in the Northwest/Intermountain region and a not-for-profit independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. A 501(c)3 grantmaking organization, the Foundation partners with organizations driving significant change in health care delivery and accessibility in Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Starting in spring 2009, the Foundation will also partner with organizations addressing end-of-life issues.

SOURCE The Regence Foundation