OAKLAND, Calif.- January 16, 2006 Emeryville-based Mede, the leading provider of on-demand advanced analytics and client services for healthcare financial managers and executives, has contracted to implement Self-Pay Analytics at Touro Infirmary, New Orleans , LA to maximize collection, and reduce bad debt for uninsured, under-insured, co-payment, and deductible patient accounts.

Self-Pay Analytics categorizes patient accounts based on multiple dimensions such as risk, income, and household size to best identify likelihood of patient payment, charity care eligibility, demographic errors, and potential fraud in advance of accounts being written to bad debt. The solution helps identify low income patients to ensure they receive appropriate financial assistance according to hospital Charity Care policies.

"Since hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has one of the nation's highest uninsured rates, and Touro Infirmary's percentage of self-pay and uncompensated care patients has risen dramatically," stated Robert Ficken, Vice President and CFO at Touro Infirmary. "As we work to rebuild our healthcare infrastructure, Mede's self-pay account profiling and powerful back end analytics will help us maximize community benefit. The self-pay application's advanced segmentation capabilities will classify patients who need some level of charity care so we can help them apply for the assistance right up front."

"Hospitals nationwide need comprehensive solutions to optimize self pay collections because it is an increasingly growing component of everyone's revenue," said Jim Quist, Chairman and CEO of Mede. "We look forward to helping Touro Infirmary implement a model to better identify self-pay and charity care patients, and accurately reserve for self-pay bad debt."

About Touro Infirmary

Founded in 1852, Touro Infirmary is New Orleans ' only community based, not-for-profit faith-based hospital. For more than 150 years, Touro has been in the vanguard of medical excellence. As one of New Orleans ' most enduring monuments, Touro Infirmary stands for stability. Tens of thousands of babies have been born at Touro, and they've treated more than a million people. Their modern facilities utilize the latest technology, and Touro is known for its quality and excellence. For additional information about programs and services contact Touro Infirmary at touro.com.

About Mede

Mede is the leading provider of on-demand analytic applications and client services to help healthcare financial managers and executives improve performance. The company is recognized for delivering innovative services that create sustainable value through a revolutionary combination of adaptive analytics, an instantly available IT environment, and unparalleled client services. The company serves over 600 U.S. hospitals, including Kaiser Permanente,

Tenet Healthcare Corp., Partners HealthCare, and The Cleveland Clinic. Founded in 1994, Mede is a rapidly growing, privately held company headquartered in Emeryville , Calif. To find out more about Mede, contact Marcia Shields at mshields@medefinance.com or visit www.medefinance.com .