ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Thomson Reuters on Thursday honored two Pennsylvania health plans and a Florida hospital system for significantly improving the quality and managing the cost of healthcare.

Keystone Mercy and AmeriHealth Mercy health plans and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare are overall winners of the Thomson Reuters 2009 Healthcare Advantage Award, which honors hospitals and healthcare payers that use data analytics to improve business results and the quality of care.

Keystone Mercy and AmeriHealth Mercy, managed care health plans serving more than 400,000 Medicaid recipients in Pennsylvania, were cited for initiatives that assess and report on physician performance and identify gaps in patient care.

As a result of these efforts, more of the health plans' members received recommended care and preventive screenings, which lowered hospital admissions and emergency room visits. In addition, improved HEDIS rates are expected to result in an additional $6.2 million in payments from the state's Pay for Performance program.

Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, a not-for-profit system that includes a 770-bed acute care hospital, was cited for two initiatives:

    --  Deployment of a dashboard report that gives hospital administrators
        critical information about key trends and clinical outcomes so they
        can determine where to focus process changes and improvement
        initiatives. This dissemination of better intelligence improved
        clinical performance and helped reduce mortality by 23 percent.


    --  A strategic marketing project that identified growth opportunities
        that could increase the hospital's contribution margin $5 million over
        the next five years.

"Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and Keystone Mercy and AmeriHealth Mercy have made an inspiring commitment to excellence," said Mike Boswood, president and CEO of the Healthcare and Science business of Thomson Reuters. "As a result, they are more successful business operations, people are getting higher quality healthcare, and lives are being saved."

The awards were presented in San Diego at the 2009 Healthcare Advantage Conference, the annual gathering of Thomson Reuters healthcare customers.

In addition to the overall winners, awards were also presented to healthcare providers and payers in four categories:

    Performance Efficiency

    --  Liberty Mutual Group
    --  MO HealthNet Division
    --  St. Barnabas Health Care System - West Orange, NJ
    --  Ohio State University Medical Center, University Hospital East -
        Columbus, Ohio
    --  South Jersey Healthcare - Vineland, NJ
    --  Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center - Winston-Salem, NC

    --  WellStar Health System - Marietta, GA

    Strategy and Growth

    --  Caterpillar, Inc.
    --  Novartis Pharmaceutical Corp.
    --  Borgess Medical Center - Kalamazoo, MI
    --  Oakwood Health Care System - Dearborn, MI

    --  Elkhart General Hospital - Elkhart, IN

    Health and Clinical Outcomes

    --  Prudential Financial
    --  Christiana Care Health System - Wilmington, DE

    --  Baptist Health, Little Rock, ARConsumer Outreach and Communications


    --  CIGNA HealthCare

"We are pleased to celebrate the success of these hospitals, health plans, and employers and to recognize their hard work and dedication to operational efficiency and clinical quality," Boswood said.

About Thomson Reuters

The Healthcare business of Thomson Reuters produces insights, information, benchmarks and analysis that enable organizations to manage costs, improve performance and enhance the quality of healthcare. Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TRI); Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: TRI); London Stock Exchange (LSE: TRIL); and Nasdaq (NASDAQ: TRIN). For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.

SOURCE  Thomson Reuters
    -0-                           05/08/2009
    /CONTACT:  David Wilkins, Media Relations, Healthcare of Thomson Reuters,
+1-734-913-3397, david.wilkins@thomsonreuters.com/
    /Web Site:  http://www.thomsonreuters.com /
    (TRI TRIN)

CO:  Thomson Reuters; Keystone Mercy; AmeriHealth Mercy; Tallahassee Memorial
     HealthCare; Thomson Reuters 2009 Healthcare Advantage Award; 2009
     Healthcare Advantage Conference
ST:  Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida
IN:  HEA INS HIN
SU:  AWD NPT SCZ

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