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Portico's Contract Management Solution Enables Increased Administrative Efficiency and Enhanced Provider Management Capabilities

Portico Systems, the leader in Integrated Provider Management (IPM) solutions, was selected by Healthfirst, a New York-based health plan with over 550,000 members and a network of more than 20,000 providers. Healthfirst will leverage Portico's Contract Manager, Courier, and Negotiator solutions to transform its paper and spreadsheet-based contracting processes into a systematic process enabling automation, ease of use, and a reduction of contract cycle times.

"We selected Portico Systems for their unique focus on provider contract management and extensive experience with health plans. These were two important criteria in our final selection process," said Steve Sakovits, Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer, Healthfirst. "The contracting solution's ability to automate the provider contract processes of authoring, offering and negotiating provider contracts is aligned with our commitment to enhancing our provider partnerships and interactions, while reducing our administration costs."

Inherent in the Portico Contract Manager Solution are the capabilities to manage the entire provider life cycle from a central location. The contracting solution supports Healthfirst's focus on process automation, reducing reliance on paper and providing information management visibility for provider contract operations.

"We are excited by this partnership with Healthfirst, and we're confident that our contract solutions will enhance Healthfirst's contracting processes," said Bill Pocklington, EVP of Portico Systems. "We are looking forward to helping Healthfirst build stronger relationships with their provider constituents through the automation and streamlining of the provider contracting activities."

About Healthfirst
Established in 1993, Healthfirst is a not-for-profit managed care organization that provides high-quality healthcare coverage to low-income individuals and families living in New York and New Jersey. Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of underserved populations by providing effective managed care services through comprehensive provider partnerships and reinvesting in our hospitals. Healthfirst offers a variety of government-sponsored health insurance programs, including New York State's Child Health Plus, Family Health Plus, Medicaid, and Medicare. The Healthfirst family of companies includes Healthfirst in New York, Healthfirst NJ in New Jersey, HF Management Services and Senior Health Partners, a long term managed care company. For more information, visit www.healthfirstny.org and www.healthfirstnj.org.

About Portico Systems
Portico Systems' innovative solutions enable health plans to reduce administrative, medical and IT costs. Portico's exclusive focus on provider operations and 500+ staff-years of provider experience has allowed Portico to design the only modular end-to-end provider platform. Portico, a portfolio company of Safeguard Scientifics, Inc., invites you to explore our website (www.porticosys.com) to learn how our commitment to customer service, quality and technology innovation can accelerate the evolution of your health plan's provider operations. Portico Systems is a partner company of Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. www.safeguard.com.

SOURCE: Healthfirst