DEARBORN, Mich., Nov. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Superior Consultant Company and Lakeland Regional Health System, a St. Joseph, Michigan-based health system, today announced they have entered into a five- year, infrastructure outsourcing contract, with a base value of approximately $14.6 million.
Under the new agreement, effective November 1, 2004, Superior will provide Lakeland Regional Health System with an infrastructure outsourcing solution, including network management, consolidated data center services, and 24/7/375 help desk services. In addition, Superior’s experienced professionals will work with the health system to update its internal network, and will assist in developing Lakeland’s future clinical information technology strategy.
Through this new outsourcing partnership, Superior and Lakeland will work together to develop the base infrastructure foundation that will enable Lakeland to offer advanced clinical solutions to its constituents. Superior will assume direct management responsibility for Lakeland’s information technology infrastructure, which includes all hardware, network management, help desk, network monitoring, disaster recovery, and consolidated data center. Approximately 15 of Lakeland’s information services employees will be joining Superior.
“We are confident that Superior’s proven outsourcing solution and healthcare domain expertise will help us form the building blocks that will enable us to expand our clinical information capabilities,” said Joe Wasserman, Lakeland Regional Health System’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “By partnering with Superior’s experienced outsourcing team, which has generated unmatched results for its other outsourcing clients, we, too, look forward to achieving enhanced performance.”
“Superior brings us healthcare-knowledgeable personnel and a ‘get it done’ attitude as we strive to expand our clinical capabilities,” said Timothy Calhoun, Lakeland Regional Health System’s Chief Financial Officer. “As we looked to rebuild our information technology infrastructure, it was apparent that we needed a partner that had done this before, and Superior’s excellent track record spoke for itself.”
“We are pleased to welcome Lakeland Regional Health System as an infrastructure outsourcing client and look forward to helping them expand and accomplish their clinical initiatives,” said Richard D. Helppie, Superior’s Chief Executive Officer. “Lakeland is another example of an independent, community-based, not-for-profit health system looking for affordable technology. Our partnership will provide them with the base infrastructure technology and services that will help them broaden their clinical capabilities.”
Statements included in this press release which are not historical in nature, are intended to be, and are hereby identified as “forward-looking statements” for purposes of the safe harbor provided by Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by Public Law 104-67. Forward- looking statements may be identified by words including, but not limited to: “anticipate,” “believe,” “intends,” “estimates,” “promises,” “expect,” “should,” “conditioned upon” and similar expressions. This release contains forward-looking statements relating to future financial results or business expectations. Business plans may change as circumstances warrant. Actual results may differ materially as a result of factors and events which the company is unable to accurately predict or over which the company has no control. Such factors include, but are not limited to: the award or loss of significant client assignments, timing of contracts, recruiting and new business solicitation efforts, the healthcare market’s acceptance of and demand for the company’s offerings, demands upon and consumption of the company’s cash and cash equivalent resources or changes in the company’s access to working capital, regulatory changes and other factors affecting the financial constraints on the company’s clients, competitive pressures (both domestic and foreign), the ability to successfully manage currency risk, obtain foreign work permits and otherwise successfully execute and manage international contracts, economic factors specific to healthcare, general economic conditions, unforeseen disruptions in transportation, communications or other infrastructure components, acquisitions under consideration and the ability to integrate acquisitions on a timely basis. Additional information regarding these risk factors and others, and additional information concerning the company are included in the company’s reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
About Lakeland Regional Health System
Lakeland Regional Health System began on January 1, 1992, when Mercy Memorial Medical Center (Benton Harbor/St. Joseph) merged with Pawating Hospital (Niles). Those two hospitals -- now known as Lakeland Hospital, St. Joseph and Lakeland Hospital, Niles -- are the heart of the system today, along with Lakeland Specialty Hospital, which joined Lakeland on January 1, 1994. Together, these three facilities have a total of more than 260 years of service to their communities.
Lakeland is a not-for-profit, community-owned system of care serving Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren counties and outlying areas. With more than 3,000 associates and more than 250 medical staff members, Lakeland is the largest employer in Berrien County. Besides the three hospitals, the system includes an outpatient care center, walk-in clinics, long-term care, home care, laboratory and X-ray services, rehabilitation and other services throughout the region. In addition, Lakeland offers health, safety, wellness, and prevention events, classes, and programs throughout the year.
About Superior Consultant Holdings Corporation
Recipient of Frost & Sullivan’s 2003 Best Bang for the Buck Award for providing services and solutions with the highest ratio of value to cost, Superior Consultant is a leading national provider of transformational outsourcing, management and information technology consulting services and solutions to the healthcare industry. Superior specializes in Digital Business Transformation(TM) services that enable clients to thrive in the information-driven economy, and its outsourcing, management and information technology consulting services and solutions help clients plan and execute better business strategies and meet their fiscal challenges while advancing clinical quality. Superior’s best practices outsourcing model includes a full range of flexible business process and information technology solutions, including data center services, 24/7/365 network monitoring and help desk services, facility management, interim management, and application outsourcing services. For 20 years, Superior has been recognized as an innovative leader within the healthcare industry and has been rewarded with full and partial outsourcing contracts, thousands of engagements, approximately 170 interim management assignments, and nearly 3,000 clients.
For more information on Superior Consultant Holdings Corporation simply dial 1-800-PRO-INFO and enter the Company ticker: SUPC (a no-cost fax-on- demand service) or visit the Company’s Web site at http://www.superiorconsultant.com/ .
Superior Consultant Company
CONTACT: Richard D. Helppie - Chief Executive Officer, or Susan M. Synor- Executive Vice President, of Superior Consultant Company, +1-248-386-8300
Web site: http://www.superiorconsultant.com/