ST. LOUIS, Sept. 24, 2003--Facts and Comparisons
has been awarded the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
(CMS) contract to provide a pharmaceutical information and herbal
supplement interactions database to thousands of State and CMS
Regional Office surveyors for the benefit of nearly 70 million
Medicare and Medicaid patients. The State and CMS Regional Office
surveyors visit healthcare sites (usually nursing homes) that
request Medicare/Medicaid benefits to confirm that the healthcare
sites are in compliance with Medicare and Medicaid Conditions
of Participation and that quality care is provided.
Facts and Comparisons will provide CMS with a CD-ROM version
of eFacts that includes Drug Facts and Comparisons, Drug Interaction
Facts, The Review of Natural Products, MedFacts: Patient Information
Handouts, Drug Identifier, normal lab values, and standard medical
abbreviations. As an integrated source of drug and interaction
information for traditional medicines and herbal supplements,
eFacts provides essential resources for the surveyors to ensure
optimal care. The initial period of the contract award is approximately
two years.
"We went up against some tough competitors to secure the
business," said Ken Killion, Executive Vice President, Facts
and Comparisons. "The win highlights our long-standing position
as the leading provider of the highest-quality drug and herbal
supplement information in the healthcare industry. Nurses, pharmacists,
and other healthcare providers will benefit from the use of our
content along with millions of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries."
About Facts and Comparisons
For more than fifty years Facts and Comparisons, part of Wolters
Kluwer Health, has been the pharmacist's source for drug information.
Print, CD-ROM, PDA, or Internet -- Facts and Comparisons offers
trusted, unbiased drug information in a format to suit every need.
With more than fifty products available, Facts and Comparisons
is your destination for drug information needs.
About the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services
As of July 1, 2001, the Health Care Financing Administration
(HCFA) became the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
As part of a series of reforms, this name change was designed
to help strengthen the healthcare services and information available
to nearly 70 million Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and the
healthcare providers who serve them.
About Wolters Kluwer Health
Wolters Kluwer Health is a leading provider of information for
professionals and students in medicine, nursing, allied health,
pharmacy, and the pharmaceutical industry. Major brands include
traditional publishers of medical and drug reference tools and
textbooks, such as Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and Facts
and Comparisons; electronic information providers, such as Ovid
Technologies and Medi-Span; and pharmaceutical information provider
Adis International.