SYSTEMS XCELLENCE EXTENDS PRESENCE IN HEALTHCARE BENEFITS PROCESSING WITH NEW ASP OFFERING
- New US Subsidiary Significantly Expands Addressable Market -- Will Generate Growing
Stream of Recurring Revenues -
MILTON, Ontario (May 2, 2000) -- Systems Xcellence Inc. (TSE: SXC) announced today the establishment of
HxBenefit, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary based in Scottsdale, Arizona. HxBenefit will initially provide
participants in the drug dispensing, plan management, real-time adjudication, and payment processing
business with a service designed to cost-effectively manage pharmacy benefit transactions.HxBenefit's
first service offering, ClaimRx.com, will deliver comprehensive pharmacy benefit processing and analysis
services directly to Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), Managed Care Organizations (MCOs), retail
pharmacies and other healthcare intermediaries involved in managing drug benefits programs. HxBenefit will
host Systems Xcellence's suite of Healthcare Xcellence (Hx)Ô benefits software as an application
service provider (ASP), utilizing the Internet to allow customers portal-based access to the Company's
rich and fully-functional suite of products on a transaction or subscription fee basis.
ClaimRx.com will be introduced to the market in the 4th quarter of fiscal 2001.This
innovative service offering significantly expands the Company's addressable market to smaller and
mid-sized healthcare intermediaries and others who want to outsource their pharmacy benefits claims
processing to an applications services provider. The Company's current market for license sales of its
proprietary software products is estimated at US $250 million annually. With the introduction of
ClaimRx.com, Systems Xcellence's addressable market expands to $1.5 billion annually in the United
States alone, and is forecasted to grow significantly over the next several years due to an aging
population, the increase in new drug approvals and the growth in the number of people covered by drug
benefits plans. Over time, HxBenefit will be extending its service offering based on its applications'
patient/member centric design to other benefits programs such as vision care, dental, lab and medical
services.
Systems Xcellence Vice President Tim Rourke will lead HxBenefit's Scottsdale
operations. Mr. Rourke joined SX in March of 1999 with over 20 years of information systems experience in
both the US insurance and prescription benefit management industries. Under Mr. Rourke's direction,
HxBenefit will invest in web-enabling System Xcellence's software technology, installing the necessary
processing and network infrastructure and implementing the support services necessary to launch
ClaimRx.com to capitalize on the significant growth opportunity present in the US healthcare
industry."By providing the superior functionality of our products on a "rental" basis, we
reduce our customers' costs and allow them to focus their energies and resources on their core
competencies and strategic initiatives," stated Tim Rourke, Vice President."HxBenefit combines
the power of the Internet with our extensive industry experience and product functionality," added
Gordon Glenn, President and CEO of Systems Xcellence. "By extending our traditional strengths through
the World Wide Web, we will improve efficiency and reduce costs by bringing together all participants in
the supply and delivery of health benefits plans."
"Most important, HxBenefit will generate strong recurring revenues for Systems Xcellence as customers
typically pay fees for each transaction processed and subscriptions for mining our extensive
patient-centric databases utilizing state-of-the-art decision support tools. This is a market
characterized by explosive growth due to the growing acceptance of the Internet and ASPs within the
healthcare community. Systems Xcellence is continuing its tradition as an industry pioneer, offering a
true e-commerce solution to the healthcare benefits industry," Mr. Glenn concluded.
Conference Call:A telephone conference call hosted by Gordon Glenn, President and
Chief Executive Officer and Jim Ryan, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary will be held on Thursday, May
4 at 10:00 am EST to discuss the exciting opportunity presented by the establishment of HxBenefit, Inc.
The dial-in number to access the conference call is 1-888-424-1091. System's Xcellence's fiscal 2000
year-end results will be issued on the morning of Thursday, May 4, 2000. The conference call will also
review the Company's financial performance for the year.Systems Xcellence is headquartered in Milton,
Ontario, and provides advanced online transaction processing solutions for the healthcare benefits
management industry. The Company combines robust software products, business expertise and services to
deliver superior solutions to the ever-changing managed care sector. The Company's shares are traded on
the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol SXC.
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