McKesson CEO John Hammergren to Open 2009 McKesson Health Solutions Conference

The four-day conference in San Francisco will bring together payor and provider customers from over 160 organizations and will feature more than 150 sessions and events including presentations by 40 McKesson clients. Representatives from leading hospitals, Blues organizations and commercial health plans as well as key government organizations will engage in a dialogue focused on bringing greater value to their organizations in the face of a changing healthcare industry.

McKesson customers will also have the opportunity to learn more about three new innovative solutions in various stages of development and implementation:

•  Clear Coverage™ ,  an   InterQual  ^®  automated authorization solution, automates the entire payor-provider authorization process. It reduces administrative costs by up to 70%, applies evidence-based medicine best practices to ensure the right medical spend, reduces provider authorization hassles, and informs members of benefit decisions in time to make better healthcare choices driving real-time member empowerment.
• McKesson Total Payment™ is a revolutionary solution that slices through previously siloed point applications to transform payment management from a back-office process to a front office strategy by enabling real and effective payment policy design and execution. An integral component of Total Payment is Contract Compliance, which combines contract management and code auditing to provide editing based on contract terms.
• McKesson Performance Advisor™ , now in development with IBM, will be a true enterprise-class, clinically based business intelligence solution for healthcare payors that communicates actionable information to key stakeholders, facilitating faster, smarter decisions for managing resources and optimizing quality of care.

“For twenty-two years, McKesson has hosted this content-rich conference, providing a rare venue that brings together payors and providers to speak about healthcare: how it is managed, how it is reimbursed and how it can be improved,” said Emad Rizk, MD , president of McKesson Health Solutions. “This year’s theme of ‘join the dialogue’ is fitting as we engage our customers in discourse focused on the value that McKesson solutions bring to their organizations, regardless of the outcome of healthcare reform.”

The conference will feature industry leaders including Bonnie Washington, vice president of Avalere Health, who will speak about healthcare reform today and its potential impact on healthcare organizations, and Ben Wilson, director of healthcare IT at Intel, speaking about the future of remote patient care. Interactive educational sessions will focus on the industry’s most pressing issues such as the new Medicare audit programs, managing molecular diagnostics, identification and prevention of fraud and abuse, and finding new ways to reduce administrative or manual processes. As part of McKesson’s continued focus on corporate social responsibility, the conference will feature a philanthropic event to benefit the American Diabetes Association as well as green initiatives such as providing presentations via flash drives instead of paper, and an onsite recycling program.

About McKesson

McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 15th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and improving the quality and safety of patient care. McKesson has been in continuous operation for more than 175 years, making it the longest-operating company in healthcare today. Over the course of its history, McKesson has grown by providing pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information, visit us at www.mckesson.com .

PR Contact

McKesson Health Solutions
Marian Mostovy, 617-273-2859
marian.mostovy@mckesson.com