Portico Systems Debuts Innovative Provider Platform to Unlock Network Performance for Affordable Care at AHIP

BLUE BELL, PA, June 15, 2011 (Press-News.org) Portico Systems, the payer platform for Integrated Provider Management (IPM), will debut its Portico 9.0 platform at AHIP Institute 2011, June 15-17 in San Francisco, CA in booth #713. Additionally, Portico and Johns Hopkins Healthcare will co-present on the topic of "Creating a Care Promise We Can Afford: Aligning Products, Networks and Reimbursement." Portico joins IBM, McKesson, and other healthcare leaders, for its fourth year as a Presidential sponsor of the premier event for America's Health Insurance Plans.

Market trends and customer demands are causing health plans to re-evaluate their strategies for creating unique economic and health value to each customer segment. In response, health plans are deploying innovative product, care model, network and reimbursement designs. Health plans are leveraging Portico to enable these unique offerings without increasing their administrative burden. The automation offered by Portico enables affordable, high quality care by transforming provider network performance.

"Enabling our 40+ healthcare customers, who serve approximately 42 million lives, to lower administrative costs, offer more competitive products, and reduce medical costs are our top priorities," said Ned Moore chairman, chief executive officer and founder, Portico Systems. "Affordable care and regulatory pressures are forcing our customers to transform their provider networks into strategic assets that enable market place differentiation."

AHIP attendees are invited to join Portico and Johns Hopkins Healthcare at the following speaking session:

• Title: Creating a Care Promise We Can Afford: Aligning Products, Networks and Reimbursement

• Speakers:

o Robert Kritzler, MD, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Johns Hopkins Healthcare LLC, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University, Chair-elect, Center for Health Value Innovation

o Sam Muppalla, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer, Portico Systems

• In this session, attendees will:

o Learn how network and reimbursement designs can enable affordable care by aligning products with network performance
o Explore how payers are leveraging network designs such as tiered, narrow and client-specific to differentiate their value to group and individual markets
o Examine how scaling new care models such as ACOs and PCMHs can drive medical cost optimization
o Discuss how the alignment of products, networks and reimbursement designs can be achieved while reducing administrative costs

• Date/Time/Location: Thursday, June 16th; 2:40 - 3:40 p.m. Pacific Time; room #3007

Throughout AHIP, Portico will be running several promotions as part of its "Unlocking Network Performance for Affordable Care" campaign. Attendees at the speaking session are eligible to win an Apple iPad 2. In addition, visitors to the Portico Systems booth (#713) will have a chance to win Tiffany& Co. jewelry, technology gadgets, San Francisco themed gifts and more.

For more information on Portico at AHIP Institute 2011, please visit http://info.porticosys.com/ahip2011. For more information on Portico Systems, please visit http://www.porticosys.com, subscribe to the RSS feed at http://blog.porticosys.com, and follow the company on Twitter at @porticosys and Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/porticosys.

About Portico Systems

Portico Systems is exclusively focused on empowering health plans to transform the performance of their networks, while significantly reducing medical, administrative and IT costs. Its Integrated Provider Management (IPM) platform simplifies the design, maintenance, reimbursement, and performance management of provider networks, while facilitating provider-patient collaboration. Typical results include a 25-35% administrative cost reduction, a 10-20% provider satisfaction increase and a 1-5% improvement in network performance. Portico Systems is a partner company of Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE: SFE) http://www.safeguard.com. For more information on Portico Systems, visit http://www.porticosys.com.