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Onward Healthcare Signs National Healthcare Staffing Agreement With VHA Inc.

Posted on: Tuesday, 24 July 2007, 15:15 CDT

WILTON, Conn., July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Onward Healthcare, Inc. announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement with VHA Inc., the national alliance of health care organizations, to provide discounted pricing on nurse staffing services to all of its members nationwide. Founded in 1977, VHA is dedicated to helping their members deliver safe, effective and cost-efficient care through both national and local support. The VHA agreement substantially expands the number of tier-one nursing positions and career opportunities available to the rapidly growing Onward Healthcare registry.

"The demand for nurses to meet the challenges of today's patient care environment continues to climb. We're excited that Onward Healthcare will serve VHA members to help address fluctuating staffing needs," said Amy Anthony, vice president, purchased services at VHA.

Founded in 2002, Onward Healthcare (http://www.onwardhealthcare.com/) is the fastest growing travel nursing agency and provider of healthcare staffing services in the country, with over 100,000 nursing professionals in its proprietary database. In 2005, Onward was the second national company to be certified by the Joint Commission for both travel nursing and local per diem healthcare staffing and received a 2 year recertification in 2006. Under the terms of the agreement, Onward Healthcare is designated as a premier provider of supplemental staffing services to VHA members, and will provide VHA facilities with dedicated account management and support for the recruitment, screening, and delivery of travel nursing and local per diem nursing services. VHA serves more than 1,400 hospitals and 21,000 non-acute health care organizations nationwide.

This agreement builds upon Onward Healthcare's existing success with VHA organizations across the country. Onward Healthcare recently worked with Abington Memorial Hospital, a VHA member facility, to provide short-term healthcare staffing and travel nursing services needed to support a recent unit expansion. "I find myself indebted to Onward Healthcare for their ability to meet our needs in a very timely manner and exceed my expectations regarding temporary staffing," said Barbara Wadsworth, RN, vice president patient services and chief nursing officer. "I am happy to report that we have had a positive experience working with Onward and our unit has expanded from 12 to 21 beds because of their ability to place qualified, experienced nurses with us."

"This new agreement is very exciting for our entire organization," stated Kevin Clark, chief executive officer and founder of Onward Healthcare. "We have tremendous respect for VHA and are proud to be part of the select group of vendors they have chosen to do business with. We consider this a testament to the quality and performance of our working nurses, who will inevitably bring their high standards for patient care to VHA member facilities throughout the U.S."

About Onward Healthcare

Onward Healthcare is a leading provider of integrated travel, permanent and local per diem staffing for nursing and allied health professionals, international candidates and vendor managed services for large health systems. Onward currently staffs clients in all 50 states including hospitals, outpatient clinics, magnet facilities, government facilities, schools, and long-tem care facilities. Founded in 2002, Onward Healthcare is headquartered in Wilton, CT with local staffing offices in Encinitas, CA, New Castle, DE, Burlington, MA, Crofton, MD, Cherry Hill, NJ, Livingston, NJ, Melville, NY, New York City, NY and Wexford, PA. The company received full certification by the Joint Commission in September 2005 for healthcare staffing services. For more information, please visit http://www.onwardhealthcare.com/, or contact us at 1-800-278-0332.

Onward Healthcare, Inc.

CONTACT: Steve Dobrowski of Onward Healthcare, Inc.,pr@onwardhealthcare.com

Web site: http://www.onwardhealthcare.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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