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Health Management Associates (HMA) Further Expands Its Use of NextGen(R) Technology

Posted on: Tuesday, 27 May 2008, 09:01 CDT

NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: QSII) and a leading provider of ambulatory healthcare information systems and connectivity solutions, today announced that Health Management Associates, Inc. (NYSE: HMA), a premier operator of general acute care, non-urban hospitals located throughout the United States, has executed an agreement to utilize revenue cycle management services from NextGen Healthcare's Practice Solutions Division. HMA selected NextGen EMR (Electronic Medical Records) and NextGen EPM (Enterprise Practice Management) in 2007. Its selection of NextGen Practice Solutions represents the third phase in the organization's long-term plan to implement the integrated NextGen Healthcare clinical and financial platform.

"After working with NextGen Healthcare on our initial technology deployments, we believe the company and its products and services are a great fit for us," says Stan McLemore, senior vice president - operations finance for HMA. "NextGen Practice Solutions will help us improve bottom line results and revenue cycle management while reducing the costs to operate the physician practices under our ownership. These services can also free up the internal resources needed to refocus on strategy and the future of our practices, as well as quality improvement initiatives."

Florida-based HMA owns and operates 57 hospitals, with approximately 8,100 licensed beds, in non-urban communities located throughout the United States. Services offered through NextGen Practice Solutions include eligibility checking; charge capture; claims scrubbing; electronic claims submission; payment posting; patient correspondence; image and document management; accounts receivable follow up with payer organizations and patients; call center; and electronic medical records. These services are designed to increase collections, reduce A/R days, and improve efficiency in billing, scheduling, reporting and other critical practice functions.

Patrick Cline, president of NextGen Healthcare said, "This is a great deal for both parties, with the potential to add significant growth to NextGen Healthcare's Practice Solutions unit. We look forward to helping HMA achieve their business and financial objectives."

About NextGen Healthcare

NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: QSII), develops and markets computer-based practice management and electronic medical records systems for medical group practices and Healthcare Systems. For more information about NextGen, please visit www.nextgen.com and www.qsii.com.

About Health Management Associates

Health Management Associates, Inc. (NYSE:HMA) owns and operates 57 hospitals, with approximately 8,100 licensed beds, in non-urban communities located throughout the United States. HMA's mission is the delivery of compassionate and high quality health care services that improve the quality of life for its patients, physicians, and the communities it serves. For more information about HMA, please visit www.hma.com.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Statements regarding future events, developments, the Company's future performance, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates or projections relating to the future (including, without limitation, statements concerning revenue and net income), are forward-looking statements within the meaning of these laws and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable and are based on reasonable assumptions and forecasts, however, undue reliance should not be placed on such statements that speak only as of the date hereof. Moreover, these forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, some of which are outlined below. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are: volume and timing of systems sales and installations; length of sales cycles and installation process; the possibility that the products will not achieve market acceptance; seasonal patterns of sales and customer buying behavior; the development by competitors of new or superior technologies; the timing, cost and success or failure of new product and service introductions, development and product upgrade releases; undetected errors or bugs in software; product liability; changing economic, political or regulatory influences in the health-care industry; changes in product-pricing policies; availability of third-party products and components; competitive pressures including product offerings, pricing and promotional activities; the Company's ability or inability to attract and retain qualified personnel; possible regulation of the Company's software by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; uncertainties concerning threatened, pending and new litigation against the Company including related professional services fees; uncertainties concerning the amount and timing of professional fees incurred by the Company generally; changes of accounting estimates and assumptions used to prepare the prior periods' financial statements; general economic conditions; and the risk factors detailed from time to time in Quality Systems' periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A significant portion of the Company's quarterly sales of software product licenses and computer hardware is concluded in the last month of the fiscal quarter, generally with a concentration of such revenues earned in the final ten business days of that month. Due to these and other factors, the Company's revenues and operating results are very difficult to forecast. A major portion of the Company's costs and expenses, such as personnel and facilities, are of a fixed nature and, accordingly, a shortfall or decline in quarterly and/or annual revenues typically results in lower profitability or losses. As a result, comparison of the Company's period-to-period financial performance is not necessarily meaningful and should not be relied upon as an indicator of future performance. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Source: Business Wire

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