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Wizzard Software, MedivoxRx Technologies Announce Kaiser Permanente Now Offering Rex-The Talking Prescription Bottle in Northern California

Posted on: Wednesday, 2 August 2006, 09:00 CDT

Wizzard Software (OTCBB:WIZD) and its subsidiary, MedivoxRx Technologies, are excited to announce that Kaiser Permanente will offer Rex-The Talking Prescription Bottle in 140 Northern California Kaiser Permanente pharmacies and health care facilities. In all of these locations, Kaiser Permanente pharmacists will provide prescriptions to their patients in Rex talking bottles at no cost to the patient.

Kaiser Permanente is America's leading integrated health care organization. Founded in 1945, it is a not-for-profit, group practice program headquartered in Oakland, California. Kaiser Permanente serves more than 8.5 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia.

Using customized recording units, medication instructions are recorded by the pharmacist onto the Rex bottle. To play back the audio instructions, users simply press a button on the side of the bottle and listen to the message. Bottles may also be recorded with other important, easy-to-understand information. Rex-The Talking Prescription Bottle is ideal for the elderly and visually impaired, or anyone who needs help managing their medications.

"We are very excited to help Kaiser Permanente provide their members with this kind of service," said Gene Franz, General Manager of Solutions and Channels for MedivoxRx. "It is commendable of Kaiser to recognize that everyone is entitled to equal access to prescription information, while helping to make certain that every patient can achieve the best outcome by taking their medications properly."

Rex assists pharmacies, health care facilities, and health care organizations like Keiser Permanente, in complying with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA states in Title III, Section 36.303, that "a public accommodation shall take those steps that may be necessary to ensure that no individual with a disability is excluded, denied services, segregated or otherwise treated differently than other individuals because of the absence of auxiliary aids and services." This includes effective communication, whereas "a public accommodation shall furnish appropriate auxiliary aids and services where necessary to ensure effective communication with individuals with disabilities."

Rex provides simple compliance with ADA standards in that it allows dosage instructions and other critical information to be read aloud to patients as well as providing the instructions on a standard label. This recording helps to make certain that a patient fully understands what the medication is, how often to take it and when to refill the prescription or discontinue its use. Not only is the bottle easy to record in the pharmacy, it is easy to use by the recipient of the medication.

Rex-The Talking Prescription Bottle presents a practical solution to the growing medication error problem in the United States. The Department of Health and Human Services reports that fewer than 30% of older adults take their medications properly. Further, pharmaceutical errors create $45-80 billion in additional medical spending with the number one error being identified as labeling problems and education. Also, the Journal of the American Medical Association reports medication errors and/or adverse drug events kill an estimated 100,000 persons annually and represent the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S.

In a May 2005 study, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that the most commonly identified factor that affects access to prescription drug information is age. According to an AARP survey, the majority of people ages 45 and over take 4 prescription medications per day. Also, a report issued by the National Center for Health Statistics released in 2004 estimates more than 20 percent of all patients age 75 and older were taking five or more prescription drugs.

Overall, people are using more prescription drugs every year. The National Association of Chain Drug Stores reports that between 2004 and 2010, the number of prescriptions dispensed from all retail locations is estimated to increase 27 percent, reaching more than 4.1 billion.

About Kaiser Permanente:

Kaiser Permanente is America's leading integrated health plan. Founded in 1945, it is a not-for-profit, group practice program headquartered in Oakland, California. Kaiser Permanente serves more than 8.5 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Today it encompasses the not-for-profit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries, and the for-profit Permanente Medical Groups. Nationwide, Kaiser Permanente includes approximately 145,000 technical, administrative and clerical employees and caregivers, and more than 12,000 physicians representing all specialties. For more information, please visit http://www.kaiserpermanente.org.

About Wizzard Software:

Founded in 1996, Wizzard Software has become a leader in the speech technology application development market. Wizzard architects solutions to business problems using its expertise in consulting, speech development tools and building speech based applications for the Desktop and Internet. Wizzard has achieved global recognition because of its expertise with voice communication whether it is via computer or telephone. Wizzard's successes have lead to expanding speech technology opportunities in both the government and commercial sectors including several healthcare industry products and services. For more information, visit www.wizzardsoftware.com.

In April of 2004, Wizzard acquired MedivoxRx Technologies. Established in 2000, MedivoxRx is the originator of "Rex," the talking prescription pill bottle, which "talks" to the patient, allowing them to distinguish what type of medication is in the bottle and hear critical information on dosage amounts and refill parameters. Additional information on MedivoxRx can be found at www.rxtalks.com.

Legal Notice

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: "Forward-looking Statements" as defined in the Private Securities litigation Reform Act of 1995 may be included in this news release. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance. These statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future results or events. We disclaim any intention or obligation to revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. There are important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, risks associated with changes in general economic and business conditions, actions of our competitors, the extent to which we are able to develop new services and markets for our services, the time and expense involved in such development activities, the level of demand and market acceptance of our services, changes in our business strategies and acts of terror against the United States.

Source: Business Wire

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