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St. Jude Medical Completes Milestone to Standardize Patient Medical Records

Posted on: Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 09:01 CST

St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE:STJ) today announced it has successfully completed the testing process established by the IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise), an initiative promoting the adoption of standards that enable healthcare information to be shared seamlessly across clinical settings. The testing took place during IHE's annual Connectathon in Chicago.

St. Jude Medical is the first manufacturer of cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices to test a product for conformance with an IHE interconnectivity profile. During the Connectathon, St. Jude Medical joined 75 electronic health record (EHR) companies testing their products for adherence to the IHE's technical frameworks. These frameworks are aimed at lowering implementation and integration costs, enhancing patient safety and supporting more efficient workflows across the healthcare industry.

Complying with the IHE guidelines will enable seamless integration between data from St. Jude Medical devices and each healthcare provider's information system. This will allow hospitals and clinics to upload implanted device data to third-party EHR systems, thereby increasing productivity, providing tools for improved clinical decision making and quality of care, and eliminating redundant medical device management systems.

"Making good decisions for my patients means having comprehensive, up-to-the-minute information available at all times and from any location," said Erica Engelstein, M.D., of the Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago. "In the electrophysiology lab, where we use multiple systems, this is easier said than done. St. Jude Medical's initiative to support data integration and systems interoperability is truly leading the way in bringing data from implanted cardiac devices into patient records. Data from their MerlinTM Patient Care System can be uploaded to our EHR, so I can generate reports or retrieve information without having to re-enter data into multiple systems. The result is better, more efficient care for my patients."

The IHE initiative is led by the American College of Cardiology, the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Its goal is to drive standards for interoperability to address specific clinical needs, such as those related to cardiology, radiology and laboratory: technologically-advanced, clinical environments that typically house different systems with disconnected data silos.

"By aligning the communication capabilities of our medical devices with the frameworks set forth by the IHE, physicians will be able to more easily integrate their electronic medical records systems," said Michael J. Coyle, president of St. Jude Medical's Cardiac Rhythm Management Division. "This capability provides a more complete view of their patients' conditions, which can help them with clinical decisions and overall patient care."

In recognition of its achievements at Connectathon, St Jude Medical has been selected to demonstrate its integration capabilities at the IHE booth at the American College of Cardiology meeting, March 24-27, 2007, in New Orleans.

More information about IHE's Implantable Devices Cardiac Observation profile (IDCO) is available on the IHE website, www.ihe.net.

About IHE

IHE (www.ihe.net) is a global initiative, now in its ninth year, that creates the framework for exchanging health information seamlessly -- from application to application, system to system, and setting to setting -- across healthcare enterprises. IHE brings together clinicians and other healthcare information technology stakeholders to implement standards for communicating patient information efficiently. Because of its proven success for collaboration, testing, demonstration and real world implementation of interoperable solutions, IHE is in a unique position to accelerate deployment of interoperable electronic health records systems.

About St. Jude Medical

St. Jude Medical is dedicated to making life better for cardiac, neurological and chronic pain patients worldwide through excellence in medical device technology and services. The Company has five major focus areas that include: cardiac rhythm management, atrial fibrillation, cardiac surgery, cardiology and neuromodulation. Headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., St. Jude Medical employs more than 11,000 people worldwide. For more information, please visit www.sjm.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements include the expectations, plans and prospects for the Company, including potential clinical successes, anticipated regulatory approvals and future product launches, and projected revenues, margins, earnings, and market shares. The statements made by the Company are based upon management's current expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include market conditions and other factors beyond the Company's control and the risk factors and other cautionary statements described in the Company's filings with the SEC, including those described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 16, 2006 (see Item 1A on pages 15-21) and in the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed on August 7, 2006 (see Item 1A on page 32) and November 7, 2006 (see pages 31-32). The Company does not intend to update these statements and undertakes no duty to any person to provide any such update under any circumstance.

Source: Business Wire

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