Scripps Health Selects Ascential Software to Power Clinical Data Warehouse

Scripps Health Selects Ascential Software to Power Clinical Data
Warehouse
Health Care Network Leverages Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite(TM) to
Bring Together Information and Improve Decision-making 


WESTBORO, Mass., March 21  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ascential Software
Corporation (NASDAQ:ASCL), the enterprise data integration leader, today
announced that Scripps Health, a not-for-profit, San Diego-based healthcare
system, has selected the Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite(TM) as a core
component of its clinical data warehouse.  Scripps has changed the way it makes
health care decisions by leveraging more complete, timely clinical information.
 The Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite is a critical enabler of this new
business initiative because it breaks down organizational information silos and
brings together clinical and financial patient information in a common
repository.

Variations in clinical treatment can dramatically affect the quality of patient
care and have a fiscal impact on hospitals.  With the Ascential Enterprise
Integration Suite, the only end-to-end platform solution for enterprise data
integration, Scripps will be able to access both clinical information, such as
patient admissions and visits, lab results, procedures and discharges, as well
as financial information, including eligibility, and claims and remittances
data, to better understand how healthcare procedures can influence outcomes and
affect operational performance.

"Ascential Software is a strategic partner that helps us to understand the
total picture -- clinically and from a business standpoint -- by harvesting
information trapped in silo legacy systems," said Jean Balgrosky, CIO of
Scripps.  "One of the things that impresses us about the Ascential Software
solution is functionality that goes beyond data extraction and transformation
by also providing statistically powerful ways for data cleansing and matching.
Ascential Software enables us to build a process improvement engine for doctors
and nurses -- creating a clinical and business intelligence system."

The enterprise data warehouse, which is being developed by Hewlett-Packard
(HP), will provide a single, clinical archive that Scripps will use to perform
data analysis across a broad spectrum of data derived from multiple systems,
including electronic medical records and cost accounting systems.  Scripps also
tapped HP expertise to lead the product evaluation process, selecting Ascential
Software as the best-of-breed data integration software.  Precision BI,
Scripps' standard for business intelligence analytics, will be used as the
analytical and reporting tool for the clinical warehouse.

One critical selection criterion for Scripps was Ascential Software's ability
to support an extensible data model.  Scripps had niche tools that allowed
one-to-one replication of data from legacy systems.  However, the healthcare
network plans to eventually bring in all its major applications into the data
warehouse project so it was important to have a technology with flexibility and
scalability to handle diverse, growing volumes of healthcare information,
resulting from data-intensive initiatives, most notably HIPAA and the
electronic medical record.

Another differentiator is Ascential Software's proven ability to address the
unique connectivity requirements to legacy systems.  By leveraging Ascential
Software solutions, Scripps will be able to extract data from some of its
multiple legacy systems, load it into the new data warehouse and over time,
discontinue use of the outdated applications and reduce costly maintenance
charges.

"Healthcare organizations collect massive volumes of data electronically, but
this information is typically trapped in numerous systems and databases," said
Helen Gurevich, director of healthcare solutions at Ascential Software.
"Scripps Health's initiative to unlock the tremendous clinical and business
value by breaking down the data stovepipes and seeing data in new ways to
improve decision-making make it a true innovator among healthcare providers."

The Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite is a comprehensive data integration
solution that profiles, cleanses, and transforms data from virtually any
application or system regardless of data volume or latency. Ascential
Software's integrated offering is designed to help companies streamline
operations, improve customer support, expedite business transactions, and make
better tactical and strategic decisions on the basis of the best available
information.  The Suite provides unlimited scalability through parallel
processing, complete meta data management, any-to-any data source and
application connectivity, and delivers on-demand data integration seamlessly
within an enterprise's service-oriented architecture.

About Scripps Health

Founded in 1924 by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, Scripps Health is
celebrating 80 years as a non-profit, San Diego-based health care system.
Scripps treats 478,000 patients annually through the dedication of more than
2,600 affiliated physicians and 10,500 employees spread across five acute care
campuses, home health care services, and an ambulatory care network of clinics,
physicians' offices and outpatient centers.  Recognized as a world leader in
the diagnosis and treatment of disease, Scripps is in the forefront of
prevention, medical innovation, clinical research and technology.  Recent
accolades include: Best Hospital in San Diego, San Diego Union-Tribune Readers'
Poll, (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004); 100 Most Wired Health Systems, 2004,
Hospitals & Health Networks; Best Employer for Employees Over 50, AARP, 2004;
Best Local Large Employer, 2004, SHRM, San Diego.  More information can be
found at http://www.scripps.org/. For media inquiries, contact Don Stanziano at
858-678-7486.

About Ascential Software

Ascential Software Corporation (NASDAQ:ASCL) is the leader in enterprise data
integration.  Customers and partners worldwide use the Ascential Enterprise
Integration Suite(TM) to confidently transform data into accurate, reliable and
complete business information to improve operational performance and
decision-making across every critical business dimension.  Our comprehensive
end-to-end solutions provide on demand data integration complemented by our
professional services, industry expertise, and methodologies.

Ascential Software is headquartered in Westboro, Mass., and has more than 3,000
customers and partners globally across such industries as financial services
and banking, insurance, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, consumer packaged
goods, telecommunications and government.  For more information call
1-800-966-9875 (508-366-3888 if calling from outside the US or Canada) or visit
the Ascential Software website at http://www.ascential.com/.

Media and industry analysts, contact Chas Kielt, director of media and analyst
relations, at 1-508-599-7256 or .

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995: This release contains forward-looking statements based on current
expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future
events, and these statements are subject to important factors and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in
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deployment of Ascential Software's products and provision of services; the
ability of Ascential Software's products to support an extensible data model so
an  organization can maintain the same data model even as data volumes greatly
expand; the ability of Ascential Software's products to handle massive, growing
volumes of healthcare information, resulting from data-intensive initiatives,
most notably HIPAA and electronic medical records; the ability of Ascential
Software's products to streamline operations, improve customer support,
expedite business transactions, and make better tactical and strategic
decisions on the basis of the best available information; and improvements in
operational performance and decision-making. The following factors, among
others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in
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DATASOURCE: Ascential Software Corporation



CONTACT: Chas Kielt of Ascential Software Corporation, [phone],

; or Mary Keith of Porter Novelli, [phone],





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

http://www.scripps.org/ 

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