FRANKLIN, TN - Passport Health Communications, Inc. (Passport) announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Healthworks Alliance, Inc. (Healthworks), a leading provider of front and back-end software applications designed to assist healthcare providers in identifying and eliminating denied claims and related write-offs across the revenue cycle. This acquisition, the second in a year for Passport, will strengthen Passport's position as a strategic provider of business solution services to healthcare providers focused on eligibility and benefit validation, integrated solutions, financial services, batch processing and claims clearinghouse.

Healthworks, with corporate offices in King of Prussia, PA and sales team located in Boston, Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco, has been developing software for healthcare providers since its inception in 1990. When Medicare mandated medical necessity validation, Healthworks was one of the first to incorporate the ability to generate Advance Beneficiary Notices (ABNs) into its order entry product. Today, Compliance Checker All Payer is one of the leading products in the segment and has the added ability to perform this same type of screening on patients with commercial insurance.

The ability to transform Healthworksí extensive database of reimbursement edits into additional EDI transactions, along with the licensing of Healthworks' denial management software applications, will allow Passport to offer the most robust set of reimbursement management solutions to help healthcare providers maximize their cash flow and profitability. The acquisition is projected to close within thirty days.

According to Jim Lackey, Passportís president and CEO, "With the acquisition of Healthworks, we can now offer our customers an array of products that can provide significant return on investment very quickly. Today more than ever, hospitals need tools to help assure best practices across the revenue cycle. When you look at the most common reasons for denied claims and the massive write-offs hospitals experience, typically lack of eligibility and lack of medical necessity compliance are in the top five reasons for denial."

Lackey further explained, "Healthworks has been one of those rare companies that understands both the clinical aspects of order entry as well as the need to achieve meaningful compliance and reimbursement."

With a comprehensive knowledgebase of reimbursement edits and the expertise to develop simple yet effective applications, Healthworks has grown its customer base in excess of 400 hospitals all across the United States. According to Lackey, "The Passport vision is to create and deliver integrated solutions that help healthcare providers verify that the patients they are asked to treat are benefit eligible, and that the services they are asked to perform are reimbursable, leading to clean claims that get paid right the first time." Lackey went on to say, "Our mission to serve our customers is significantly advanced by the caliber of people and products that come to us through Healthworks."

According to Adolf Paier, Healthworks' chairman and CEO, "Healthworks has had a long history of providing industry-leading products that have addressed both the clinical and financial aspects of healthcare. We are delighted to become part of Passport Health Communications, a company that shares our values and with whom we can achieve new heights."

Fairmount Partners Inc., a leading healthcare and technology investment bank headquartered in Suburban Philadelphia represented Healthworks Alliance, Inc.

About Passport Health Communications, Inc.
With insurance information on over 175 million covered lives, Passport Health Communications, Inc. is focused on delivering innovative, transaction-based healthcare solutions that help providers manage the balance between patient access, quality of care and getting paid. Passportís real-time solutions help providers maximize their revenue cycle performance by reducing denied claims and their related write-offs. With the addition of Healthworks, Passport will grow to over 1,200 hospital customers and 1,500 large physician groups. Passportís website is www.passporthealth.com.

About Healthworks Alliance
Healthworks Alliance, Inc. develops and markets application software and specialized databases which are used by healthcare providers to validate orders and claims for compliance with applicable reimbursement edits, and to manage the appeal of denied claims. Healthworks markets its products directly as well as through strategic alliance partners. Healthworks' Compliance Checker products are currently installed in over 400 hospitals and physician practices across the United States.Ý The Healthworks Alliance web site is www.hworks.com.ÝThis release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risk and uncertainties. It is important to note that the Company's performance, and actual results, financial conditions or business could differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements.