Message #6 From:
NewsBot Date: September 8, 2005 02:00:00 AM
BGAT News Bluegate Selected as IT Outsourcing Partner for New Houston Town & Country Hospital and Secure ISP for Physician Professional Building
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 2005--Bluegate (OTCBB:BGAT), a provider of IT outsourcing and managed security solutions for all points in the healthcare network, has been retained by GP Medical Ventures' Houston Town & Country Hospital as its IT outsourcing partner, as well as the secure Internet service provider for the hospital's adjacent physician professional building.
Bluegate's open-ended contract with the hospital, which is slated to open in November 2005, includes implementing directory services using Microsoft's Active Directory(TM) and a groupware and collaboration solution using Exchange 2003(TM). Bluegate will also host the hospital's exchange server in its secure data center facility while final construction on the hospital is completed. The contract also calls for integration of the hospital's 150-PC network. Bluegate will receive recurring revenue opportunities via the exclusive agreement to be the secure ISP and firewall provider for the five-story building, which will house 60-70 physicians representing diverse specialties. GP Medical Ventures, based in Nashville, is the first firm to "pre-light" and exclusively sponsor a physician medical office building with Bluegate secure Internet connectivity.
The state-of-the-art 99-bed facility, Houston Town & Country Hospital, which is owned by a joint venture formed by GP Medical Ventures with local physicians, is investing approximately $1,000 per medical practice for each tenant in its adjacent medical office building to ensure that the physicians are working with secure systems. By sponsoring a secure Internet infrastructure that is easy and economical for its physicians to use, Houston Town & Country Hospital will ensure secure collaboration and transmission of medical information, enhancing patient care while ensuring compliance with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) security requirements now in effect. Physicians will begin moving into the "prelit" Bluegate building in October 2005.
"We recognize the importance of implementing a secure medical network for our hospital and physicians as well as the potential value proposition and now, due to Bluegate, it's becoming a reality for us," said Tom Gallagher, Co-Founder of GP Medical Ventures. "We chose Bluegate for optimum security, their dedication to securing patient records, and their excellent reputation for servicing physicians' practices."
As part of the team supporting a hard-wired and wireless system for the medical office building, which will have PACS imaging to complement the comprehensive diagnostic imaging facility, Bluegate also enables physicians to interface with Houston Town & Country Hospital's patient database via a web browser using SSL encryption.
Because the entire hospital is on a secure network, physicians can safely access patient records anywhere in the hospital or the adjacent professional building without using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Bluegate helps protect the integrity of the secure network by leveraging the hospital's Cisco routers, which are remotely managed to respond rapidly to threats. In addition, Bluegate is being contracted to help manage remote-based VPN connectivity to UNIX-based portions of the CPSI system.
"This is a very strategic contract because it puts Bluegate in partnership with GP Medical Ventures to provide the core of IT outsourcing for Houston Town & Country Hospital and its physician professional building," said Don Corley, Bluegate Executive VP of Sales and Operations. "We're excited to have this unique opportunity to work with GP Medical Ventures to deliver a totally secure medical network that encompasses their new hospital and its diverse physician practices."
Bluegate plans to complete the project's first phase by the end of August, deploying the hospital's servers in Bluegate's data center and providing a secure VPN link to those servers while Houston Town & Country Hospital is under construction. Bluegate will take the system live during Phase 2 in November, after which Bluegate will provide ongoing maintenance and IT support.
Leveraging Bluegate's secure system, GP Medical Ventures' Houston Town & Country Hospital will have the capability to quickly and easily deploy new content and enterprise applications to its physician network. Moreover, both the hospital and physician practices benefit from Bluegate's single point of contact for technical support, reducing the burden on the hospital's IT staff. By delivering a variety of HIPAA security-compliant services to the physicians in its professional building, Houston Town & Country Hospital is well-positioning its physicians to utilize a fast, secure, and reliable communication network that will enable optimum patient care.
GP Medical Ventures, LLC
GP Medical Ventures (GPMV) develops and operates hospitals, outpatient surgery centers, and other healthcare facilities in joint ventures with leading local physicians and in some cases local hospitals. Founded in 2002 by experienced healthcare executives, GPMV believes the cornerstone to providing high quality, cost-effective medical services starts with proactive physician ownership and involvement in the hospital/facility. GPMV's flexible business model centers on returning the primary focus of healthcare to physicians, nurses, and patients. In doing so, the company develops and manages its facilities with the philosophy that they are extensions of the physicians' practices, not the other way around. GPMV is privately owned and has offices in Nashville, Tennessee; Dallas, Texas; and Houston, Texas. For further information, visit www.gpmv.com or contact Hank Edwards at 713-554-1384 or hedwards@gpmv.com.
Bluegate Corporation
The first of its kind, Houston-based Bluegate Corporation provides IT outsourcing and managed security solutions for the healthcare industry to enable secure, HIPAA-compliant data communication between hospitals, medical facilities and physician practices from all locations -- ultimately enhancing patient care. Bluegate also provides affordable access to compatible medical-focused content and applications over the infrastructure to improve practice efficiency and service. Bluegate extends IT best practices to the edge of the healthcare network ensuring every physician and facility they touch is as secure as the hospital itself. Bluegate is publicly traded on the over-the-counter bulletin board (OTCBB) under the ticker BGAT. Further information is available at www.bluegate.com or by calling 713-686-1100.
Safe Harbor
This press release may contain "forward-looking statements." All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release and without limitation statements regarding potential future plans and objectives of the Company, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.
