Atlanta, GA, July 15, 2003 - MDdatacor, inc. today announced the commencement of two initiatives to assist cardiology practices with the identification of patients who may need further evaluation based on recently published clinical guidelines. One study seeks to identify patients at risk for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), the other for peripheral vascular disease (PVD), two life threatening but treatable conditions. Patients at risk for SCA may require an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator while PVD at-risk patients may need balloon angioplasty and a stent. A recent New England Journal of Medicine study suggested that less than half of the adults in this country seeking medical care are treated to current medical guidelines.

"The article confirms what many in healthcare already know, that very few physician practices currently have the medical record management tools needed to ensure all patients are reviewed, evaluated and treated in accordance with the rapidly evolving clinical care guidelines " said Steve McAdams, MD, chief executive officer of Mid-Carolina Cardiology in Charlotte, NC. "MDdatacor's technology provides leading practices, like ours, with the ability to electronically manage and search clinical information in ways that were previously not possible. This is a big step in the right direction for guideline compliance and outcomes measurement."

MDdatacor's technology solution enables physician practices to search their medical records by disease specific criteria to identify patient sub-populations. In the case of these studies, the SCA and PVD guidelines are used to create reports for the physicians containing patients at risk for sudden cardiac arrest or peripheral vascular disease. After medical record review, the appropriate patients would be called in for further evaluation and therapy if necessary.

Initially, 25 practices with over 500,000 patients will be enrolled in one of the two studies. If the interim results are as positive as MDdatacor and the studies' sponsors expect, these initiatives will be expanded to more than 100 practices in 2004.

"It's not that physicians aren't receiving new treatment information. On the contrary, they are being bombarded with it almost daily. Moreover, they can quote you the current relevant guidelines for their specialty," commented Blake Whitney, MDdatacor chairman and chief executive officer, whose son is a cardiologist. "The problem is that physicians can't possibly know which patients in their practice are not in compliance with current guidelines. Our technology enables practices to rapidly identify these patients so they can be evaluated and treated if necessary. Enabling practices to index and search their medical record data leads to better treatment decisions - ones that improve patient care."