Immediate (February 13, 2006)

Mike Noble
Fletcher Allen Public Relations
802-847-2886

BURLINGTON VT -- Fletcher Allen Health Care has been ranked among the top 100 Integrated Healthcare Networks in the United States in a survey published in the February 6th issue of Modern Healthcare magazine.  Fletcher Allen, in 70th place, was one of only six hospital systems in the New York/New England area to make the list.

The ninth annual survey, conducted by Verispan, a Pennsylvania-based health care data research firm, ranks the top 100 networks among 581 integrated health care systems they survey.

An integrated healthcare network is an organization that has joined together several health care facilities -- either through ownership or formal agreements--in an attempt to improve quality and cost.

Verispan evaluates these organizations based on their performance and degree of integration. They are ranked by how well they operate as unified organizations in eight categories and 33 subcategories, including overall integration, integrated technology, contractual capabilities, outpatient utilization, financial stability, services and access, hospital utilization, number of physicians and the variety of specialty services offered.

The top 100 includes health care organizations such as Yale-New Haven Health System, New Haven, Conn., (ranked 68th), the University of Pennsylvania Health System (65th), and Intermountain Health Care in Salt Lake City, which was ranked second to ProMedica Health System, Toledo.

In addition to Fletcher Allen and Yale-New Haven, the other four from New York/New England that made the list were:

• Baystate Health System, Springfield, Mass. (41st)
• North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Great Neck, N.Y. (81st)
• Kaleida Health, Buffalo, N.Y. (87th)
• ViaHealth, Rochester, N.Y. (98th)

Complete survey results can be found on the magazine's Web site:  http://www.modernhealthcare.com.