Seven L.A. Healthcare Companies Achieve Semi-Finalist Status for ABBY Awards 10th Annual Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards Event to be held April 23, 2008

Orange, CA — January 23, 2008 — Seven Los Angeles-area companies have been selected as Semi-Finalists for the 2008 ABBY Awards, to be presented at the 10th Annual Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards Event, on April 23, 2008, hosted by the Adaptive Business Leaders (ABL) Organization. These awards honor innovative companies from throughout the country, who have proven ways to lower the cost of providing quality healthcare through their medical or information technology, or innovative approaches to the delivery of healthcare.

The criteria for the 10th Annual ABBY Awards competition is particularly demanding: each of the Semi-Finalists in the categories of medical/biotech/diagnostic technology, healthcare information or telecom technology, and approach to the delivery of healthcare must have demonstrated that they are:

• innovative
• approved for use in the U.S. marketplace
• have clinical and financial metrics that prove their technology or approach reduces the cost of providing quality healthcare.

"This year's national ABBY competition drew entries from ten states and the District of Columbia, resulting in the selection of 46 Semi-Finalists," noted ABL's President Mimi Grant. "This truly is a significant accomplishment for these companies, since each of them survived this first hurdle - when literally thousands of healthcare and life science companies would not even qualify to be nominated for an ABBY, and over 40 additional nominees were disqualified for not responding with proof of meeting all three of the criteria."

The next step "on the road to the ABBY" will occur on January 30, when each of the Semi-Finalists will be "presented" and discussed by their "Champions," a group of leaders of healthcare service, information and medical technology firms, who will make the difficult decision of selecting just three Finalists in each of the three ABBY Award categories. These nine Finalists will then present before a live audience at the 10th Annual Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards Event, which will take place at the Westin South Coast Plaza, in Costa Mesa, on April 23. Based on each Finalist's live presentation of the significance of their healthcare innovation, the audience, composed of senior healthcare and life science executives, will determine the three winners who will take home their ABBY Awards.

Nominated in the Innovative Approaches to the Delivery of Healthcare category:

Duarte’s City of Hope National Medical Center’s Department of Urologic Oncology performs laparoscopic radical prostatectomy using the da Vinci surgical system, which allows physicians to take a giant leap forward in the treatment of prostate cancer. The robotic technique provides unparalleled surgical accuracy to significantly reduce blood loss and improve postoperative recovery.

Torrance’s Compounding Consultants (dba Future Meds) allows private physician practices, for the first time, to offer individualized compounded medications in their office, such as cosmeceuticals, hormone replacement therapy, pain managers and sexual treatments.

Agoura Hills’ Nationwide Medical, Inc.’s Supply Program serves over 9,000 CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) patients with trained specialists who call them regularly and assist with therapy problems. The company also delivers all necessary supplies to patients’ homes.

Nominated in the Innovations in Healthcare Information Technology and Telecommunications Technology category:

Woodland Hills’ Health Benchmarks, Inc.’s HBIOnline makes available performance results for selected clinical quality indicators to providers on a web-based platform, far more cost effectively than paper-based reports. HBIOnline also makes available listings of patients who were eligible to receive a service and a confirmation as to whether the service was provided.

Santa Monica’s Xoova, Inc. is an online medical services marketplace which patients use for free to find local doctors, to learn what to expect in advance of a care encounter, and to schedule appointments. Doctors use Xoova for free to manage their presence on the Internet, to share their philosophy of care, and to offer patients the convenience of online scheduling.

Nominated in the Innovations in Medical/BioTechnology category:

Monrovia’s Prolacta Bioscience is the pioneer in human milk-based nutritional products for critically-ill or premature infants in the NICU. With the breakthrough development of the first-ever commercially available Human Milk Fortifier made from 100% human milk, Prolacta is committed to improving neonatal nutrition, using state-of-the-art formulation, pasteurization and filling processes.

Los Angeles’ SiDMAP provides metabolic profiling and phenotyping services to pharmaceutical, biotech and research organizations involved in drug discovery and development and in the analysis of disease states. SiDMAP’s unique tracer technology measures metabolic pathway flux to gain unique insight into cell function, enabling scientists to make important project decisions with confidence.

ALL OF THE FACTS ABOUT THE ABBY AWARDS:
10th Annual Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards and Event Ceremony April 23, 2008 - Westin South Coast Plaza Hotel, Costa Mesa, California 11 am to 6 pm (Exhibits and Networking Lunch through Celebration Reception)

Three 2008 ABBY Awards will be given, which honor innovative companies in the healthcare industry that are currently providing proven ways to lower the cost of providing quality healthcare through their medical or information technology, or innovative approaches to the delivery of healthcare.

Nine ABBY Award Finalists (three in each category) will be selected in three categories: Innovative Approaches to the Delivery of Healthcare Innovations in Healthcare IT and Telecommunications Technology Innovations in Medical / BioTechnology

ABBY Award Winners will be selected (by secret ballot) by the senior healthcare industry executives attending the Innovations in Healthcare Awards Event, after hearing presentations by the senior executive from each Finalist company.

Attendance is open to ABL Members, as well as non-Member senior executives of healthcare providers and payers, as well as leaders of therapeutic, diagnostic, medical device and healthcare information and services firms.

For more information, please contact Laura Grant at ABL at (714) 245-1425 or visit ABL’s website at http://www.abl.org

Hosted by the Adaptive Business Leaders (ABL) Organization:
In April, ABL will celebrate its 10th Annual Innovations in Healthcare^SM Awards Event, honoring healthcare industry leaders whose products and services are not just innovative, but are truly reducing the cost of providing quality healthcare. Past ABBY Award nominees and winners have included companies that have made breakthroughs and transformative advances in medical devices, diagnostics, therapeutics, information technology and electronic solutions, as well as organizations that have applied innovative systems and technology to providing care and coverage, decreasing the numbers of uninsured, and engaging healthcare consumers more actively in their care and health status.

Recent ABBY Award winners have included: Aperio Technologies, Inc.; BeWell Mobile Technology Inc.; Care Level Management; eHealth, Inc.; eV3, Inc.’s Neurovascular Division; FoxHollow Technologies, Inc.; Gen-Probe, Inc.; Health Hero Network, Inc.; I-Flow; IPC - The Hospitalist Company; Kaiser Permanente's eHealth Initiatives; Masimo Corporation; Refractec; Santa Clara Family Health Plan; Silverado Senior Living Center; Sutter Health's eICU; Trizetto Group; and Vocera Communications.

About the Adaptive Business Leaders (ABL) Organization
ABL, California’s leading Chief Executives’ Organization, provides its Members with executive leadership coaching through its confidential peer CEO Advisory Board Round Tables and executive learning workshops, network of CEO peers and expert resources. ABL supports the needs of its Member CEOs by providing a place for top-level executives to draw on the experience, knowledge and skill sets of their peers in a non-competing vertical industry personal advisory board - multi-coach approach - setting.

The core component of the CEO Membership experience is the group Round Table meeting. Members meet once a month for a half day with a group of peer CEOs, Presidents, COOs and Division General Managers from non-competing companies all from the same industry (healthcare, technology or life sciences) in a trusted and confidential board room like setting, which allows the executive Members to tackle topics and enhance their decision making and business performance. Topics include: developing and honing new business strategies, new lines of business, best business practices, understanding new trends, developing an effective board of directors, leadership training and executive compensation.

Members also gather several times a year at workshops and conferences to exchange ideas and connect with other chief executives beyond their own CEO peer groups. In effect, ABL Members serve as each other’s business coaches within the Round Tables and are encouraged to connect and leverage their co-Member peers’ particular skills and expertise for additional leadership coaching, one-on-one, outside of their monthly group meeting. In addition, each Round Table’s Facilitator also serves as an objective business advisor, offering executive and industry insights and advice.

ABL's Chief Executive Leadership Development Round Table program is currently being offered in California's greater Orange County, Los Angeles and San Francisco County areas.