TZIX Trizetto Grp. (MM)

The TriZetto Group Inc. (NASDAQ: TZIX) today announced a five-year agreement to host its QNXTTM core administration system for Health Alliance Medical Plans, a managed care organization providing coverage for 250,000 people in Illinois and Iowa. TriZetto provides hosting and application management services for its core administration, care management, network management and constituent management software, as well as third-party applications. Today, its Greenwood Village, Colo., operations center hosts software for more than 30 healthcare payer organizations across more than 30 million members. �We take pride in our high levels of customer and provider satisfaction,� said Jeff Ingrum, president and CEO of Health Alliance, �but satisfaction doesn�t happen by accident. We plan for it, and they expect it. TriZetto�s expertise in managing healthcare software and systems made them the right choice for hosting our system. We�re confident our relationship with TriZetto will secure our ability to raise the bar even higher in responding quickly to our customers� and providers� needs.� �More and more payer organizations are turning to TriZetto to host and manage TriZetto software applications,� said Mike Jenner, TriZetto�s senior vice president of business services. �This arrangement will help Health Alliance continue to focus on its business objective of providing strong service to its members, employers and providers, without worrying about hiring and training additional IT staff.� In hosting the QNXT core administrative system, TriZetto will manage the application on its servers; provide data security, backup and recovery; implement upgrades as new releases become available; provide a 24x7 help desk; and provide ongoing system support and issue resolution. Application hosting offers the advantages of rapid deployment, expert, ongoing maintenance and fewer demands on the IT departments of customers. Many healthcare payer organizations opt for hosting for competitive and capital investment reasons. About Health Alliance Medical Plans Founded by physicians in 1980, Health Alliance is a leading provider-sponsored health insurer in the Midwest, providing healthcare coverage to more than 250,000 members in Illinois and Iowa. Health Alliance is named one of America�s best health plans in the 2007 U.S. News & World Report and National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) rankings of commercial and Medicare health plans. Based in Urbana, Ill., Health Alliance has maintained the highest accreditation possible from NCQA for its commercial HMO and POS plans since 1997 and for its Medicare HMO plans since 2002. About TriZetto TriZetto is Powering Integrated Healthcare Management�. With its technology touching nearly half of the U.S. insured population, TriZetto is uniquely positioned to drive the convergence of health benefit administration, care management and constituent engagement. The company provides premier information technology solutions that enable payers and other constituents in the healthcare supply chain to improve the coordination of benefits and care for healthcare consumers. Healthcare payers include national and regional health insurance plans, and benefits administrators that provide transaction services to self-insured employer groups. The company�s payer-focused information technology offerings include enterprise and component software, hosting and business process outsourcing services, and consulting. Headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif., TriZetto can be reached at 949-719-2200 or at www.trizetto.com.