New HealthcareHRAnswersNow™ From CCHKnowledgePoint Provides Web-based Answers to Health Care HR Questions

(RIVERWOODS, ILL., February 12, 2003) — Human resource departments in the health care industry are under increasing pressure to address complex workforce issues, including a critical nursing shortage, labor relations problems and workplace safety concerns. To help health care HR professionals meet today’s challenges, CCHKnowledgePoint, a provider of human resources information and software, has developed a new addition to its popular AnswersNow series, called HealthcareHRAnswersNow™.

The first online service geared specifically to health care HR professionals, HealthcareHRAnswersNow provides accurate and up-to-date answers to more than 2,000 questions related to HR issues and requirements in health care organizations. Developed by CCHKnowledgePoint health care analysts, HealthcareHRAnswersNow provides broad coverage of key human resource topics, with special emphasis on the most pressing challenges in the field, such as recruitment and retention, workplace safety, labor relations, compensation and compliance with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

"HR professionals in hospitals today simply can’t afford to spend long hours researching employment-related topics," said Tanya Rose, marketing manager for CCHKnowledgePoint’s human resources group. "And they certainly don’t have the dollars for outside consultants. HealthcareHRAnswersNow can dramatically reduce the time it takes to locate needed information."

Key Features and Benefits
Using CCH’s award-winning Web-based platform, HealthcareHRAnswersNow provides clear answers to health care human resource questions. Its straightforward Q&A format and intuitive user interface make the product practical for everyday use.

The 10 topic areas, which are categorized to reflect the real, day-to-day workflow of HR professionals in health care, include:

Recruitment and Retention
Staffing
Employee Information and Records
Workplace Safety
Employment Discrimination
Employee Relations
Labor Relations
Compensation
Benefits
HR Strategy

In addition to the continually updated questions and answers, in-depth coverage and ease of use, HealthcareHRAnswersNow also offers the following special features:

News and Trends twice-a-month newsletter, which is emailed directly to users and provides information on the latest news and trends in the health care HR industry;
Forms and checklists — Customers gain access to dozens of forms and checklists that can be printed, customized or downloaded;
Access to the complete text of relevant federal employment law and regulations; and
Access to state employment laws through HR Legistate™ (requires additional fee).

HealthcareHRAnswersNow Addresses Changing Needs of Health Care HR Departments
To ensure that HealthcareHRAnswersNow reflected the realities of HR workflow in a health care environment, CCHKnowledgePoint invited the participation of health care HR consultant Nancy Hoying. Drawing upon her previous experience as director of HR for two Chicago-area hospitals, Hoying provided a practical perspective to the product’s development.

"A lot of organizations are paring down their HR departments, reducing the number of HR specialists and moving to more of an HR generalist model," Hoying observed. "So the HR professional in a health care environment today needs to be exceptionally well versed in all aspects of the human resource function."

Hoying sees HealthcareHRAnswersNow as a critical tool for the HR generalist who faces a continual stream of questions on a daily basis.

"Instead of spending hours checking multiple reference sources in a variety of media and locations," said Hoying, "users can access all HR-related information in one place. It’s literally — and instantly — at their fingertips." And for those who need to come up to speed quickly as generalists, HealthcareHRAnswersNow helps with on-the-job learning. "This is a phenomenal developmental tool to educate someone in the HR generalist role," Hoying said.

Direct Access to State Employment Law Information
HealthcareHRAnswersNow is also available with state law information via HR LegiState, a service providing reliable, up-to-the-minute state employment law summaries and analysis organized by jurisdiction and topic. Subscribing to both HealthcareHRAnswersNow and HR LegiState allows customers to verify that their policies and procedures meet the requirements of the states in which they operate.

Availability and Pricing
For more information or to order HealthcareHRAnswersNow, call 1-800-449-9525 or visit the CCH online store at www.hr.cch.com/onlinestore. The price for a one-year subscription to HealthcareHRAnswersNow with two concurrent users is $499.

About CCHKnowledgePoint
The CCHKnowledgePoint brand leverages CCH’s authoritative human resources content and KnowledgePoint’s innovative technology to provide integrated solutions that meet HR professionals and frontline managers’ essential needs. CCH INCORPORATED, a provider of employment law information and software, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wolters Kluwer North America, which acquired KnowledgePoint in 2000. For more information about CCHKnowledgePoint products and services, please visit www.cchknowledgepoint.com or call 1-800-339-0104.

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Editor’s Note: Members of the media who would like a review copy of HealthcareHRAnswersNow may contact Sheri Cardo at (800) 727-1133 ext. 1334 or scardo@knowledgepoint.com, or Leslie Bonacum at (847) 267-7153 or mediahelp@cch.com.