DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla., March 2, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- NursesSTAT(r), a fast-growing healthcare management solutions division of iBX Group, Inc. (OTCBB:IBXG), has agreed on terms to acquire two healthcare staffing companies in Louisiana and a third in western Michigan. Company officials said the transactions would be completed by the end of this quarter.
These developments are in addition to an agreement announced in January that will allow NursesSTAT(r) to acquire a profitable healthcare staffing organization in New Orleans that is contracted to provide temporary healthcare personnel for more than 20 hospitals and several long-term-care facilities throughout Louisiana.
"As we sought to complete the first acquisition, it evolved into the opportunity for us to acquire these two additional staffing companies in a simultaneous transaction," said Brian Virgo, Managing Director for NursesSTAT(r). The company provides healthcare facilities with technological solutions that better utilize limited staffing dollars and fills in gaps with cost-effective temporary personnel.
"With an even larger network of temporary and traveling healthcare personnel throughout the Southeast and Midwest, we'll be able to help meet seasonal staffing needs in Michigan and other regions that experience severe nursing shortages at certain times of the year," Virgo said. "We're also working to launch a campaign to recruit nurses from other countries to further ease the shortage being experienced by healthcare facilities across the United States."
Due to the national nursing shortage and increasing staff turnover rates, hospitals are being forced to rely on temporary staffing agencies to fill vacancies. In 2000, per diem nurse staffing represented an estimated $4.1 billion in revenues and was the largest sector of the temporary medical staffing industry.
Based in Deerfield Beach, Florida, iBX Group Inc. develops and deploys creative, cost-effective methods for integrating financial, administrative and information services for the healthcare industry. iBX is a results-oriented company, consisting of five divisions - iBX Technologies, which enables healthcare organizations to maximize collections of their accounts receivables; Florida HealthSource, a network of physical therapy and wellness centers; MediCompliant Solutions, which ensures medical practices' compliance with today's complex legal requirements; iBX Transcription Services, which offers physicians quick turn-around and Web-accessible progress reports; NursesSTAT, a revolutionary temporary staffing solution; SportshealthNet.com and TheNetDigest.com, interactive Web portals providing patients with comprehensive healthcare information and advice, and increasing physician referrals.
This release is comprised of interrelated information that must be interpreted in the context of all of the information provided and care should be exercised not to consider portions of this release out of context. This release contains certain "forward-looking statements and information" (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning iBX Group, Inc. that are based on the beliefs of iBX Group, Inc.'s management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to iBX Group, Inc. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including those risks and uncertainties detailed in iBX's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.