Verona, NJ– LiveProcess, the leader in healthcare emergency preparedness and response, today announced that Mitch Saruwatari, Vice President, Quality and Compliance, has been named an advisory member of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Emergency Responder Task Force.

Mr. Saruwatari, a 15-year healthcare and emergency management veteran, will work with the panel on key initiatives designed to advance interoperability across emergency response and healthcare stakeholders for more efficient and informed emergency medical response across the entire continuum of care, ultimately saving lives, time and money. HIMSS recently partnered with COMCARE, a non-profit national advocacy organization dedicated to advancing emergency communications, to establish an Integrated Emergency Medical Response Initiative.

HIMSS is the healthcare industry's membership organization exclusively focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of healthcare information technology and management systems for the betterment of healthcare. Mr. Saruwatari’s HIMSS appointment comes on the heels of the American Hospital Association’s February 2008 exclusive endorsement of Live Process as the preferred solution for its members’ disaster readiness and incident command needs. The AHA endorsement, made after an exhaustive year-long selection process, further builds upon Live Process’ presence as the leading web-based platform for helping hospitals manage their disaster preparedness plans and responses.

“I am excited to join this important effort and share in its vision to bring organizations together on the emergency medical response front,” said Saruwatari, who came to LiveProcess after serving as national Director for Healthcare Continuity Management and National Threat Assessment Manager for Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest private integrated healthcare delivery system. Saruwatari also has a background in epidemiology and co-chaired the development of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) compliant Hospital Incident Command System (HICS).

He was selected based on his extensive background in public health, emergency medical services and hospital emergency management.  As an advisor, Mr. Saruwatari will join other national leaders to guide strategic plans for integrating critical information and data that will help facilitate improved capabilities and care during emergency responses.  More specifically, advisors to the Emergency Responder Task Force will:

• Provide state and regional leaders with a framework to make decisions about patient tracking and information systems;
• Enhance patient care and system efficiency in both day to day emergencies and mass disasters; and
• Demonstrate industry standards-based systems linking the organizations and applications involved in the provision of emergency patient care.

“LiveProcess continues to seek ways for improving healthcare response and coordination during any event that jeopardizes the ability to deliver care,” said Nathaniel Weiss, founder and chief executive officer. “We strongly support and look forward to Mitch's participation in this national endeavor.”

About LiveProcess
LiveProcess is the leader in emergency management for hospitals.  Established four years ago, in the wake of 9/11 and SARS, LiveProcess developed the first standardized software solution designed to help healthcare organizations prepare for and respond to such emergencies.  Since that time, the company has been focused on enhancing healthcare emergency preparedness and response, and helping hospital executives gain visibility and control of compliance efforts across their healthcare system. The LiveProcess Platform provides a wide and growing range of fully integrated tools to assist in emergency management, including Hazard Vulnerability Analyses (HVAs), Incident Command System (ICS), NIMS Compliance, Drills for Readiness and Compliance, Event Log, and Competency-Based Training capabilities. For more information on LiveProcess, please visit www.liveprocess.com.