Two Leading Organizations to Work Together

CIPA and COACH Become Allies in Promoting Canadian Innovative Excellence

	For More Information: Contact: norm.kirkpatrick@cipa.com (905) 952 0778

TORONTO, August 1, 2006 - Two longstanding organizations committed to promoting and celebrating Canadian innovation using information and communications technologies have signed an agreement to work together.

Canadian Information Productivity Awards (CIPA), the premier information-technology and innovation awards program in Canada, and COACH: Canada's Health Informatics Association, which is dedicated to promoting health informatics within the Canadian health system, announced today that they will assist each other in recognizing excellence among their stakeholders.

"Canadian health organizations are transforming themselves and should be recognized for that," said Norm Kirkpatrick, CIPA President & CEO. "Sharing success stories through our organizations will create a cumulative body of knowledge within the healthcare sector and will contribute to Canadians' confidence in the increasing effectiveness of healthcare systems."

CIPA has had a national awards program to celebrate Canadian innovation since 1993. In 2005 COACH expanded its awards program in conjunction with its 30th anniversary and co-hosted the first annual Canadian Health Informatics Awards Gala.

"This relationship with CIPA is complementary to COACH's awards program", said Shelagh Maloney, COACH President. "COACH awards recognize individual leadership and innovation within the health sector while the CIPA awards can provide a showcase for health sector projects to the wider community and raise the level of awareness of the important role that health informatics plays in the effective delivery and management of healthcare services.

"National recognition of award-winning projects will advance our goal of encouraging health organizations and individuals to innovate and lead."

About the Canadian Information Productivity Awards
CIPA is Canada's oldest and largest awards program in the field of information technology and the premier showcase for Canadian IT and innovation.

It is supported by Managing Sponsor CGI Group Inc., and leading industry technology companies Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co. and CA Canada, as well as: IDC Canada, research partner; Rogers Communications Inc., IT World Canada and High Road Communications, media partners, and allied technology associations CATAAlliance, CHITTA, CIPS, CME, FiQ and ITAC.

The mission of CIPA is to recognize and celebrate excellence that fosters innovation and enhanced global competitiveness in Canada. This is achieved through recognizing organizations that have successfully developed and implemented innovative IT-based projects in the areas of customer care, operations and efficiency, organizational transformation and exceptional innovation that achieve significant productivity gains for their organizations.

Winners of the annual competition gain national and international recognition at the CIPA Gala Banquet in November and through www.cipa.com and extensive media exposure.

About COACH: Canada's Health Informatics Association
COACH is an organization dedicated to promoting understanding and adoption of health informatics within the Canadian health system through professional development, advocacy and a strong and diverse membership.

COACH was formed in 1975 by several health professionals and vendors in the medical industry, who recognized that significant sharing of ideas and efforts must take place in order to enable Canadian health institutions to effectively use information technology and systems. The focus, 30 years later, has expanded to include not only the technology and the systems, but also the effective use of health information for decision-making and the evolving electronic health record.

COACH has a membership of almost 900 individuals who range from healthcare executives, physicians, nurses and allied health professionals, researchers and educators to CIOs, information managers, technical experts, consultants, and information technology vendors. Organizations represented cover the full range of healthcare service delivery, government and non-government agencies, consulting firms, commercial providers of information and telecommunications technologies, and educational institutions.

For further information, contact:
Norm Kirkpatrick
President & CEO, Canadian Information Productivity Awards
905-695-6590, norm.kirkpatrick@cipa.com

Lawrence Moule
Director of Communications, CIPA
416-458-4410, lawrence.moule@cipa.com

Shelagh Maloney
COACH President
416-595-3449 ext 3061
smaloney@infoway-inforoute.ca