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Citrix Survey Identifies Need for Strong State Leadership to Meet National Electronic Medical Records Goals


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Lack of Awareness, Technical Complexity, and Healthcare Staff Resistance Impede EMR Adoption and Participation in Regional Health Information Organizations

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — 2/19/2007 — Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS), the global leader in application delivery infrastructure, today announced the findings of its survey of state- and private-sector health executives on electronic medical record (EMR) adoption and regional health information organization (RHIO) participation. RHIOs enable the secure exchange and use of patient information held in EMRs across facilities in order to improve healthcare quality and efficiency. The full report is available via download at http://www.citrix.com/healthitsurvey.

EMR Use Growing, But Roadblocks Remain
While 57 percent of private-sector healthcare facilities are currently using EMRs, just 19 percent of state healthcare facilities have adopted them. EMRs contain patient condition and treatment information and are used by healthcare practitioners across multiple facilities to document and manage healthcare delivery, speeding patient care, reducing administrative costs, and improving medical outcomes. Significant challenges to EMR adoption include budget constraints, healthcare staff resistance, and technical complexity, according to the survey.

The Bush administration has set the goal of providing e-health records for all citizens by 2014. At the present time, many communities are establishing RHIOs to facilitate medical record-sharing across healthcare facilities at the local level. Survey participants cited immediate access to up-to-date patient information, increased collaboration amongst healthcare providers, and access to information about EMR solutions as the key benefits of RHIO participation. State health executives are leading the way in RHIO participation, with 43 percent currently involved in a RHIO, compared to 20 percent for the private sector. The top barriers to participation cited were lack of awareness/education regarding RHIO options, no EMR use, and budget constraints.

Public-Sector Healthcare Executives Advocate Increased State Leadership
Despite their higher level of RHIO participation, however, few states have set timeframes for achieving statewide EMR use. Just 16 percent of state health executives and 6 percent of private-sector health IT executives said their states had set a timeline. Yet state health executives said they see a strong role for the states in RHIO development. Seventy-nine percent said states should provide a framework for RHIO development, 73 percent said states should provide start-up funding, and 72 percent said states should provide access to EMR technology solutions via an ASP model.

“States need to quickly adopt a proactive EMR/RHIO leadership role in order to realize the 2014 goal of e-health records for all Americans,” said Bert Wakeley, director of State and Local Government for Citrix. “States can help healthcare organizations overcome the cultural, budgetary, and technical challenges to EMR adoption by setting timelines, raising awareness, and providing access to funding and technology resources.”

Methodology
The online survey of 347 private-sector health IT executives in January 2007 includes representatives from the full range of care facilities: hospitals, long-term care facilities, physician’s offices, and rehabilitation facilities/clinics. The private-sector survey has a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percent with a 90 percent confidence level. The one-on-one phone survey of state healthcare executives in January 2007 includes representatives from public hospitals and clinics and state public health agencies. The state healthcare executive survey has a margin of error of +/- 8.3 percent with a 90 percent confidence level. Respondents from both groups indicate professional titles of CIOs, senior IT executives, IT managers, and healthcare administrators. The full report is available via download at http://www.citrix.com/healthitsurvey.

About Citrix
Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTXS) is the global leader and the most trusted name in application delivery infrastructure. More than 180,000 organizations worldwide rely on Citrix to deliver any application to users anywhere with the best performance, highest security and lowest cost. Citrix customers include 100% of the Fortune 100 companies and 98% of the Fortune Global 500, as well as hundreds of thousands of small businesses and prosumers. Citrix has approximately 6,200 channel and alliance partners in more than 100 countries. Annual revenue in 2006 was $1.1 billion.

For Citrix Investors
This release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Those statements involve a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including risks associated with revenue growth and recognition of revenue, products, their development and distribution, product demand and pipeline, economic and competitive factors, the Company’s key strategic relationships, acquisition and related integration risks as well as other risks detailed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Citrix assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release or with respect to the announcements described herein.

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