McKesson Specialty’s Call Center Certified as Center of Excellence by Purdue University and BenchmarkPortal

McKesson Specialty’s Marketing Services Call Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal and Purdue University's Center for Customer-Driven Quality, a premier benchmarking organization within the call center industry. Scottsdale, Ariz., January 21, 2005 -- McKesson Specialty's Marketing Services Call Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal and Purdue University's Center for Customer-Driven Quality, a premier benchmarking organization within the call center industry. The certification compares best practice metrics from the world's largest database of call center performance information and is presented to an elite group of centers that demonstrate the highest standards of efficiency and operational effectiveness. To receive the award a call center must place in the top 10% of all call centers included in the database (currently more than 20,000 call centers).McKesson Specialty's 600-seat, state-of-the-art facility provides programs to pharmaceutical manufacturers. The highly trained customer service representatives assist patients, physicians and other medical professionals with a wide variety of educational, reimbursement, clinical, data gathering and marketing services. "McKesson's customer service call center was awarded for first-class customer service," said Dr. Jon Anton, Founder of Purdue University's Center for Customer Driven Quality. "Their streamlined operations ensure high quality at a low cost - incoming customer calls are handled professionally and quickly. They also scored extremely high on the remaining benchmarking metrics, including attendance and new hire training." "We are proud to join the ranks of such prestigious companies as Merrill Lynch, Delta Dental and Blue Cross/Blue Shield," said Lori Glover, director, Call Center Operations, McKesson Specialty. "Our call center has accomplished a tremendous amount over the past twelve months, and we plan to continue to raise the bar to maintain our status as the premier call center for pharmaceutical manufacturers." Purdue's and BenchmarkPortal's certification process is unique in that it focuses on quantitative results and is based on an objective scorecard. Representatives used six months of operational data for the assessment and entered it into a comprehensive database, comparing it to thousands of other call centers similar to McKesson in size and call type. About BenchmarkPortal BenchmarkPortal is the custodian of the Purdue University Center for Customer-Driven Quality database of contact center metrics, the largest in the world. It provides reports, products and services for contact centers in the areas of operational metrics, customer satisfaction measurement and agent satisfaction measurement. BenchmarkPortal's Web site can be found at: www.BenchmarkPortal.com For additional information contact: Susan Hampton BenchmarkPortal, Inc. SusanHampton@BenchmarkPortal.com About McKesson McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK), is a Fortune 16 healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes and improving the quality and safety of patient care. Over the course of its 170-year history, McKesson has grown by providing pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information, visit us at www.mckesson.com. About McKesson Specialty McKesson Specialty is a business unit of McKesson Corporation. McKesson Specialty delivers the services manufacturers, payors and providers need to ensure pharmaceutical products, coordinated reimbursement, and clinical services are available to patients with complex diseases. For additional information contact: Amber Lynn Latt (480) 663-4108 amber.latt@mckesson.com