WESTMINSTER, Colorado, September 13 /PRNewswire/ --

Reed Group Ltd., publisher of The Medical Disability Advisor (MDA) 
guidelines and a global leader in return-to-work and disability management 
products and services, announced today that New Zealand's Accident 
Compensation Corporation (ACC) has purchased an enterprise license of the 
MDA. This new agreement will allow ACC to broaden its use of the MDA 
throughout various government agencies and healthcare organizations in New 
Zealand.

"Ministry of Social Development has observed the success at ACC since
their adoption of the MDA in 1999, reducing absence significantly," according
to Dr. David Rankin, Senior Advisor for The Ministry of Social Development.
From July 1999 through October 2000, the average number of days per case
dropped nearly 50%, attributed in part to implementation of guidelines. "As
an integral component of our reform of the Sickness Benefit and Invalid's
Benefit in New Zealand, case managers will rely on this tool to refine our
return-to-employment systems. The integration of the MDA into case management
practice will be fundamental in developing work plans and assisting people
into employment."

"New Zealand's success in reducing disability-related absence in the
workplace demonstrates the impact of our disability duration guidelines,"
states Presley Reed, founder and Chief Medical Officer of Reed Group. "Our
primary goal is to help people. Reed Group believes that productive endeavor
is essential to an individual's well being. In turn, we believe that healthy,
timely return to work is as important to the employee as it is to the
employer."

The ACC currently uses Reed Group's Data Integration product, which is
based on The Medical Disability Advisor, Workplace Guidelines for Disability
Durations, Fifth Edition (MDA). The MDA D.I. license provides integrated
disability management capabilities for enterprise-wide use, offering
real-time access to the contents of Reed Group's disability duration
guidelines. By fully integrating into an organization's case management
software, team members have a powerful resource to assist in the delivery of
accurate and efficient case management.

About Accident Compensation Corporation

The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) administers New Zealand's
accident compensation scheme, which provides personal injury cover for all
New Zealand citizens, residents and temporary visitors to New Zealand. ACC is
a Crown entity whose responsibilities include determining whether claims for
injury are covered by the scheme and providing entitlements to those who are
eligible and buying health and disability support services to treat, care for
and rehabilitate injured people.

About Reed Group, Ltd

Reed Group was founded in 1981 to address workplace productivity and
employee absenteeism in the corporate environment. Reed Group maintains four
key lines of business: Guidelines, Service, Data Analytics, and Education.
Reed Group publishes The Medical Disability Advisor guidelines (now in its
Fifth Edition) which are considered to be the industry-standard reference for
determining disability duration and outcomes benchmarking (textbook, Windows
software, Internet and data integration formats). Reed Group also provides
integrated disability case management service for non-occupational and
occupational leaves as well as administration of other leaves of absence to
employers in the U.S. and abroad. For more information, visit
http://www.reedgroup.com.

Web site: http://www.reedgroup.com