VeriChip Corporation's VeriMed Patient Identification System Now Has 140 Hospitals; 300 Physicians as Part of Its Network

Sept. 7, 2006
Corp. has first FDA-approved microchip for patient identification and access to medical information

VeriChip Corporation: VeriChip Trains Nearly 400 FEMA Employees on Its VeriTrace Emergency Management/Disaster Recovery Application

VeriChip Corporation, a subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions (NASDAQ: ADSX), announced today that its Implantable Division, consisting of the patient ID and personal health information system called "VeriMed", the security application called "VeriGuard", and the emergency management system called "VeriTrace" achieved important milestones. VeriMed, the first and only FDA-approved microchip for patient identification and access to medical information has advanced adoption in key areas of hospital and physician acceptance.

Since early August, 26 new healthcare facilities have agreed to adopt the VeriMed system. This brings the total to approximately 140 emergency departments, of which 36 - located in seven states and Washington, D.C. - have fully implemented the technology and will use the VeriMed reader as standard protocol to scan patients that present unconscious, delirious or confused. The Company continues to provide readers to hospitals at no charge as part of its efforts to "seed" the infrastructure for the VeriMed patient identification system.

The expansion of the VeriMed physician network has increased nearly six-fold in 2006, indicating increasing acceptance of VeriMed by primary care and specialty physicians.

"We are optimistic that we will see a significant increase in the number of physicians in our physician network as we enhance our efforts to educate physicians about the benefits of VeriMed through participation in several large medical conferences scheduled over the next few months," stated Kevin McLaughlin, CEO of VeriChip Corporation. "We are further encouraged that our clinical study program with Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, which commences in September, will lead to increased adoption by physicians and health insurers."

VeriChip's VeriTrace application is designed to assist state and federal agencies to plan for and manage emergency situations and disaster recovery using implantable RFID technology. VeriChip has now trained nearly 400 FEMA employees on this technology including the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams (DMORT) involved in the recovery efforts during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and responsible for Weapons of Mass Destruction recovery efforts. VeriChip continues to work with federal and state agencies on full implementation of this technology.