ECRS Announces Software Upgrade Allowing Retailers to Accept Health Benefit Cards

LAS VEGAS, NV – May 5, 2008 – ECRS, a leading provider of retail automation solutions, today at FMI Marketechnics announced a new feature of its Catapult POS system that helps retailers facing Internal Revenue Service regulations for acceptance of Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA) and other health benefit plan cards. In 2009, IRS mandates will require that independent pharmacy retailers and other non-healthcare merchants who wish to accept FSA/HRA cards and operate a POS system support an Inventory Information Approval System (IIAS) as prescribed by IRS laws.ECRS is providing IIAS compliance through an upgrade within the Catapult software system. This upgrade will provide compliance by summer 2008, well before the 2009 IRS deadline.

About Health Savings Benefit Accounts

FSA/HRA and other health savings accounts are quickly gaining in popularity as alternatives to traditional health insurance plans. Health savings accounts are set up through an employer and allow the employee to set aside a portion of their earnings for medical expenses and other approved health care needs. Money deducted from an employee’s pay for health savings plans are not subject to payroll taxes, resulting in tax savings for the employee. Debit cards are issued to each employee enrolled in the plan and are used exclusively for the payment of approved medical services and supplies.

ECRS Catapult IIAS Compliance Features

The Catapult software upgrade includes features such as automatic recognition of FSA/HRA approved items imported through a third-party list and the automatic separation of these items at the time of purchase. The cashier simply completes the transaction as a split tender for any items recognized outside the FSA/HRA approved inventory list that is maintained within the Catapult system. Catapult also has the ability to automatically identify cards that are restricted to medical expenses. FSA/HRA reporting mandates that a log be kept by the participating merchant of all health debit transactions for a period of five years. ECRS has developed an innovative data warehouse where all such transactions are stored within the Catapult Database Management System (DBMS). This feature is completely housed within the Catapult infrastructure, rather than at a remote source, which gives retailers the flexibility to query transactions with ease.

“ECRS has a twenty year track record of helping our customers meet all compliance and IRS regulations so that they can best serve the needs of their customers. FSA acceptance and the Inventory Information Approval System (IIAS) feature is one such example of this continued commitment,” said ECRS VP of Development, Mark Noble.

About ECRS

Since 1989 ECRS has been providing world-class automation solutions designed to help retailers of all sizes in a wide variety of markets. The ECRS retail framework includes point of sale, self-checkout, reporting and analytics, multistore, inventory management, auto replenishment, EDI supplier integration, warehousing, membership management, fuel pump interface, integrated video surveillance, digital customer billboard, gift card, signature capture, wireless hand-held, and a range of other retail automation components. ECRS products are delivered through a partner network and by direct sales specialists.

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