LAKE FOREST, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 4, 2004--

Multi-Year Contract Provides Consorta's Member Facilities a Narcotic-Free Option for Post-Surgical Pain Relief

I-Flow Corporation (NASDAQ: IFLO) announced today that it has been awarded a contract by Consorta, a leading group purchasing and resource management organization for the health care industry, to offer ON-Q(R) PainBuster(R), a narcotic-free surgical-site pain relief system, to Consorta's member facilities. The multi-year agreement provides Consorta's members, which include over 400 acute care and 42 ambulatory surgery centers, the ability to offer patients a narcotic-free post-surgical pain relief option.

"Consorta's contracting staff was directed by the Surgical Services Committee to research non-narcotic infusion therapy for the surgical patient," said Bertha Shock RN, manager of Surgical and Cardiology Services for Consorta. "This form of post-surgical pain therapy has the ability to improve patient outcomes by helping surgical patients return to their normal lives faster."

I-Flow was awarded the contract through Consorta's intensive vendor selection process, which focuses on delivering high-quality, cost-effective products and services to Consorta's health care provider customers. Studies have shown that ON-Q PainBuster relieves pain after surgery and reduces or eliminates the need for narcotics, today's standard of care, so hospital stays are shortened and cost savings are realized.

"The agreement with Consorta is important for I-Flow as it provides us with direct access to 400 acute care facilities and 42 ambulatory surgery centers," said Donald M. Earhart, president and CEO of I-Flow Corporation. "This translates into thousands of patients who can potentially benefit from ON-Q for their post-surgical pain relief. We believe that by providing ON-Q to its hospital and surgery center facilities, Consorta will help its members deliver innovative post-surgical patient care that is second to none."

About ON-Q PainBuster

ON-Q PainBuster is a simple yet elegant device that consists of a small balloon pump that holds a local anesthetic (a pain-numbing medicine) and delivers it through a tiny, specially-designed tube (catheter) directly into the surgical site. The proprietary ON-Q Soaker(TM) Catheter is designed to provide more even distribution of local anesthetic over a wider area, as compared to a fenestrated catheter, because of its patented wicking capabilities.

ON-Q PainBuster delivers narcotic-free pain relief for many surgeries, including: cesarean sections, hysterectomies, knee replacements, mastectomies, cardio-vascular/thoracic surgeries, foot and ankle surgeries and many cosmetic surgeries. ON-Q PainBuster helps patients avoid the side effects of narcotics so they can get back to their normal lives faster. Currently, 30 studies on the use of ON-Q have been completed and published and more are underway to demonstrate the benefits of ON-Q in additional areas such as pediatrics and wound healing.

For more information about ON-Q, visit www.AskYourSurgeon.com or call 800-448-3569.

About Consorta

Consorta, Inc. is a leading health care resource management and group purchasing organization, whose shareholders are faith based or non-profit health systems. As a cooperative, Consorta's shareholders and participants share fully in the organization's bottom-line performance and receive discounts on product purchases through scale purchasing economies. Consorta's shareholders are among the leading integrators of non-profit health care in America, sponsoring significant care providers in many parts of the country. Consorta's shareholder health care systems operate more than half of all Catholic hospitals in the United States, own many extended and alternate care sites and have extensive affiliate relationships with other non-profit hospitals and alternate care facilities.

About I-Flow Corporation

I-Flow Corporation (www.iflo.com) designs, develops and markets technically advanced, low-cost drug delivery systems and services that are redefining the standard of care by providing life-enhancing, cost-effective solutions for pain relief.

Certain disclosures made by the Company in this press release and in other reports and statements released by the Company are and will be forward-looking in nature, such as comments that express the Company's opinions about trends and factors that may impact future operating results. Disclosures that use words such as the Company "believes," "anticipates," or "expects" or use similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those expected, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to republish revised forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Readers are also urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by the Company in this release which seek to advise interested parties of the risks and other factors that affect the Company's business, as well as in the Company's periodic reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The risks affecting the Company's business include, among others: implementation of our direct sales strategy; dependence on our suppliers and distributors; reliance on the success of the home health care industry; our continuing compliance with applicable laws and regulations, such as the Food Drug and Cosmetics Act, and the FDA's concurrence with our management's subjective judgment on compliance issues; the reimbursement system currently in place and future changes to that system; competition in the industry; economic and political conditions in foreign countries; currency exchange rates; inadequacy of booked reserves; technological changes and product availability and acceptance. All such forward-looking statements, whether made in this release or elsewhere, should be considered in context with the various disclosures made by the Company about its business.

    CONTACT: Schwartz Communications
             Wendy Williams or Brian Bogie, 781-684-0770
             iflo@schwartz-pr.com
             or
             I-Flow Corporation
             Orlando Rodrigues, 949-206-2619
             orlandorodrigues@iflo.com

    SOURCE: I-Flow Corporation