PLANTATION, Fla., Jan. 18, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- MEDirect Latino Inc. (Pink Sheets:MLTO) (www.medirectlatino.org), the first national provider of direct-to-consumer Medicare reimbursed medical products focused exclusively on chronic diseases afflicting the Hispanic community, today announced initiation of a second shift customer service platform to handle increases in new customer response rates generated from the Company's 2006 national television advertising campaign, increased marketing efforts in Puerto Rico and growing customer care closing ratio's and the recent additions of new product lines. The Company's 'patient hold journal' (approved and pending shipment for regulatory processing), closed the month of December 2005 with 3,213 additional customers, an increase of 68.39% over November's 1,908 approved and pending shipment for regulatory processing, as recently announced.
The Company's mandate will maximize its Plantation, Florida facility with the double-shift system, as well as service the new client orders that are now taxing the present sales and marketing staff of the Company. The Company currently has 56 employees and will add 32 employees to the second shift, which will increase its customer care department personnel 35%, billing and collections department 22%, and a 12% increase in shipping personnel immediately. The second shift of employees will focus on the growing customer database in the western states of California, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada, and will work a shift of 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
Further, the Company plans to move into larger facilities and is working with local economic development boards to identify enterprise zones where applicable tax relocation incentives exist.
Ms. Debra Towsley, President, MEDirect Latino stated, "As our record revenue announcements report, we continue to show significant growth and opportunities to maximize this growth. We realize the need to manage this growth efficiently as we look to expand and multiply our quarterly results. Maximizing our current facility has always been our plan, as we manage the growing response and recurring results we are generating. We have found a wealth of qualified personnel in the South Florida market attuned to our Hispanic customer. With proper training in our proprietary customer care methodologies, our employees are proving successful in providing the highest of quality of care in the industry. Our methodologies and strategies have rewritten the book on Hispanic customer care and we now have historical proof that our proprietary program works and is becoming the industry's gold standard. In addition, the Company continues to create quality jobs to support employment growth in the state of Florida."
About MEDirect Latino:
MEDirect Latino (Pink Sheets:MLTO) (www.medirectlatino.org) is a rapidly growing, uniquely positioned provider of direct-to-consumer Medicare reimbursed medical products focused exclusively on chronic diseases afflicting the Hispanic community in the United States and Puerto Rico. MEDirect is the only company positioned to serve the U.S. Hispanic healthcare market as a direct-to-consumer Medicare provider on an authentically national level. The Company's current focus is the distribution of products for the treatment of Type II diabetes specifically because of its disproportionate impact and increasing diagnosis rate within the U.S. Hispanic population, noting an incidence of 120% higher than among non-Hispanic whites. Type II diabetes was also targeted because of its unique status within the Medicare reimbursement regime and because of its high degree of correlation to other chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease. These other conditions represent considerable future market potential that will allow MEDirect to efficiently scale its model by leveraging its existing client base and infrastructure.
The current Hispanic market for MEDirect's products is conservatively estimated at approximately $748MM in the continental United States. The size of the opportunity is understated by such figures as an estimated 1.2 million of the over 4.1 million Hispanics in the United States over 65 eligible to receive Medicare benefits are currently collecting these benefits with an estimate that over 1.4 million of those Medicare-eligible Hispanics have diabetes (implying a potential continental U.S. market for MEDirect products of approximately $1 billion).
Safe Harbor Disclosure:
This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, commonly identified by such terms as "believes," "looking ahead," "anticipates," "estimates" and other terms with similar meaning. Although the Company believes that the assumptions upon which its forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these assumptions will prove to be correct. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's projections and expectations are disclosed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements in this press release are expressly qualified by such cautionary statements and by reference to the underlying assumptions.
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