ATLANTA, April 12, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- MedAvant Healthcare Solutions (MedAvant) (Nasdaq:PILL), a leader in healthcare technology and transaction services, today announced that more than 3,000 healthcare providers joined the National Preferred Provider Network (NPPN)(tm) in the first quarter of this year. NPPN is MedAvant's Preferred Provider Organization (PPO).
"Three thousand new providers in one quarter has become a standard for MedAvant," said John Lettko, MedAvant CEO and president. "Our success at attracting new providers demonstrates the value of our direct contracts with healthcare providers, and it certainly makes NPPN more attractive to clients." Direct contracts give providers a transparent relationship with the PPO and allow MedAvant to avoid leasing fees.
The providers who joined in the first quarter represent direct contracts with more than 2,500 physicians and 550 ancillary care providers. The acute care hospitals which joined the network in the first quarter collectively have more than 6,500 hospital beds. Among the new providers are Select Medical based in Mechanicsburg, Pa., with 94 specialty hospitals; Brown and Toland, an Independent Practice Association in San Francisco; and Bascom Ambulatory Surgery Center in Campbell, Calif.
The expanding provider base creates value for MedAvant's clients, such as insurance companies, third party administers and self-insured companies, since they can provide covered employees with access to more healthcare providers.
"The coverage of the network met our clients' needs in areas where their primary PPO was sparse," said Debbie J. Spencer, Vice President of GEMGroup, one of NPPN's new clients. The GEMGroup is a third party administrator based in Pittsburgh which offers more than 200 benefit plans. In addition to the geographic coverage, Spencer said GEMGroup chose NPPN for its electronic interface, which will simplify claims processing and its reasonable fee structure.
The total number of NPPN providers increased 5% within the past year. NPPN now has more than 550,000 physicians, nearly 4,000 acute care facilities, and more than 90,000 ancillary care provider locations in all 50 states.
Providers join a PPO and accept reduced reimbursement for services rendered in exchange for more patients being directed to them. Clients save money when a covered employee chooses a healthcare provider in NPPN. MedAvant generates revenue on a percentage of clients' savings.
About MedAvant Healthcare Solutions
MedAvant provides information technology used to process transactions within the healthcare industry. MedAvant offers electronic claims processing to healthcare providers, a Preferred Provider Organization called the National Preferred Provider Network (NPPN)(tm), remote reporting solutions for medical laboratories, and electronic prescription delivery for pharmacies. To facilitate these services, MedAvant operates Phoenix(sm), a highly scalable platform which supports real-time connections between healthcare clients. For more information about MedAvant, please visit the Company's website at http://www.medavanthealth.com. MedAvant is a trade name of ProxyMed, Inc.
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Forward Looking Statement
Statements in this release that are "forward-looking statements" are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "should," "potential," "continue," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions. Actual results could differ materially from projected results because of factors such as: the soundness of our business strategies relative to the perceived market opportunities; MedAvant's ability to successfully develop, market, sell, cross-sell, install and upgrade its clinical and financial transaction services and applications to current and new physicians, payers, medical laboratories and pharmacies; the ability to compete effectively on price and support services; MedAvant's ability and that of its business associates to perform satisfactorily under the terms of its contractual obligations, and to comply with various government rules regarding healthcare and patient privacy; entry into markets with vigorous competition, market acceptance of existing products and services, changes in licensing programs, product price discounts, delays in product development and related product release schedules, any of which may cause revenues and income to fall short of anticipated levels; the availability of competitive products or services; the continued ability to protect the company's intellectual property rights, implementation of operating cost structures that align with revenue growth; uninsured losses; adverse results in legal disputes resulting in liabilities; unanticipated tax liabilities; the effects of a natural disaster or other catastrophic event beyond our control that results in the destruction or disruption of any of our critical business or information technology systems. Any of these factors could cause the actual results to differ materially from the guidance given at this time. For further cautions about the risks of investing in MedAvant, we refer you to the documents MedAvant files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, its most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K. MedAvant does not assume, and expressly disclaims, any obligation to update information contained in this document. Although this release may remain available on our website or elsewhere, its continued availability does not indicate that we are reaffirming or confirming any of the information contained herein.