American Healthways and Hawaii Medical Service Association Expand Relationship With Addition of Cardiac Services Program

Business Wire, Oct 31, 2001

Business Editors

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2001

Care Enhancement Program to Serve

10,000 HMSA Members With Cardiac Disease

American Healthways, Inc. (Nasdaq/NM:AMHC), the nation's largest provider of comprehensive care enhancement programs, today announced the signing of a new five-year contract to provide its Cardiac Healthways(SM) program to all of the Hawaii Medical Service Association's (HMSA) members with cardiac disease.

With a network of over 2,000 physicians, HMSA serves more than 600,000 individuals throughout the Islands. Program implementation has commenced, and services to HMSA's members and providers are expected to begin this month. This new agreement between HMSA and American Healthways will bring more comprehensive care to the association's approximately 10,000 members with cardiac disease. Under an existing agreement, AMHC currently provides services to approximately 35,000 members with diabetes. HMSA members in its Health Plan Hawaii HMO, 65C Plus Medicare, PPO and QUEST Medicaid HMO plans are covered under the new agreement.

"Like diabetes, cardiac disease is an important health issue for our community," said Richard S. Chung, M.D., HMSA vice president and medical director. "This expansion of our relationship with American Healthways is a natural extension of our current efforts in diabetes, allowing us to increase the number of proactive interventions with our members with cardiac illnesses and enabling us to more fully support the physicians who care for them."

The new program is specifically designed to help physicians more effectively manage the complex needs of patients with heart conditions. In addition to resources from AMHC's existing operations located in Hawaii, the program will also utilize Provider Support Managers to work directly with HMSA network physicians and their office staffs to help identify and overcome barriers to effective care for their patients. These managers also will provide physicians with timely data to better monitor the progress of their patients.

Program operations will be headquartered on Oahu, with additional American Healthways personnel, including nurses, health educators and other clinical professionals, based on Maui, Kauai and the Big Island.

"We are extremely pleased with this expansion of our relationship with HMSA and the opportunity it provides for us to be a part of HMSA's ongoing effort to further improve the health of its members with cardiac disease," said Thomas G. Cigarran, American Healthways Chairman and CEO. "We expect that our mutual ability to improve the health status of HMSA members with cardiac disease will mirror our success in the ongoing diabetes program. This expansion of our services will further enable HMSA to enhance its support to members and physicians, thereby improving health status and reducing health care costs associated with this disease."

HMSA is a nonprofit mutual benefit association founded in Hawaii in 1938. It is guided by a community board of directors that serves without compensation, and includes representatives from business, labor, government, health care, education, clergy and the community at large. It is a member of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans. With over 600,000 members, HMSA is the largest and most experienced provider of health care coverage in the state. Nationally, HMSA and 43 other Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans provide worldwide coverage to more than 80 million members.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. In order for the Company to utilize the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, investors are hereby cautioned that these statements may be affected by the important factors as described in the Company's reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as by, among other factors, the Company's ability to implement the anticipated number of contracted lives within time frames contemplated by the Company and the ability to maintain the number of covered lives anticipated to be enrolled in HMSA cardiac program. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements.

Nashville-based American Healthways (www.americanhealthways.com) is the nation's leading provider of specialized, comprehensive care enhancement services to health plans, physicians and hospitals. The Company's programs have been recognized for innovation and excellence, most recently by the Disease Management Association of America's 2001 Comprehensive Disease Management Company Leadership Award. Through its product lines - Diabetes Healthways(SM), Cardiac Healthways(SM), Respiratory Healthways(SM) and My Healthways(SM) - the company provides disease and care management programs to health plans with members in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. . The company also operates diabetes management programs in hospitals nationwide.