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EATONTOWN, N.J., July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Network America (HNA), Inc., located in New Jersey, and its Latin American subsidiary, HNA Panama, S.A., located in Panama City, Republic of Panama, announced today that they have both been awarded full Health Plan accreditation from URAC (the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission) for the Panama Canal Area Benefit Plan. Health Network America is proud that its global operations for the benefit of the Panama Canal Area Benefit Plan have successfully met the accreditation requirements. HNA Panama is the first company outside of North America to receive URAC Health Plan accreditation, and is to date the only URAC-accredited company in Latin America. URAC is also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission.

The URAC Health Plan Standards provide a comprehensive assessment of health plan performance. The Health Plan accreditation process verifies the integrity of health plan operations and assesses the health plan in light of nationally established benchmarks for quality care.

URAC Health Plan standards include a review of:

Network Management: Examines network design and maintenance, organizational management, and provider relations.

Provider Credentialing: To verify the qualifications of in-patient facilities, as well as all providers authorized to practice independently.

Member Protection: Ensures that the organization takes steps to preserve member privacy and safety. The communication plan to inform members of their rights and responsibilities are also examined.

Utilization Management: Evaluates the plans efficacy at controlling over-utilization and managing patient care based on protocols and benchmarks.

Quality Management: deals with the structure and organization of quality programs and the implementation of quality improvement projects.

More than 23,000 retired Panama Canal workers and their dependents that live throughout North and South America receive health benefits under the Panama Canal Area Benefit Plan (PCABP), sponsored by the United States Government. After seven straight years of escalating costs, HNA, located in West Long Branch, New Jersey was asked by the U.S. Government to stabilize and lower health care costs.

In January 1998, HNA took responsibility to administer a self-funded health care program for the federal retirees who worked on the canal, some still resident in Panama, others now in the United States, Europe and elsewhere in South America. The key to efficiently handling retirees and their dependents spread out over several continents was a proprietary member database that took five years to develop. This exclusive PCABP member database developed by HNA, tracks and controls membership information, and links to other data sources for fast retrieval. Case management, medical histories, pharmacy records and disease and claims management are just some of the information efficiently controlled by the HNA developed database.

Since HNA took over plan administration four years ago, PCABP health care costs have not only stabilized, but are now decreasing with each passing year, while the overall health of plan members has improved significantly. Dr. Stephen Kardos, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of HNA, proudly states, "Just two years after taking over administration responsibilities, the expense per plan member in the year 2000 was 25% less than the average for all employee health benefit plans."

Achieving a positive result of this magnitude is based on HNA's belief that increasing the quality of health care and educating patients will ultimately stabilize, and then decrease health care costs. Dr. Kardos explains, "Getting more than one thousand Panamanian doctors to network and receive training in procedural coding for billing, which required bridging cultural divides, is just one accomplishment among many that made this entire process work so successfully."

Garry Carneal, URAC President and CEO, said, "By applying for and receiving URAC accreditation, Health Network America has demonstrated a commitment to quality health care. Quality health care is crucial to our nation's welfare and it is important to have organizations that are willing to measure themselves against national standards."

To achieve URAC accreditation, an organization undergoes a thorough evaluation of its processes and structures. The accreditation process includes a review of an applicant's documents and policies, as well as an onsite operational assessment. URAC accreditation is granted by the Accreditation and Executive Committees, which are composed of industry experts representing a broad range of health care stakeholders.

About Health Network America: HNA's innovative approach to health plan management has succeeded in achieving higher quality, lower cost health plans since 1992. Founded by its employees and management as an alternative to traditional and increasingly more expensive health benefits delivery systems, HNA has continually proven that appropriate medical decision-making leads to lower claims costs. Through rigorous data collection and analysis, HNA provides information to both doctor and patient in order to facilitate an appropriate plan of care. Our approach, focusing on patient advocacy, has been highly successful in nearly every state and on two continents.

For further information about Health Network America and Triveris, please contact Dennis C. McGrath, Marketing Coordinator, HNA, 246 Industrial Way West, Eatontown, NJ 07724 / telephone 732-676-2630 / fax 732-676-2656 / e-mail dmcgrath@healthnetworkamerica.com. For more information about HNA/Triveris, visit http://www.triveris.com

URAC is a leader in the accreditation of health and managed care organizations. Founded in 1990, URAC currently offers more than 16 accreditation programs that span a broad spectrum of health care services. URAC has issued over 2,300 accreditation certificates to more than 500 health care programs. URAC-accredited organizations do business in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Panama and Canada, and provide services to more than 120 million people. For more information about URAC, call 202-216-9010 or visit http://www.urac.org/. Health Network America, Inc.

CONTACT: Dennis C. McGrath, Marketing Coordinator of Health NetworkAmerica, Inc., +1-732-676-2630, x116, dmcgrath@healthnetworkamerica.com

Web site: http://www.healthnetworkamerica.com/http://www.triveris.com/http://www.urac.org/