ACCORDANT HEALTH SERVICES SECURES CONTRACT WITH PROVIDENCE HEALTH PLANS

Accordant Health Services (AHS), a population-based disease management (DM) company focusing on a constellation of complex, chronic diseases, significantly expands its geographic presence with the signing of a contract with Providence Health Plans, the health plan division of Providence Health System serving Oregon and parts of Washington State

GREENSBORO, N.C./BEAVERTON, Ore. ---- Accordant Health Services (AHS), a population-based disease management (DM) company focusing on a constellation of complex, chronic diseases, significantly expands its geographic presence with the signing of a contract with Providence Health Plans, the health plan division of Providence Health System serving Oregon and parts of Washington State. This announcement follows the addition of six new managed care contracts signed by Accordant in the past eight months as well as company profitability for the fourth quarter of 2001.

This new relationship will bring a worthwhile program to our members who have chronic diseases to help them better manage their health care and improve the quality of their lives," said Kevin Keck, M.D., Providence Health Plans chief medical officer. In turn, we expect to see a savings in medical costs for both the consumer and the health plans."

Accordant, with a strong national presence in all major geographic regions, extends its patient-centric DM model with proven methodologies and documented value to Providence, a respected leader in integrated healthcare delivery throughout the Pacific Northwest.

It is satisfying to work with a partner that shares our commitment to quality improvement for plan members with complex, chronic diseases," states Steve Schelhammer, president and CEO of Accordant. Together, we have established rigorous performance metrics to drive demonstrable quality and cost outcomes improvement that reflects this targeted focus."

For Accordant, 2001 was a year of unprecedented contracting activity and success," continues Schelhammer. The Providence contract is further confirmation from the managed care community that Accordants DM approach is increasingly being embraced as an essential component of the next generation of their medical management strategy," concludes Schelhammer.

About Providence Health Plans
Providence Health Plans provides health care coverage to 820,000 adults and children in Oregon. Providence focuses on improving the health of its members by creating access to high quality health care programs and preventive services through top-rated benefit plans that are preferred by providers and customers. Providence Health Plans is part of Providence Health System in Oregon, ranked the fourth best integrated healthcare delivery system in the nation. Visit www.providence.org/healthplans.

About Accordant
Accordant, based in Greensboro, N.C., focuses on assisting patients who have complex chronic diseases with the goal of improving clinical, patient satisfaction, and cost-of-care outcomes. The company relies on its expert Tele-Web" system that integrates Internet and call-center technologies to enable flexible, intelligent and customized information sharing among patients, providers and health plans. Accordant is a leader in population-based disease management for a constellation of complex, chronic diseases including multiple sclerosis, Lupus, Parkinsons, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell anemia. Accordant has supported over 20,000 chronic patients whose participation has been sponsored by their health plan. Accordants Medical Advisory Board is comprised of national medical experts who participate in the development and continuous quality improvement of the companys programs. For more information about Accordant, visit www.accordant.com or call 1-800-948-2497.
                     # # #

************************************
Jerry Schranz
CPRi Communications, Inc.
PR for Accordant Health Services, Inc.
201-641-1911 Phone ext.14
jschranz@cpronline.com