For Immediate Release

    MED ADVANTAGE AND PRIVATE HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS
ANNOUNCE MAJOR AGREEMENT

 Orlando, FL –Med Advantage, the leading entity in the medical credentialing field, announced a nationwide contract with Private Healthcare Systems (PHCS), the nation’s leading health care cost management company.  Med Advantage will assist PHCS in credentialing/recredentialing a portion of their provider network.

For 15 years, PHCS (http://www.phcs.com) has been meeting the network and medical management needs of customers across the country. Its provider networks serve more than 6 million enrollees nationwide. The PHCS network is available through insurance carriers, self-insured groups, TPAs, Taft-Hartley Funds and managed care organizations. Corporate headquarters are in Waltham, MA, with regional offices located throughout the United States.

John C. Barrett, Sr. Vice President of Med Advantage, stated, “Many health care organizations perform their own credentialing verifications in-house.  Med Advantage, however, has demonstrated that clients can save valuable resources by out-sourcing their credentialing verifications. We’ve developed a simplified process to submit physician data electronically.  This allows clients to be more productive internally, reduces redundant paperwork and streamlines the credentialing process.”

“PHCS is very pleased to partner with Med Advantage,” said Dr. Spencer Falcon,  PHCS Executive Vice President, Medical Management.  “We fully expect our relationship with Med Advantage to support our ongoing accreditation efforts, enhance our credentialing processes while at the same time reducing administrative costs.”

Med Advantage, (http://www.med-advantage.com), a subsidiary of Professionals Group, Inc., is considered one of the largest credentialing verification organizations (CVOs) in the country.  Med Advantage is certified by National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA*) for all 10 elements and was one of the first CVO’s accredited by The American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (URAC**).  The Med Advantage physician database, which currently holds information on over 900,000 providers and has over 6.3 million elements verified according to both NCQA and The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standards. 

Professionals Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PICM) is a holding company for Med Advantage and several other insurance related subsidiaries.

CO: MedAdvantage, Inc., d/b/a Med Advantage

ST: FL  

 *The National Committee for Quality Assurance is an independent, non-profit organization that certifies credentials verification organizations and accredits managed care organizations.

** The American Accreditation HealthCare Commission/URAC is a non-profit entity founded in 1990 to establish accreditation standards for managed health care organizations.  The Commission/URAC’s broad-based membership represents a diversity of health care constituencies; industry, provider, purchasers, consumers, and regulators.  Purchasers and consumers look to Commission/URAC accreditation as a mark of distinction for a managed health care company.  For more information about the Commission/URAC visit their website at www.urac.org.