AHI Healthcare, IMMS merge; create nation's first full-service multi-payor managed care organization.

LOS ANGELES--(HealthWire)--Jan. 17, 1995--AHI Healthcare Systems Inc., a Southern California-based developer and operator of integrated managed care delivery systems, and Integrated Medical Management Systems, a Louisville, Ky.-based national managed care development and physician relations firm, Tuesday announced the completion of a merger of the two entities.

The new company, which will operate under the AHI name, ranks as the first nationwide multi-payor health care company to offer a full- service approach to the creation, installation and operation of managed care systems and the development and implementation of managed care solutions.

With its combined capabilities, AHI Healthcare Systems Inc. is now the most comprehensive managed care company in the industry. The company can provide hospitals, physicians and health insurance companies the opportunity to enjoy the best aspects of well-managed care, while incorporating the best aspects of private practice.

Managed care is predicated on physicians, medical groups, hospitals and other health care entities providing services to patients on a pre-established, prepaid basis. Industry consultants forecast that the majority of -- if not all -- health care will be "managed care" by the end of the decade.

"By joining two organizations that offer the programs, products, development and analysis services that we offer, we have created a unique entity in American health care. The emphasis of AHI is to enable physicians with existing private practices, along with community hospitals, to participate in managed care with the proven performance and resources of the finest organized systems in the United States," stated Leonardo Berezovsky, M.D., chairman, president and founder of AHI.

"For the first time, both providers and payors will have a partner with nationwide strength, yet with the flexibility to address needs at the local level on an individual basis."

Berezovsky further stated that "AHI today provides the kind of proven expertise and systems that many health care groups believed would only be available years from now." He emphasized that the merger "will build on relationships with IMMS principals Bob Brice, Gary Sherlock and Banks Warden, whose expertise is so valued in our industry. They will now have the ability to bring not only managed care expertise to the hospital industry, but also a variety of needed managed care products and services."

"With the joining of our two organizations, we have forged a new way to solve the health care cost and quality problems that plague our industry," stated Robert M. Brice, senior vice president, development. "The myth of consumer-affordable, economically viable health care is now fact."

According to Saul "Skip" Honigstein, the new entity's chief executive officer, the merger benefits participants at every level of the health care industry.

"Being able to take advantage of the best elements of managed care means something different to each entity on the health care spectrum," he pointed out.

"For insurance companies and HMOs, it means working with an organization with a solid track record and long-standing relationships. For hospital administrators, who know that the road to survival is a managed care road, it means obtaining superior managed care operating expertise and having access to the requisite technology.

"For physicians, it means participating in managed care in the way they want to participate -- that is, maintaining their professional autonomy. For the patient, it means more cost-effective, quality medical care without having to disrupt existing physician or hospital relationships."

Founded in 1986 as American Health Inc., AHI Healthcare Systems has been a forerunner in providing health care cost-containment and medical management systems for hospitals, medical groups, health insurers (including health maintenance organizations, or HMOs), preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and physician networks. The company's clients include more than 4,000 physicians and more than 140,000 enrollees nationwide.

In the past few months, AHI Healthcare Systems, through a medical affiliate, has acquired the Camino Real Medical Group, based in San Mateo, Calif. The company is currently in negotiations with other medical groups in several states.

IMMS, which was formed in 1994 by the merger of Robert M. Brice & Associates and Market Share Inc., has provided managed care analysis, development and implementation services to more than 200 health care organizations in 34 states and abroad.

The company is recognized in the industry for its highly successful hospital-physician relations programs and its international health care service expertise which is utilized by the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.

Terms of the merger were not disclosed. AHI Healthcare Systems Inc. is a privately held corporation.

AHI Healthcare Systems Inc. will share headquarters in Downey, Calif. (in the greater Los Angeles area) and Louisville, Ky., to service clients throughout the United States. Regional and project offices are located in Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Texas; Atlanta, Ga.; San Francisco and Los Angeles, Calif.

In addition to Berezovsky and Honigstein, members of senior management include Robert M. Brice, Stuart Bruck, Steven L. Posar, M.D., and Gary V. Sherlock. The entire management team represents more than 50 health care experts with extensive experience in HMOs, insurance, managed care networks, payor contracts, fee-for-service/ capitation, managed care development, provider relations, managed- care marketing, education and training and sales-force development.

Additionally, AHI's products and services include physician contracting and credentialing, management service organization development and management, managed care contracting, technical staff contracting, financial management and accounting information systems management, claims processing and billing, utilization management, customized HMO, Medicaid and point-of-service products and education and training.

AHI Healthcare Systems Inc. employs more than 300 people in 12 major markets in the United States.

CONTACT: JDI Communications Inc., Marina del Rey, Calif.

Rivian Bell and Roz May, 310/827-2327