AHI Healthcare plans to march on Southeast, beefs up HQ staff.

AHI Healthcare Systems Inc. has beefed up the top ranks of its corporate staff as it takes aim at a Southeast expansion.

Skip Honigstein, AHI's chief executive, said the privately held Downey-based operator and creator of integrated medical networks plans to form new networks in Florida, Georgia, Texas and Kentucky, among other states. Presently, most of AHI's business is in California, where it also plans to expand.

Integrated physician networks such as AHI's contract with health maintenance organizations and other medical insurance carriers to treat their subscribers. The company also provides consultation services to outsiders interested in cobbling their own networks.

"The Southeast is going to be a highgrowth area because they have a large Medicare population and they're just starting to test managed care," Honigstein said. "They also have enough physicians to participate in a network while they can still keep a fee-for-service option."

Honigstein said he would be "disappointed" if AHI did not double in size within the next year. It currently employs about 300 and has annual revenue of between $50 million and $100 million (Honigstein would not disclose exact figures).

Earlier this month, the company acquired Camino Real Medical Group Inc. in the Northern California community of Los Altos for shares in the privately held company and cash. Exact terms were not disclosed.

Camino Real, a major physician network in the Bay Area, has 1,200 physician members and about 27,000 patients.

With the acquisition, AHI runs medical networks in California with more than 4,000 physicians and 140,000 patients.

Honigstein indicated AHI has been exploring financing options for the proposed expansion, although recent transactions have been engineered through "internally generated cash flow." He did not dismiss the possibility of going public to raise capital.

Honigstein has hired five new executives who will oversee expansion:

* Jack Rodman was named regional executive for the Southeast region and will oversee business in Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. He was cofounder of PrimeNet, a primary care physicians network.

* Sheldon Glass, M.D., was named regional executive for Southern California and vice president of medical operations. He was formerly director of medical affairs for Friendly Hills Healthcare in Orange County.

* Andrew Kluger, a corporate attorney and founder of two medical management companies, was named regional executive for the Northern California region and will direct all operations in that area.

* Richard Riggs was named regional executive for AHI Texas Healthcare Systems Inc., an AHI subsidiary. He was previously associate administrator of development for EPIC Healthcare Group in Austin.

* Peter Gottlieb was named regional executive in Northern Texas for AHI's Texas subsidiary. He was previously chief financial officer for Dallas Medical and Surgical Clinic, a multi-specialty medical group.