Access Health, Blue Cross of California Expand Partnership with Service to Medi-Cal Beneficiaries.

RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 16, 1996--Medi-Cal beneficiaries in six California counties will soon have access to Personal Health Advisor (PHA) through an expanded contract between Blue Cross of California and Access Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACCS), announced Access Health President and Chief Operating Officer Thomas E. Gardner.

Personal Health Advisor is a 24-hour personal health management service that provides consumers with immediate access to a broad range of healthcare information and counseling. Members can call a registered nurse counselor 24 hours a day, seven days a week to ask questions and receive information to enable them to determine the most appropriate course of action for health symptoms they have. Members can also listen to any of more than 430 pre-recorded health information tapes through PHA's AudioHealth Library and order healthcare-related literature. Currently, more than 10 million people nationwide are PHA members.

Blue Cross of California Medi-Cal beneficiaries in Alameda and San Francisco counties began using PHA July 1. Blue Cross's Medi-Cal members in Santa Clara, Kern and Fresno counties will be enrolled in PHA at a later date. And, in Los Angeles County, Blue Cross of California has contracted to provide healthcare services, including PHA, to up to 150,000 Medi-Cal enrollees. Medi-Cal is California's version of the federal Medicaid program.

Blue Cross of California is participating in a statewide-program to move Medi-Cal beneficiaries into managed care plans. There are an estimated 815,000 Medi-Cal beneficiaries in Alameda, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Kern and Fresno counties, of which up to approximately 275,000 are projected to enroll in Blue Cross of California, according to the health plan. Additionally PHA is already available to Blue Cross Medi-Cal enrollees in Sacramento, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

A recent study of Blue Cross of California Medi-Cal enrollees revealed that these members are very satisfied with the quality of information and service that they receive from PHA. Using a rating scale, virtually all survey respondents said they found PHA to be user-friendly, and 91 percent said having PHA made them think more positively of their health plan. Eighty-two percent of respondents said PHA would be a "very Important" factor in selecting a health plan in the future.

Endresen Research, a nationally recognized healthcare market research firm based in Seattle, conducted the telephone survey in April for Access Health. Those surveyed were Blue Cross of California Medi-Cal members who had previously called PHA and spoken with a registered nurse counselor. The survey results have a 95 percent confidence level, with an error margin of plus or minus 7 percent.

"We are pleased to be able to expand our partnership with Blue Cross of California," said Gardner. "Blue Cross is an innovator in utilizing personal health management services to enhance the quality of care provided to its Medi-Cal members. The Endresen survey is evidence of the important role that personal health management services play in member satisfaction and health plan selection for Medi-Cal beneficiaries."

John Monahan, general manager of Blue Cross's Medi-Cal Programs, called Personal Health Advisor "a proven, valuable resource for our Medi-Cal members." He said, "PHA enables our members to have immediate access to healthcare information when they need it, anytime of the day or night. It has become an integral part of our Medi-Cal program, and we look forward to extending it to this segment of our member population."

Access Health is a leading provider of personal health management services designed to help health plans, HMOs, self-insured employers and hospital-based delivery systems improve the quality of care, reduce costs and improve member satisfaction. Its services include health information, prevention and care management programs designed to improve patient access and promote individual responsibility for managing health among consumers. Access Health is headquartered at 11020 White Rock Rd., Rancho Cordova, Calif. 95670. The phone number is 916/851-4000 fax is 916/852-3890 and the World Wide Web address is http://www.access-health.com .

CONTACT: Access Health

Jan Emerson, 916/864-4784

or

White & Co.

Molly Prescott, 415/274-8100