Alan Huber Elected as President of the Florida Alliance of Birth Centers.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 2003

The Florida Alliance of Birth Centers trade organization has elected Alan Huber, vice president of the Miami Beach Maternity Center as president of their association.

The 45-year old Brooklyn native, Huber has been the Vice President of the Miami Beach Maternity Center since 1999. His previous experience includes running a midwifery practice in Jacksonville. Huber is also a Certified Financial Planner, which has been beneficial for managing the back-office of the maternity center. Prior to the birthing center industry, Huber worked in the life insurance and health insurance industry for almost 25 years, selling insurance plans as well as organizing trade shows for the industry.

The Florida Alliance of Birth Centers is a Florida based trade organization for state birth centers that works hand-in-hand with the National Association of Childbearing Centers. The organization was established in 1986, two years after birthing centers were licensed in Florida. The main purpose of the Florida Alliance of Birth Centers is to promote the growth of birth centers in Florida. They also aspire to make the government and insurance companies aware of how expensive it is to give birth in a hospital rather than at a birthing center, aim to work with and modify laws that give women options about where to deliver their children and aim to improve the relationships between hospitals and birthing centers.

Birth Center care is usually 50-75% lower than hospital/physician births. HMOs and insurance companies like to work with maternity centers because they save the insurance companies money, not only because of the lower cost of birth at the Birth Center but also because of the lower risk of Cesarean Section or other complications.

Seeing that as Huber's background is in the insurance industry, he has a great understanding of the insurance process which will allow greater communication between managed care and other 3rd party players. This advantage will benefit him in distributing the information that the Florida Alliance of Birth Centers is trying to disperse. "As president of the Florida Alliance of Birth Centers I look forward to improving the climate for birth centers and midwifery. There are so many great things about giving birth in a birthing center rather than a hospital, but many people are unaware of this. I am confident that by letting people know about the different birthing options it will save numerous people a great deal of money," said Huber.

The Founder and Chief Midwife of the Miami Beach Maternity Center, Shari Daniels, B.S., M. Ed., LM, CPM has supervised and/or delivered over 10,000 babies all over the world and opened the first midwife run birth center in the United States over 26 years ago. The Miami Beach Maternity Center offers full maternity care for healthy women who are expected to have a normal pregnancy and birth. Their full range of service includes: Pregnancy tests, lab tests, prenatal care, ultrasounds, childbirth classes and education, labor, labor coaching, delivery, (including waterbirth) newborn exam and postpartum visits. To learn more about the Miami Beach Maternity Center, please call 305-866-1095 or visit http://www.miamibirth.com.