American Healthways Appoints Mary Chaput as CFO; Chaput Succeeds Henry Herr, Who Remains as a Consultant and Member of the Company's Board.

Business Editors

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 15, 2001

American Healthways, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMHC) today announced the appointment of Mary Chaput, to the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Chaput will replace the outgoing CFO Henry D. Herr who, after a transition period, will become a consultant to the Company on strategic issues pertaining to the Company's financial management and continue to serve on the Company's Board of Directors.

Mr. Herr, who has held the CFO position since the Company's founding in 1981, informed senior executives at American Healthways almost a year ago that he wished to retire as a full-time officer of the Company after its 2001 fiscal year. Since then, the Company has been working with a retained executive search firm and Mr. Herr to select a qualified successor.

Ms. Chaput joins American Healthways immediately and is working closely with Mr. Herr to assure a successful transition. Ms. Chaput was recently the CFO at ClinTrials Research Inc., a publicly traded global contract research organization. She is also a co-founder of the management consulting firm Paragon Ventures Group.

"American Healthways has been fortunate to have had Henry's extraordinary skills, guidance and leadership since the Company's founding 20 years ago," said Thomas G. Cigarran, chairman and CEO of American Healthways. "True to form, Henry has helped us recruit an excellent and highly qualified successor - Mary Chaput. Mary's background and experience will be invaluable to our Company as we pursue our strategic objectives to ensure that every stakeholder in health care, from patients and doctors to employers and insurance providers, benefits from outcomes-based health care management. Her extensive experience in finance and financial management in both the public and private sectors will assure the continuation of strong financial leadership to our company as we pursue those objectives.

"Mary comes well-known to members of our senior management team, members of our Board and to me," Cigarran added. "We have had the opportunity to see her excellent work at ClinTrials, and we were unanimous in our conclusion that she was absolutely the best of several highly qualified candidates presented to us by our retained search firm for this important position in our organization."

Ms. Chaput's extensive business and finance background spans several industries, including pharmaceuticals, healthcare/clinical trials and venture capital consulting. She has held senior level financial positions with companies such as General Electric, Pharmaco International and ClinTrials Research.

"I am delighted by the opportunity to join American Healthways' management team at this time of unprecedented growth," said Ms. Chaput. "American Healthways is a clear leader in partnering with health care organizations to provide care enhancement services that improve health outcomes while reducing the cost of care. As the CFO of this innovative company, I look forward to continuing to build on the financial strategies already in place to grow our leadership position in the industry and increase shareholder value."

Prior to founding Paragon Ventures Group, Ms. Chaput was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for ClinTrials Research Inc., a publicly traded global contract research organization, where she led the company's financial, treasury and investor relations operations worldwide. In her position as the Vice President for Finance, European Operations, at Pharmaco International, Ms. Chaput was part of the management team responsible for the international division, which involved divestitures, acquisitions, integration, treasury and new business development. At General Electric, Ms. Chaput held a variety of financial and operational assignments, including significant responsibilities in the GE Power Systems and Information Services group.

Ms. Chaput holds a Masters of Business Administration from State University of New York, Albany. She is also a graduate of the GE Financial Management Program.

Mr. Cigarran concluded, "While Henry is stepping down as CFO, he is not leaving American Healthways. He will remain as a consultant to the Company and a member of our Board for the foreseeable future. With Mary leading the financial area of our Company and Henry's continuing involvement and support, we will have an even stronger financial team in place in this time of accelerating growth."

American Healthways (www.americanhealthways.com) is the nation's leading provider of specialized, comprehensive care enhancement services to health plans, physicians and hospitals. Through its product lines - Diabetes Healthways(SM), Cardiac Healthways(SM), Respiratory Healthways(SM) and MyHealthways(SM) - the Company provides care enhancement programs to health plans with members in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. American Healthways also operates diabetes management programs in hospitals nationwide.