Blue Cross and Blue Shield Health Care Plan of Georgia and Quality Care Providers, Inc. Continue Quality Commitment.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 18, 2003

Since 1995, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Health Care Plan of Georgia, Inc. and Quality Care Providers, Inc. (QCPI) through BlueChoice Healthcare Plan and the more than 900 primary care physicians participating in Blue Choice network in the Atlanta area have maintained their commitment to quality and affordable health care coverage to their respective members and patients in a number of ways, including a physician quality program.

This physician quality program through QCPI is based upon preventive health measurements, patient satisfaction and quality goals. These include increasing the number of women receiving mammograms, increasing the number of diabetic patients receiving proper testing and follow-up, increasing the number of children and senior citizens receiving appropriate vaccinations and utilizing antibiotics appropriately. Network physicians are then reviewed on an annual basis in determining their overall performance under the program.

Adam Leaderman, M.D. of QCPI said, "Since our beginning seven years ago, we have maintained our commitment to the patient's needs through recognizing and rewarding physicians for quality improvements in the delivery of health care services to over 500,000 members of the BlueChoice Healthcare Plan in metropolitan Atlanta."

John Watts, president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Health Care Plan of Georgia said, "We are proud of QCPI's long-standing commitment to quality improvements through its primary care physician network. The program has played a significant role in our receiving a rating of excellent from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), its highest accreditation. Our strong HMO membership growth is due in large measure to the quality of our physician network."

Alan Gottlieb, M.D. of QCPI said, "We are proud of this NCQA accreditation. To achieve this rating, the health plan's HEDIS results were in the highest range of national performance."

HEDIS (the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set) is an NCQA tool that is used by health plans to collect data about quality of care, access to care and member satisfaction with the health plan and physicians.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Health Care Plan of Georgia, Inc. provides HMO and HMO POS products to over 747,000 members throughout Georgia. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia serves more than 2.2 million medical members and is the oldest and largest health benefits company in Georgia. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia is an operating subsidiary of WellPoint Health Networks Inc., one of the nation's largest publicly traded health care companies serving the health care needs of more than 13 million medical members and approximately 48 million specialty members nationally. WellPoint offers a broad spectrum of quality network-based health products including open access PPO, POS and hybrid products, HMO and specialty products. Specialty products include pharmacy benefit management, dental, utilization management, vision, mental health, life and disability insurance, long term care insurance, flexible spending accounts, COBRA administration, and Medicare supplements. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia may be found on the web at www.bcbsga.com. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.