Brown & Toland To Provide Information Technology Services for Honolulu Group.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BW HealthWire)--Aug. 29, 1997--Brown & Toland Physician Services Organization has signed a contract to provide information technology services for University Health Alliance, a Hawaii-based health plan.

This is the second major contract in recent months for the Physician Services Organization, a wholly owned subsidiary of Brown and Toland Medical Group, San Francisco's largest network of independent physicians. The subsidiary earlier this summer agreed to provide management services for the 473-member Valley Independent Practice Association in Modesto, Calif.

Under the Honolulu contract, Brown and Toland will provide University Health Alliance with a range of information services, including access to pioneering computer technology that allows physicians to make cost-effective treatment decisions without sacrificing quality care.

"More physician involvement in the delivery of healthcare is needed to avoid excessive concern with the bottom line that characterizes many managed care plans," said UHA President Laura Kunewa. University Health Alliance, formerly known as HDS Medical, is managed by U-Med, a wholly owned subsidiary of University Health Care Associates.

"We were created to provide the organizational and management expertise that physicians need to ensure professionalism in the delivery of healthcare. We are proud of our accomplishments and are excited by the opportunity to cooperate in the development of a similar approach to managed care in Hawaii," said Michael Abel, M.D., president of Brown and Toland Physician Services Organization.

Under the contract, insurance claims will continue to be processed by UHA employees using Brown and Toland's IDX information system. IDX has pioneered many of the advances in healthcare computer technology and has developed, along with Brown and Toland Physician Services Organization, systems that provide the data required by physicians, hospitals and other providers of managed care to assure quality and cost effectiveness. The data is also invaluable to employers who wish to take a proactive role in improving the health of their employees while managing healthcare costs, said Kunewa.

"The availability of reliable outcome data makes it possible to standardize healthcare," said Max Botticelli, M.D., chairman and chief executive officer of U-Med. "In the future, physicians and their patients will be able to predict with much more certainty the outcome of specific diagnostics and treatment programs, taking much of the guesswork out of medical decision-making. The combination of good information and a dedicated physician group translates into excellence."

Brown and Toland Medical Group has 350 primary care physicians and 900 specialists who practice at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center and California Pacific Medical Center. It takes its name from the founders of the two hospitals.

CONTACT: MCANet