CompHealth Credentialing Services Certified by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

Accreditation Benefits CompHealth Clients Nationwide

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 22 /PRNewswire/ --

CompHealth Credentialing, a division of CompHealth, Inc., one of the nation's largest and most comprehensive providers of traditional and interactive healthcare recruiting and staffing services, today announced its re-certification for 10 out of 10 verification services by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), an independent, non-profit organization that certifies credentials verification organizations (CVOs) and accredits managed care organizations.

The NCQA accreditation allows CompHealth's physician staffing clients to obtain credentialing services, adherent to a nationally accepted standard, through CompHealth, rather than contracting with a separate CVO to credential physicians. CompHealth's credentialing clients include approximately 4,000 managed care organizations, managed behavioral health organizations and hospitals nationwide.

CompHealth has achieved the NCQA's respected certification for the past six years and the renewed certification is effective through December 22, 2002.

Susan Collier, Director of Credentialing Services and Risk Management/Quality Improvement for CompHealth, stated, "This accreditation allows us to provide valuable, time-saving services for our staffing clients since we can credential the physician through our own accredited CVO. We are the only physician staffing firm of our size that can offer this important service to our clients." She added, "We are proud to be certified by the NCQA; it is an achievement to be recognized and accredited by the premier source overseeing the quality of the nation's CVOs."

The certification recognizes that CompHealth Credentialing provides all of the verifications required by the NCQA's standards, that a sound management structure is in place, and that it both monitors and continually improves the quality of services the company delivers. Under the NCQA's CVO Certification Program, the company is certified for 10 out of 10 credentials elements for verifying a physician's credentials addressed in the NCQA standards. These elements are:

-- License to Practice

-- Application Processing

-- DEA/CDS Registration

-- Malpractice Insurance

-- NPDB Query

-- Board Certification/Residency Completion/Medical School Graduation

-- Sanctions Against Licensure

-- Medicare/Medicaid Sanctions

-- Malpractice Claims History

-- Hospital Privileges

More About CompHealth Credentialing ...

CompHealth Credentialing is a division of CompHealth, Inc., that has been credentialing healthcare providers since 1979. Located in Salt Lake City, Utah, CompHealth Credentialing is a commercial Credentials Verification Organization (CVO) that offers service packages based on the credentialing standards of the NCQA and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). The company offers customized packages to fit the needs of each individual client and carefully audits 100% of all files involved in the credentialing process. CompHealth Credentialing provides services for approximately 4,000 clients that include managed care organizations and hospitals nationwide. Additional credentialing information can be found at www.credentialing.net.

More About CompHealth ...

CompHealth is one of the largest medical staffing companies in the United States. The company provides a growing range of cost-effective, flexible staffing services including temporary physicians (also known as "locum tenens"), nurses, pharmacists, and most other allied-health professionals, including respiratory therapists, radiologic technologists and rehabilitation therapists. CompHealth has an active pool of more than 15,000 healthcare professionals who provide temporary coverage for the company's clients in all fifty states. In addition to flexible staffing, CompHealth offers permanent placement of physicians, nurses, healthcare executives, pharmacists, and other allied-health professionals. CompHealth is also the parent company of Medimorphus.com, a leading destination on the Internet for healthcare recruiting and career management. For more information about CompHealth contact the company's web site at www.comphealth.com.

More About NCQA ...

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations, including health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations, managed behavioral healthcare organizations and physician organizations. NCQA also manages the evolution of HEDIS(R), the performance measurement tool used by more than 90 percent of the nation's health plans. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web and the media in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.

HEDIS(R) is a registered trademark of NCQA.

For further information please contact Dara Grabner of CompHealth Public Relations, 801-284-6517, fax, 801-284-6881, [e-mail].