Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration Selects ParadigmHealth for Neonatal Care Management.

CONCORD, Calif. -- ParadigmHealth today announced that it was awarded a Neonatal Care Management contract on March 23rd by the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), the group responsible for developing and carrying out policies related to Florida's Medicaid program. ParadigmHealth began providing its Neonatal Care Management services to Medicaid infants in certain hospitals with licensed neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) beds in Brevard, Osceola, and Orange counties on August 1.

The 12-month contract between AHCA and ParadigmHealth resulted from a competitive procurement through an invitation to negotiate, as required by the Florida Legislature in section 409.905(5)(e), Florida Statutes. The collaborative project will focus on premature and medically complex infants admitted to certain neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in the three Florida counties. Goals include achieving superior clinical outcomes and ensuring strong parental / care-giver education, involvement and support.

Under the agreement, ParadigmHealth will provide support to hospitals and physicians to facilitate timely and medically appropriate discharge to the child's home or other appropriate setting. The company's nurse care managers will also work closely with parents and care-givers to encourage their involvement in the care of their infant beginning in the hospital and continuing through discharge to promote a safe and successful return to the home setting. These nurse care managers will be available to all enrolled infant's family members 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for consultation.

"We are pleased to have the opportunity to partner with AHCA to deliver our patient-centered care management and family education tools to the resource-intensive NICU patient population in these three counties," says John Penrose, CEO of ParadigmHealth. "We look forward to supporting this population to increase quality care outcomes for Florida Medicaid patients and their families."

About the Agency for Health Care Administration in Florida

Working to improve access to affordable, quality health care to all Floridians, the state Agency for Health Care Administration administers Florida's $14 billion Medicaid program, licenses and regulates more than 32,000 health care facilities and 30 health maintenance organizations, and publishes health care data and statistics.

About ParadigmHealth

ParadigmHealth is a leading provider of disease management services for intensive and clinically complex patients. The company relies on its experienced NICU registered nurses, proprietary set of family education materials, Baby Steps(C), and PROACT database of over 63,000 managed NICU infants since 1991 to improve care outcomes and provide financial savings. For more information, visit www.paradigmhealth.com.