Friedman Named President of HRM Health Plans (PA), Inc.

PHILADELPHIA, March 19 /PRNewswire/ --

HRM Health Plans (PA), Inc., (HRM PA), a Philadelphia-based subsidiary of Health Risk Management, Inc. (Nasdaq: HRMI), announced today that William R. Friedman has assumed the position of president. HRM PA owns and operates Pennsylvania HealthMATE, a health plan providing services to Medicaid recipients in central and northeastern Pennsylvania; and OakTree Health Plan, an HMO that provides health care services to Medicaid recipients in southeastern Pennsylvania as part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's HealthChoices program.

"We are very fortunate to have the leadership, operational experience, and proven financial expertise that Bill Friedman brings to HRM PA," said Gary McIlroy, MD, chairman and CEO of HRM. "Bill, with his accomplishments at Robert Wood Johnson Health System, Aetna Health Plans of New Jersey, Palisades Medical Center and others, brings to our organization a results-oriented health care executive with a strong record of operational, financial and managed care success that I am confident will benefit the members of HRM PA health plans; affiliated health plan physicians, hospitals and clinics; the community and our employees."

"I am pleased to be joining HRM PA," Friedman said, "and I look forward to working with our members, physicians, hospitals, clinics, community organizations and state officials involved with OakTree Health Plan in the greater Philadelphia area and the HealthMATE plan in the greater Harrisburg area."

Friedman comes to HRM PA from his prior position as vice president of managed care at Robert Wood Johnson Health System, New Brunswick, N.J. There he was responsible for managed care operations and relationship building within an integrated health care system consisting of eight hospitals, four community health centers, a medical school and physician groups. From 1993 to 1996 he was executive director of health services with Aetna Health Plans of New Jersey in Parsippany where he managed health services, operations, cost reduction efforts and strategic development for the 300,000-member organization. Additional leadership positions include president and CEO of Palisades Medical Center, North Bergen, N.J., from 1989 to 1993; chief financial officer at Palisades from 1985-1989; assistant executive director of fiscal affairs at Mercy Hospital, Pittsburgh, from 1983-1985; and chief financial officer at Irvington General Hospital in Irvington N.J. from 1980 to 1983.

Friedman holds a bachelor of science degree from Long Island University, School of Business Administration, Brooklyn; and a master's of business administration from Monmouth University, Graduate School of Business, W. Long Branch, N.J.

Friedman succeeds Thomas Clark, executive vice president of Business Development at Minneapolis-based HRM, who was named acting president of HRM PA late last year during the search for a president; Clark will aid in the transition.

HRM, based in Minneapolis, delivers evidence-based health plan management and medical knowledge solutions to managed care and indemnity marketplaces nationwide.