Medical Alliance, Inc., the Nation's Leading Provider of Mobile Surgical Services Signs Contract with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas.

IRVING, Texas--(HealthWire)--Aug. 22, 1996--Paul Herchman, president and chief executive officer of Medical Alliance, Inc. (MAI) today announced that MAI has signed a 1-year, automatically renewable contract with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBST) for its indemnity plans for services provided via MAI's Mobile Surgical Services for covered procedures. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas is the largest health insurance company in the State of Texas with over 1.2 million covered lives in HMO, PPO and indemnity plans statewide, of which 40 percent of those lives are covered under its indemnity plans.

MAI provides equipment and technicians to facilitate the migration of certain minimally invasive procedures from hospitals and surgery centers to the physician office. Typical procedures performed in gynecology utilizing MAI's services include hysteroscopy for abnormal uterine bleeding and CO2 laser or electrosurgical treatment for precancerous cervical lesions. Hysteroscopy has become the preferred alternative to dilatation and curettage (D&C), and can easily be performed in the physician's office utilizing MAI's Mobile Surgical Services.

Approximately 1,000,000 procedures involving the treatment of abnormal uterine conditions are performed in the United States per year. Dilatation and curettage is one of the most commonly performed gynecological outpatient procedures performed in the United States. Cost-conscious managed care organizations are emphasizing office-based alternatives, such as in-office hysteroscopy instead of D&C, for the evaluation of abnormal uterine bleeding.

With MAI's mobile services, physicians may establish full service temporary surgical sites within their offices without the capital expense and risk associated with purchasing technology. This enables more people to safely receive minimally invasive procedures in the comfort and convenience of the physician's office, while enjoying greatly reduced expenses, compared to costs associated with hospital or surgery centers.

Herchman remarked, "We are very pleased to announce this contract with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. This contract provides support to MAI's network of physicians and their patients within the State of Texas. The contract reflects the growing interest among managed care organizations in providing quality care and improved outcomes while reducing the expenses for minimally invasive procedures. It also reinforces MAI's leadership in providing the quality surgical services of setting up temporary surgical sites in physician's offices."

Irving, Texas-based MAI, North America's largest provider of Mobile Surgical Services on a per use basis, has enabled more than 4,000 physicians to perform over 120,000 procedures in their offices since 1989. The company pioneered Mobile Surgical Services by providing office-based access to state-of-the-art technology to specialties including gynecology, urology, podiatry, general surgery and dermatology. MAI's Mobile Surgical Units have been recognized by hundreds of health insurance carriers as a cost effective alternative to hospital-based services for minimally invasive surgery. Additionally, the company maintains contracts with more than 100 of the nation's leading managed care organizations. Since April of 1996, MAI has contracted with other leading managed care organizations which include the following: Complete Health of Georgia, MetraHealth Insurance of Georgia, Group Health Plan in St. Louis, Mo., Kaiser Permanente in Georgia, Southwest Health Plan in Illinois, The Prudential Insurance Company of America in Houston, and Principal Health Care of Illinois.

CONTACT: Angela Juengerman or Kevin O'Brien

Medical Alliance, Inc., 214/580-8999.