The Principal to Use McKessonHBOC's InterQual Utilization Management Criteria.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 4, 2000

The InterQual(R) Products Group of McKesson HBOC, Inc. (McKessonHBOC) (NYSE:MCK) today announced it has been awarded a contract to supply its clinical appropriateness criteria to Principal Life Insurance Company (The Principal), the flagship and largest member of the Principal Financial Group.

Under the terms of the agreement, The Principal will use the computerized format of InterQual Products Group's acute care, rehabilitation and homecare level of care criteria, as well as its procedure and imaging preauthorization, profiling and clinical management tools to review clinical care patterns and document procedural quality.

"We chose InterQual because we believe the criteria support our approach to managing patients across the continuum of care by providing clinical decision support criteria for acute care, rehabilitation, subacute care and homecare reviews," said Mary Senner, project leader at The Principal. "More than 120 clinicians will be using the InterQual Criteria to effectively manage the delivery of healthcare for the more than 1.2 million Principal Life Insurance Company members."

The following clinically based InterQual programs will be installed at The Principal:

--   ISD(R) Acute Level of Care-- Helps facilities assess the clinical
     appropriateness of the patient's admission to, continued stay in
     and discharge from the acute-care setting. The tool helps manage
     the patient's changing severity of illness across the care
     continuum by using objective clinical findings to identify when
     the patient is ready for transfer to a less acute setting. It
     also increases critical care efficiency and helps organizations
     save costs by identifying and monitoring inappropriate ICU days.

--   ISD Rehabilitation Level of Care -- Assesses a patient's
     candidacy for transfer to an acute rehabilitation setting as well
     as the appropriateness of ongoing care in and discharge from that
     setting.

--   ISD Homecare Level of Care -- Offers objective standards for
     homecare, ensuring clinically appropriate use of this setting.
     The tool helps evaluate the appropriateness of ongoing care and
     determines the patient's readiness for the discontinuation of
     homecare services.

--   Indications for Surgery and Procedures (ISP(R)) -- Provides
     patient-specific clinical data to help determine the
     appropriateness of surgical intervention and/or procedures for a
     particular patient. Its procedure library covers more than 660
     surgical and invasive procedures.

--   Indications for Imaging Studies and X-rays (ISX(R)) -- Provides
     patient-specific clinical data to help determine the
     appropriateness of MRI, CT scan or other imaging studies for a
     particular patient.

Established in 1879, The Principal is a Fortune 500 company and is listed as one of "Fortune's Most Admired Companies." The Principal Financial Group is a leading provider of a wide range of financial products and services to businesses and individuals globally. Its products include retirement and investment services, life and health insurance, and mortgage banking. The Principal provides administrative services to more 401(k) plans than any other provider in the United States. Serving more than 10 million customers worldwide, the Principal Financial Group has more than $105.8 billion in assets under management.

McKesson HBOC, Inc., a Fortune 60 corporation, is the world's largest pharmaceutical supply management and healthcare information technology company. McKessonHBOC provides pharmaceutical supply management and information technologies across the entire continuum of healthcare, including market-leading businesses in pharmaceutical and medical-surgical distribution, information technology for healthcare providers, services for payors and outsourcing.

McKessonHBOC's Information Technology Business solutions include enterprisewide patient care, clinical, financial and strategic management software solutions, as well as networking technologies, electronic commerce, outsourcing and other services to healthcare organizations throughout the world.

A division of the Information Technology Business, McKessonHBOC's InterQual Products Group is the worldwide leader in the development of utilization review criteria for the healthcare industry. Based in Marlborough, Mass., InterQual Products Group develops and maintains a wide variety of clinical decision support criteria that help improve care and manage resources by screening for clinical appropriateness. InterQual Criteria are used by more than 1,900 hospitals in the United States and cover 110 million insured lives. They are used by more than 750 licensed health plans, major indemnity insurers, Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, as well as the Department of Defense, the Department of Veteran's Affairs and the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). For more information about InterQual products, visit its World Wide Web site at http://www.interqual.com. For product information, call 1-800-582-1738.