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LIFEMASTERS TO PROVIDE FIRST
TRI-LINGUAL, FIRST FOUR-DISEASE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR CHINESE COMMUNITY HEALTH PLAN

- Program Offered in Cantonese, Mandarin and English -
- Diseases Covered Include: CHF, CAD, Diabetes and COPD -

Irvine, Calif. (July 18, 2000) - LifemastersSM, a leading provider of interactive health-management services, today announced a multi-year contract with Chinese Community Health Plan (CCHP) to provide multi-lingual disease management to members with congestive heart failure (CHF), coronary artery disease (CAD), diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This agreement represents the first health management program that covers four disease states and the first health management program available in three languages.

The contract serves the San Francisco area, where initial patient enrollment has already begun. Patient training is to begin this month. Nurses fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English will interact with patients over the telephone and via the Web. The program will cover 12,000 health plan members.

“This significant contract demonstrates LifeMasters’ ongoing commitment to delivering clinically proven quality care and cost reductions to health plans and providers, regardless of the language spoken by patients,” said Christobel E. Selecky, CEO of LifeMasters. “By administering health management programs to a larger number of people with a broader spectrum of health needs, LifeMasters is able to fulfill the promise of managed care - even in Cantonese or Mandarin.” 

Dr. Edward Chow, Medical Director of Chinese Community Health Plan said, “LifeMasters offers easy-to-implement programs specific to our populations’ needs. Doctors and patients alike benefit from proactive health management programs.”

LifeMasters’ customized program for CCHP also represents the first time a multi-lingual interactive voice response (IVR) system has been deployed to support health management.

About CCHP
Chinese Community Health Plan (CCHP) is a health maintenance organization founded in 1986 in San Francisco by Chinese Hospital Association. As a health maintenance organization their objective is to offer high quality health care in a culturally competent environment.

In San Francisco, CCHP partners with the Chinese Community Health Care Association (medical group) for physician care, an organization of over 140 doctors who provide care to the Chinese Community. For hospital care physicians use Chinese Hospital, California Pacific Medical Center, St. Francis Hospital, St. Mary’s Medical Center and other contract facilities.

In May 2000, CCHP was honored as the small plan winner of the American Association of Health Plans (AAHP) Ellis J. Bonner Community Leadership Award. Selected from a competitive pool of applicants, this award recognized the plan’s contribution to enhancing the quality of life in the communities it serves. The AAHP is the largest national trade association representing HMOs, PPOs and other similar health plans that provide coverage to more than 140 million Americans.

CCHP continues the tradition of quality and trust started by Chinese Hospital, a 59-bed general acute care not-for-profit hospital serving the Chinese community for over 70 years. With CCHP their members can be confident that wherever they live in the service area, they will have the culturally competent high quality of care and comprehensive coverage that has been offered by CCHP for over 15 years.

About LifeMasters
Lifemasters provides health-management services that improve patient outcomes and reduce medical costs by giving individuals tools and support to closely monitor their own health conditions in partnership with caregivers. LifeMasters’ secure Internet- and telephone-based care program provides individualized clinical feedback based on participants’ daily input of vital sign data. As part of LifeMasters’ fully configured program, nurses regularly contact participants to discuss their health status, provide coaching and notify physicians whenever medical intervention is required. LifeMasters serves individuals through partnerships with physician groups, hospitals and health plans; fully configured and custom ASP solutions are available. Individuals can also access LifeMasters’ services directly at LifeMasters Online.com. LifeMasters has offices in Irvine and South San Francisco, California. More information can be obtained by calling 1-800-760-9261 or visiting http://www.lifemasters.com.
The company also recently announced the introduction of its ASP product. LifeMasters’ offering as an application service provider will enable customers to access its database through the Internet. The ASP product allows plans and providers to fully utilize internal staff and infrastructure while leveraging LifeMasters’ sophisticated software, program implementation expertise and technical support to implement customized disease management programs at a reasonable cost. Via a LifeMasters ASP Web site, health plans and employer groups will be able to easily choose, configure and implement a custom health management solution to fit their internal needs and resources.

LifeMasters was named in a November 1999 Goldman Sachs research report as exemplifying Internet health’s fifth “C”: Care, “the Internet’s biggest benefit to healthcare.” The report identifies care as an important e-health category, along with Content, Commerce, Community and Connectivity.

For More Information Contact:

Denise Apcar LifeMasters, Inc (650) 829-6217 pr@lifemasters.com