HIP Creates Premier Health Care System

New York, N.Y. May 22 -- Anthony L. Watson, Chairman & CEO of HIP Health Plans, today announced that HIP New York has completed an extraordinary reorganization and expansion of its health care provider system. The change was accomplished by forming a unique compact with major New York hospital healthcare delivery systems.

Lenox Hill Hospital and Lenox Hill Healthcare Network, Beth Israel & St. Luke's-Roosevelt (Continuum) will assume the management and operation of HIP health care centers in Manhattan, while Montefiore Medical Center will assume management and operation in the Bronx and Westchester County.

The new providers will operate all HIP's medical centers previously staffed by the New York Medical Group. None of the medical centers will continue to bear the HIP name. Instead, they will bear the name of the new operating entity. HIP's new health care provider system goes into effect on July 1.

The renowned physicians attending at Mount Sinai/NYU and Columbia/Presbyterian will augment these outstanding providers.

Anthony L. Watson
"The naming of the Lenox Hill Hospital and Healthcare Network and Beth Israel and St. Luke's-Roosevelt, plus the recent naming of Montefiore Medical Center, adds a dramatic expansion to HIP's health care provider system. These three provider systems will give HIP an outstanding integrated health care delivery system and provide current and future members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Westchester County with the widest possible choice of premier physicians and hospitals."

He added: "Our new health care provider system is indicative of a progressive management that is continuously redeveloping an established health care system to provide a new generation of care-improvement techniques. In doing so, we have created a unique, universally attractive, mixed model delivery system for New York. The real prospect is that HIP and its new participating providers, plus our network of independent physicians and the augmenting physician network, all in addition to our ever-valuable, traditional medical centers will combine to set new and extraordinary standards of healthcare for New York and the nation."

Gladys George, President & CEO Lenox Hill Hospital
"Lenox Hill Hospital is extremely pleased to be chosen to provide health care services to nearly 30,000 HIP members at its Manhattan centers located at West 55th and East 95th Streets. This new alliance will provide HIP members with access to the centers of excellence of both Lenox Hill Hospital and our new partner, Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital."

Peter A. Kelly, Executive Vice President & COO for Continuum
(Beth Israel & St. Luke's-Roosevelt)
"We are delighted that HIP has chosen Continuum Health Partners in this exciting new venture for its subscribers in Manhattan. We are, indeed, proud of our Manhattan-based institutions' long associations with HIP, and we look forward to working with their leadership in providing quality medical care to the 49,000 HIP enrollees who will benefit from this initiative."

Dr. Spencer Foreman, President of Montefiore Medical Center
(When Montefiore was announced on May 1 as the HIP provider in the Bronx and Westchester County, Dr. Foreman issued the following statement.)
"We are extremely pleased with this partnership, which is the culmination of a relationship between HIP and Montefiore of almost half a century. Under this agreement, Montefiore will assume the health care of 110,000 HIP enrollees in the Bronx and Southern Westchester who will now have access to our growing network of facilities and physicians, and one of the largest and best ambulatory care delivery systems in the country."

Medical centers in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Nassau and Suffolk Counties are not affected by today's announcement.

HIP Health Plans, www.hipusa.com, consists of HIP New York and HIP Florida. HIP New York established in 1947 is an award-winning, mixed model leader in the delivery of quality health care. It is the largest HMO in the New York metropolitan area with an increasing membership of almost 800,000 in the five boroughs of New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland and Orange Counties. About 220,000 HIP members in Manhattan, the Bronx and Westchster County are affected by today's announcement. HIP Florida has more than 200,000 members for a total HIP Health Plans membership of more than one million.

Lenox Hill
Lenox Hill Hospital and Lenox Hill Healthcare Network consists of an acute care teaching hospital, the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, three affiliated hospitals and an integrated health care delivery system of 750 physicians providing care to patients in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and throughout New York City. The hospital has an excellent reputation for high-quality patient care and for pioneering innovative treatments. Lenox Hill has outstanding primary care physicians, internists and pediatricians and offers a wide range of general and specialty medical, surgical, obstetric/gynecological, psychiatric, and advanced cardiovascular services.

Continuum Health Partners
Continuum Health Partners was founded in January 1997 as a partnership of two venerable health care providers, Beth Israel Medical Center and St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center. Building upon the strengths of both institutions, the partners soon established a broad-based, integrated health services network extending throughout the New York metropolitan region. In May 1998, a third distinguished institution, the Long Island College Hospital located in the Brooklyn/Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn, joined the partnership. Continuum grew again in June 1999 with the addition of another outstanding institution with a 100-year tradition of excellent specialty care, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.

Montefiore
Montefiore is the University Hospital and Academic Medical Center for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. It has a long and distinguished history in patient care, education, research, and community service. As a leading academic medical center and one of the largest, most comprehensive and respected health care systems in the nation, Montefiore's network extends across the Bronx and into southern Westchester County. It offers services for every need from prevention to the most sophisticated procedures for diagnosing and treating disease.

Contacts:
Lenox Hill: Jean Brett, Assistant Director Public Relations 212 434 6074
Beth Israel: Jim Mandler, Continuum Corporate Director Public Affairs at 212 523-7772
Montefiore: Barbara Janes, Director of Public Relations 718 920-4011