Health and Technology Leader Neil Agate to Share Expertise at Health 2.0 Spring Fling Matchpoint Boston

VIENNA, Va., May 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Kinergy Health, a pioneer in using the web to connect family members, doctors, and other healthcare providers to better and more efficiently deliver care for an aging or chronically ill loved one, is pleased to announce that it will be featured today at the Health 2.0 Spring Fling Matchpoint Boston Conference Launch! session.  Launch! is the industry's preeminent platform for debuting new technologies and innovative companies.  Neil Agate, Chief Operating Officer, will be introducing the company.

The Health 2.0 Spring Fling Matchpoint Boston conference is the industry's most impactful partnership and deal-making forum, where leading health care payers, pharma, hospitals, foundations, and investors set up one-on-one private meetings with technology innovators. Established companies(1) scout new talent and preview the latest innovations improving patient care and health care delivery before they are introduced to the rest of the world. Health care incubators and veteran health tech entrepreneurs will be on hand to lend advice and share their own stories to current and future industry leaders.

Agate is a serial healthcare technology entrepreneur and expert in the collection and analysis of medical information to improve patient management.  He will demonstrate how the MyKinergy online service provides individual patient-centered communities with private, HIPAA conformant communications that save time for healthcare professionals and family caregivers, improve overall quality of care, and give family members peace of mind.

According to Matthew Holt, Health 2.0's Co-Chairman, "The unique setting at Health 2.0 Spring Fling Matchpoint Boston will allow entrepreneurs to meet major tech and health care organizations and investors to form mutually beneficial partnerships. We believe Neil Agate's presentation will provide excellent guidance to those looking to make a big impact in health care."

The Health 2.0 community consists of hundreds of organizations and thousands of developers and entrepreneurs. You can follow #health2con on Twitter for the latest conference news or visit http://www.health2con.com/events/?regevent_action=register&event_id=2 to register.

About Kinergy Health: For elderly and chronically ill individuals Kinergy Health brings their family members, doctors, and professional caregivers together in a private, secure online community where they share and respond to up-to-date information, coordinate plans, and collaborate to assure that the patient is always receiving timely and appropriate care.  Today, over 66 million Americans manage the care of someone else.  Kinergy Health simplifies the role of family caregiver and improves efficiency and effectiveness for healthcare providers.  MyKinergy is a SaaS-based service allowing healthcare providers to rapidly deploy patient-centered care models. For more information please visit www.kinergyhealth.com or call us at 703 757-9719.

About Health 2.0: The conference. The media network. The innovation community. The Health 2.0 Conference is the leading showcase of cutting-edge innovation transforming the health care system. Since its beginning in 2007, Health 2.0 has served as a community resource for search and online tools to help consumers manage their health and connect to providers. Now that the industry has caught up, Health 2.0 covers the entire cloud, web, mobile and unplatforms technology revolution that is shaking up every sector of health care.

(1) Matchpoint Hosts include: athenahealth, Aetna, AT&T, California HealthCare Foundation, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Healthline, Kaiser Permanente, Ziegler, and Virgin Healthmiles. An updated list of sponsors can be found here: http://www.health2con.com/events/matchpoint/boston-2012/.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Stuart Itkin
Kinergy Health
571-295-8059
communications@kinergyhealth.com

Jodi Amendola
Amendola Communications for Health 2.0
480-664-8412 ext. 11
jamendola@acmarketingpr.com

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Health Net’s Board Increases Share Repurchase Authorization to $400 Million

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Health Net, Inc. (NYSE:HNT - News) today announced that, on March 8, 2012, its board of directors approved a $323.7 million increase to the company’s 2011 share repurchase program.

On May 2, 2011, Health Net’s board of directors authorized the company’s 2011 share repurchase program pursuant to which a total of $300 million of Health Net’s outstanding common stock could be repurchased. As of December 31, 2011, the remaining authorization under Health Net’s 2011 share repurchase program was $76.3 million.

Including the additional $323.7 million in newly authorized repurchase authority, Health Net currently has $400 million in remaining repurchase authority.

Subject to board approval, Health Net may repurchase its common stock under its share repurchase program from time to time in privately negotiated transactions, through accelerated share repurchase programs or open market transactions, including pursuant to a trading plan in accordance with Rules 10b5-1 and 10b-18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or by any combination of such methods. The timing of any repurchases and the actual number of shares repurchased will depend on a variety of factors, including the company’s stock price, corporate and regulatory requirements, restrictions under the company’s debt obligations, and other market and economic conditions. The share repurchase program may be suspended or discontinued at any time. The company intends to report on its repurchase activity in its quarterly financial disclosures.

About Health Net

Health Net, Inc. is a publicly traded managed care organization that delivers managed health care services through health plans and government-sponsored managed care plans. Its mission is to help people be healthy, secure and comfortable. Health Net provides and administers health benefits to approximately 6.0 million individuals across the country through group, individual, Medicare, Medicaid, U.S. Department of Defense, including TRICARE, and Veterans Affairs programs. Health Net’s behavioral health services subsidiary, Managed Health Network, Inc., provides behavioral health, substance abuse and employee assistance programs to approximately 5.0 million individuals, including Health Net’s own health plan members. Health Net’s subsidiaries also offer managed health care products related to prescription drugs, and offer managed health care product coordination for multi-region employers and administrative services for medical groups and self-funded benefits programs.

For more information on Health Net, Inc., please visit Health Net’s website at www.healthnet.com.

Cautionary Statements

Health Net, Inc. and its representatives may from time to time make written and oral forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (“PSLRA”) of 1995, including statements in this and other press releases, in presentations, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), reports to stockholders and in meetings with investors and analysts. All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical information provided herein, may be deemed to be forward-looking statements and as such are intended to be covered by the safe harbor for “forward-looking statements” provided by PSLRA. These statements are based on management’s analysis, judgment, belief and expectation only as of the date hereof, and are subject to changes in circumstances and a number of risks and uncertainties. Without limiting the foregoing, statements including the words “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “may,” “should,” “could,” “estimate,” “intend,” “feels,” “will,” “projects” and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by the forward-looking information and statements due to, among other things, health care reform and other increased government participation in and regulation of health benefits and managed care operations, including the ultimate impact of the Affordable Care Act, which could materially adversely affect Health Net’s financial condition, results of operations and cash flows through, among other things, reduced revenues, new taxes, expanded liability, and increased costs (including medical, administrative, technology or other costs), or require changes to the ways in which Health Net does business; rising health care costs; continued slow economic growth or a further decline in the economy; negative prior period claims reserve developments; trends in medical care ratios; membership declines; unexpected utilization patterns or unexpectedly severe or widespread illnesses; rate cuts and other risks and uncertainties affecting Health Net’s Medicare or Medicaid businesses; litigation costs; regulatory issues with federal and state agencies including, but not limited to, the California Department of Managed Health Care, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and state departments of insurance; operational issues; failure to effectively oversee our third party vendors; noncompliance by Health Net or Health Net’s business associates with any privacy laws or any security breach involving the misappropriation, loss or other unauthorized use or disclosure of confidential information; any liabilities of the Northeast business that were incurred prior to the closing of its sale as well as those liabilities incurred through the winding-up and running-out period of the Northeast business; Health Net’s ability to complete proposed dispositions on a timely basis or at all; investment portfolio impairment charges; volatility in the financial markets; and general business and market conditions. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the risks discussed in the “Risk Factors” section included within Health Net’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and the risks discussed in Health Net’s other filings with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Except as may be required by law, Health Net undertakes no obligation to address or publicly update any of its forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date of this release.

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Health Care REIT Completes Share Offer

Health Care REIT Inc. (NYSE:HCN - News), a leading health care real estate investment trust (:REIT) that operates senior housing and health care real estate, has recently completed its secondary offering of 20.7 million common shares at $53.50 each, including 2.7 million shares sold to the underwriters to cover the over-allotment options.

Health Care REIT raised approximately $1.1 billion of gross proceeds from the offer. The company intends to utilize the proceeds to repay debt under its unsecured line of credit and other outstanding debt.

BofA Merrill Lynch, the investment banking and wealth management division of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - News); J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, the investment banking division of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM - News); UBS Investment Bank, the investment banking division of UBS AG (NYSE:UBS - News); Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. – the U.S. investment banking and securities arm of Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB - News); and Wells Fargo Securities, part of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC - News) acted as joint book-running managers for the offering.

Health Care REIT invests across the full spectrum of senior housing and healthcare real estate properties. Headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, the company also provides an extensive array of property management and development services.
Founded in 1970, the company was the first REIT to invest exclusively in healthcare facilities. Health Care REIT provides senior housing operators and healthcare systems with a single source for facility planning, design and turn-key development, property management, and monetization or expansion of existing real estate.
However, deep cuts in Medicare have been proposed over the next five years by reducing or freezing payments to skilled nursing facilities, hospitals, and other healthcare providers. With a large portion of revenues being determined by government payout rates, forces beyond the company’s control could negatively affect revenues and operator coverage ratios. Consequently, we maintain our Neutral recommendation on Health Care REIT, which currently has a Zacks #3 Rank that indicates a short-term Hold rating.

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Top Health Care Leaders Share 2012 Strategic Outlook in VHA Inc. Survey

IRVING, TX--(Marketwire -02/28/12)- Findings from a January 2012 VHA survey of top U.S. health care leaders reveal that they agree on three top priorities:

Reducing costs Enhancing patient experience Improving clinical outcomes and care coordination

VHA Inc., the national health care network, polled members of its 20-member Large IDN Supply Network ("LISN," pronounced "listen"), which includes many of the nation's largest health care organizations, asking them to identify their top concerns and actions they hope to take to accelerate change.

"Based on our survey results, health care reform and its resulting mandates have definitely sharpened the focus in the C-Suite," explains Mike Duke, VHA senior director, national supply chain services. "This survey clearly indicates that reducing costs is the top priority, followed by enhancing the patient experience and improving clinical outcomes -- all of which are essential to providing quality health care."

Duke added that the health care systems' executives agreed that big gains can't be achieved by just cutting back on staff or services. "Our top leaders know that the next big changes will come from quality improvements to streamline processes while increasing services to better serve patients."

LISN consists of supply chain management leaders at VHA's largest member hospitals and health care systems, including Allina Hospitals & Clinics, BJC HealthCare, Mayo Clinic, Partners Healthcare, Providence Health & Services and Sutter Health. In aggregate, they represent approximately $8.6 billion in health care supply spend between VHA and Novation, VHA's contracting company. (Please see full list of LISN members below).

According to Bruce Mairose, vice chair of supply chain management at Mayo Clinic, "This unique group of the nation's largest health care systems demonstrates that by working together, health care organizations can focus on cost management strategies that will ultimately benefit our patients. We are taking on important and complex initiatives in order to address clinical and operational objectives that have been placed on health care providers.

"While every health care facility or system faces challenges specific to its local markets and its readiness to address reimbursement challenges, we know we have valuable insights we can share with one another. We understand the immediacy of the changes at hand and are sharing knowledge we can collectively use to move the needle on improvements more quickly."

Closer examination of the survey data reveals what the leaders believe will be the key drivers for the next wave of significant change. Approximately 71% of the survey respondents believe the biggest gains will come from improving process and workflow, as well as improving utilization of supplies and services. Approximately 57% also cited reductions in practice variability and 43% noted price reductions in physician preference products, including mechanical hips, knees and the latest pacemakers.

Akin to the challenges faced by the high-tech industry in the '80s, the VHA survey indicates that top hospital administrators expect quality improvements to better their bottom line.

"Reviewing and understanding variability in practice, and the variation in underlying support processes is key. Identifying and reducing unwarranted variation can simultaneously improve quality and reduce overall cost. It's a double win," explains Cheryl Harelstad, vice president of supply chain for Allina Hospitals & Clinics. "The survey also points to the focus on improving utilization, including reducing waste, as a key cost saving measure."

Jody Hatcher, president and chief executive officer of Novation, VHA's supply contracting company, works closely with the LISN group and agrees that cost reductions in physician preference products stand to have a significant impact. "Price leadership remains Novation's top priority, while benchmarking and pricing transparency are more important than ever before. Supply costs are second only to labor costs in terms of large expenses. With positive patient outcomes as their focus, hospitals would rather lower supply costs than cut much-needed staff," he explains.

To this end, survey respondents indicated that enhancing the patient experience and improving the continuum of care to yield better clinical outcomes is their ultimate goal.

"We at Mayo believe the needs of the patient come first and we can't lose sight of that, even as we face the most formidable financial pressures in our history," says Mayo's Mairose.

"The faster we can drive improvements and lower costs, the greater the access and quality of care we can deliver to our patients," says Dennis Maher, vice president of supply chain at Sutter Health. "We touch the lives and wellbeing of our patients so we have a lot on the line. The supply chain is truly an area where we can make a significant difference to our organization's agility and ability to sustain its mission during times of great change."

VHA member hospital and health care systems participating in LISN include:

Allina Hospitals & Clinics Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation BJC HealthCare Cedars-Sinai Health System Indiana University Health Lehigh Valley Health Network Mayo Foundation MedStar Health, Inc. Memorial Hermann Healthcare System NewYork - Presbyterian Hospital Novant Health OhioHealth Partners HealthCare System Premier Health Partners Providence Health and Services Sanford Health Sentara Healthcare Spectrum Health Sutter Health Yale-New Haven Health System

LISN members available for interviews include:

Bruce Mairose, vice chair, supply chain management, Mayo Clinic Cheryl Harelstad, vice president, technology and supply chain, Allina Hospitals & Clinics Dennis Maher, vice president of supply chain, Sutter Health

About VHA Inc.
Based in Irving, TX, VHA Inc. is a national network of not-for-profit health care organizations that work together to drive maximum savings in the supply chain arena, set new levels of clinical performance, and identify and implement best practices to improve operational efficiency and clinical outcomes. Since 1977, VHA has leveraged its expertise in analytics, contracting, consulting and networks to help members achieve their operational, clinical and financial objectives. In 2010, VHA delivered record savings and value of $1.7 billion to members. VHA serves more than 1,350 hospitals and more than 30,000 non-acute care providers nationwide, coordinating delivery of its programs and services through its 15 regional offices. VHA has been ranked as one of the best places to work in healthcare by Modern Healthcare since the publication introduced this list in 2008.

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We Share Our Mother's Health - The Knife

New video from The Knife, directed by Motomichi Nakamura

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We Share Our Mother's Health - The Knife

New video from The Knife, directed by Motomichi Nakamura

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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We Share Our Mother's Health - The Knife

New video from The Knife, directed by Motomichi Nakamura

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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We Share Our Mother's Health - The Knife

New video from The Knife, directed by Motomichi Nakamura

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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