Health Fidelity Announces Board of Advisors

MENLO PARK, Calif., March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Fidelity, Inc., provider of a breakthrough natural language processing (NLP) platform for healthcare, announced today that it has brought together four industry luminaries to help guide strategic decisions and vision.  Each member of Health Fidelity's Board of Advisors is a recognized leader in healthcare.

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The company's Board of Advisors includes:

Ray Scott, BSc, MBCS, CEng, CITP – Mr. Scott is a world leader in commercial healthcare data management.  He is CEO and Founder of Axolotl, a leading medical electronic connectivity and collaboration firm, and Executive Vice President of Product Strategy of OptumInsight, formerly Ingenix, which acquired Axolotl in August 2010.Mark Musen, M.D., PhD – Dr. Musen is a global leader in medical ontologies.  He is Professor of Medicine (Bioinformatics) and Division Head of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research (BMIR), and is founder of the National Center for Biomedical Ontology (NCBO).Carol Friedman, PhD – Dr. Friedman is a longtime expert in clinical NLP and the developer of MedLEE, a widely used and studied NLP engine on which the Health Fidelity NLP platform is based.  Dr. Friedman is Professor of Biomedical Informatics at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. Wendy Chapman, PhD – Dr. Chapman is a global leader in clinical NLP. She is Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics at the University of California San Diego and is Chair of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) NLP Committee.

"The expertise Ray, Mark, Carol, and Wendy bring will support Health Fidelity as a leader in clinical natural language processing," said Dan Riskin, CEO and Founder of Health Fidelity.  "All of them are recognized leaders in their fields, and we are honored they are serving as our advisors."

In January, Health Fidelity announced an exclusive license to commercialize Columbia University's MedLEE NLP technology in healthcare.  In February, Health Fidelity announced that it had closed a Series A financing round led by Charter Life Sciences of Santa Clara, Calif.  

About Health Fidelity
Health Fidelity, Inc., based in Menlo Park, Calif., elevates the standard of care by extracting value from the vast unstructured clinical data that healthcare organizations capture but cannot utilize.  With its breakthrough natural language processing (NLP) platform, incorporating the world's most accurate, reliable and studied NLP technology, Health Fidelity partners with HIT solution companies to enable healthcare organizations to utilize their previously untapped content.  Health Fidelity's secure cloud-based integration enables real-time automated extraction and encoding of unstructured information for analysis, exchange, and regulatory compliance.  By leveraging the previously untapped data within clinician notes, healthcare payers, providers and pharmaceutical companies can deliver better information to clinicians for more informed medical decision-making.  Additionally, healthcare administrators will have a more complete set of facts they can use to drive operational efficiency and quality.  End-users can make better medical decisions, monitor and improve the quality of care, and enable R&D, thus accelerating the evolution of healthcare. 

For more information about Health Fidelity and its solution partner program, visit www.healthfidelity.com.  For partnership inquiries, contact Lauryn Jones at partnership@healthfidelity.com.

Media Contact
Christopher Capot
KNB Communications
203-379-8019, ccapot@knbpr.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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Morton Meyerson Joins Encore Health Resources’ Board of Directors

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Encore Health Resources, a leading provider of advanced healthcare information technology (HIT) consulting services, today announced that it has named Morton H. Meyerson a new member of its Board of Directors. Mr. Meyerson is presently the Chair and CEO of Dallas-based 2M Companies, Inc., an investment firm with a track record of advancing the interests of enterprises that create value for their customers and provide environments in which both employees and partners thrive.

“Morton Meyerson’s career is hallmarked for championing companies whose goals include translating strong ideas into positive change for the communities they serve,” said Dana Sellers, CEO of Encore Health Resources. “As Encore enters a new stage of operations -- one fueled by our expanding solutions suite, talent pool, and territorial reach -- we are honored that Morton will be sharing his insights to help us apply analytics-based approaches to healthcare reform in ways that will most benefit our clients, their patients, and our transforming industry.”

Mr. Meyerson brings to Encore Health Resources nearly 50 years of exceptional accomplishments in diverse industries and for such firms as Bell Helicopter, General Motors, and DuPont Glore Forgan. He has also served as the President of Electronic Data Systems and as the CEO of Perot Systems. Today, as the Chair and CEO of 2M Companies, Inc., he advances the interests of a wide variety of progressive enterprises in industries ranging from medicine and technology to design and real estate. In 2007, Mr. Meyerson was named a fellow by The American Academy of Arts & Sciences. As has been the case over the course of his career, he is also active on multiple boards.

“Encore Health Resources, its founders, and its senior executives have earned my admiration over recent years for their crystal-clear vision: they know that information-driven analytics can carry our nation’s healthcare industry through and beyond the challenges of reform,” said Mr. Meyerson. “My decision to join Encore’s board is in perfect synergy with my own values, my passion for healthcare and analytics, and my commitment to supporting exciting enterprises and people who are interested in effecting positive social change.”

Since its founding in January 2009, Encore Health Resources has achieved remarkable growth and received numerous recognitions. The company expanded its employee base nearly 200% in 2010 and another 95% in 2011. Encore increased its revenues by more than 400% between 2009 and 2010 and another 115% over the course of 2011. For two years running, Encore earned recognition as one of the Top 100 Best Places to Work in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare Magazine. Last December, KLAS® Research honored Encore with a prestigious Best in KLAS Award for excellence in Information Technology Planning and Assessment in a first place tie for the category. Previously, in July, KLAS named Encore one of the top two best overall health information technology advisory services companies in the nation. Last October, Encore formed a new partnership with the Premier healthcare alliance to help health systems define the technology requirements, priorities, and resources necessary as they move toward clinically integrated, coordinated care delivery. In late November, the Houston Business Journal named Encore as a Fast Tech 50 finalist -- an award recognizing Houston’s fastest-growing, high-tech businesses -- and as one of just three firms awarded its Enterprise Champions award. The award is conferred on companies that stand out in areas of community, innovation, corporate culture, and overcoming challenges.

About 2M Companies, Inc.:

Our primary business purpose is to support The David Nathan Meyerson Private Foundation and our communities, and to invest with people who are interested in effecting social change. We contribute to a wide variety of progressive companies in industries ranging from medicine and technology to design and real estate. For more information about 2M Companies, Inc., please visit http://www.2m.com/.

About Encore Health Resources:

Encore Health Resources, founded by healthcare veterans Ivo Nelson and Dana Sellers, provides information technology consulting services to the provider segment of the healthcare market. For more information about Encore, please visit http://www.encorehealthresources.com/.

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