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Health Net Federal Services Wins Department of Veterans Affairs Community-Based Outpatient Clinic Contract in Durango, Colorado

^{Published on 2009-02-27 05:34:08, Last Modified on 2009-11-04 08:39:50 - Market Wire}
 

RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Health Net Federal Services, LLC, the government operations division of Health Net, Inc. (NYSE:HNT), today announced it has been awarded a contract by the New Mexico Veterans Affairs Health Care System to continue to provide primary and preventive health care services to veterans enrolled in the VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) located in Durango, Colo. The base contract with Health Net is effective from March 1, 2009, through February 28, 2010, with two additional option periods of one year each.

"Health Net is honored to be re-awarded this VA contract. We have worked hard to deliver first-class services to veterans in the Durango clinic for the last six years, and we feel privileged to continue to offer primary care, mental health, women's health, and preventive health care services to veterans in Durango," said Donna Hoffmeier, Health Net's VA Program officer. "With this award, we are pleased to announce that we plan to expand the clinic's capacity to serve more veterans by moving to a larger facility in the near future."

The new location at the former Mercy Regional Medical Center facility in Durango is anticipated to open at the end of April 2009. The clinic provides primary and preventive health care, outpatient mental health services, and laboratory services, among other specialized services. In serving the special health care needs of veterans, the clinic offers chronic disease management, as well as promotion programs on a wide range of health issues such as smoking, hypertension, diabetes, obesity and heart disease. Veterans also are screened and treated for conditions such as alcohol and substance abuse, military sexual trauma, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The clinic staff is sensitive to the special health needs of women, and offers women veterans the opportunity to be seen by a female physician in an exam room committed solely to gender-specific health issues. Well woman services are offered, including annualPAP and pelvic exams, breast exams and referrals for mammograms, family planning services, mental health services, and other gender-specific care.

The VA CBOC program was developed by VA to provide health maintenance and preventive health care within 30 miles or 30 minutes of a veteran's home. CBOCs reduce travel time and shorten waiting times for veterans needing outpatient care.

For more information on Health Net's VA programs, visit our Web site at [ www.healthnetfederalservices.com/va ].

About Health Net

Health Net Federal Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Health Net, Inc., has a long history of providing cost-effective, quality managed health care programs for government agencies, including the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. As the managed care support contractor for the TRICARE North Region, Health Net provides health care services to over 3 million uniformed services beneficiaries, active and retired, and their families.

Health Net, Inc. is among the nation's largest publicly traded managed health care companies. Its mission is to help people be healthy, secure and comfortable. The company's health plans and government contracts subsidiaries provide health benefits to approximately 6.7 million individuals across the country through group, individual, Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE and Veterans Affairs programs. Health Net's behavioral health subsidiary, MHN, provides mental health benefits to approximately 6.9 million individuals in all 50 states. The company'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 the company's Web site at [ www.healthnet.com ].

Cautionary Statements

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 subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on management's analysis, judgment, belief and expectation only as of the date hereof, and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Without limiting the foregoing, statements including the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "may," "should," "could," "estimate," "intend" and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially due to, among other things, rising health care costs, negative prior period claims reserve developments, additional investment portfolio impairment charges, changes in the economy, volatility in the financial markets, trends in medical care ratios, unexpected utilization patterns or unexpectedly severe or widespread illnesses, membership declines, rate cuts affecting our Medicare or Medicaid business, issues relating to provider contracts, litigation costs, regulatory issues, operational issues, health care reform 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 the company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise any of its forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date of this release.