Press Releases: 2003

Inland Empire Health Plan Selects Argus & AmeriHealth Mercy to Provide Pharmacy Care Management Services

August 8, 2003 - Kansas City (MO) - Argus Health Systems, Inc. and the AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies are pleased to announce that Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) has selected the two companies to jointly provide pharmacy care management services for its 265,000 members.

Argus as the prime contractor is supplying claims processing, call center services, and decision support services. AmeriHealth Mercy will provide rebate management, clinical information, and clinical consultation services to Inland Empire.

"Of the nine vendors who presented proposals, we chose Argus and AmeriHealth Mercy's PerformRx because they were price competitive, and we liked their honest, straightforward approach of open disclosure around rebates and administrative services," said Dawn Sisneroz, PharmD, PhD, Senior Pharmaceutical Services Manager and Quality Services Manager of Inland Empire Health Plan.

Daniel J. Hilferty, President and CEO of AmeriHealth Mercy, said, "We look forward to working with Argus Health Systems to use our unique approach to provide innovative, high quality Medicaid pharmacy management solutions for Inland Empire Health Plan and its members. The relationship between AmeriHealth Mercy, Argus and Inland Empire is a great fit because all three companies share similar missions and values."

Charles Schellhorn, President of Argus, concurs, "Argus is pleased to work with the AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies to provide pharmacy benefit services for Inland Empire. We look forward to using this combined strength to support IEHP's efforts. Our focus, as it has been in the past, is to provide straightforward, cost-effective, and innovative service. We feel most fortunate to have the opportunity to demonstrate those qualities and abilities with both IEHP and AmeriHealth Mercy."

IEHP is a Joint public non-profit agency that is organized as a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). Established in 1994, IEHP is headquartered in San Bernardino, California, and serves three populations-the Medi-Cal population, the Healthy Families population, and the Healthy Kids population.

With more than 20 years of experience exclusively serving the Medicaid population, the AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies and its affiliates comprise the largest family of Medicaid managed care plans in the United States, touching the lives of more than one million members in six states, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia, and California.

Argus has maintained a strategic alliance with AmeriHealth Mercy since 1999 to provide state-of-the-art pharmacy claims processing, reporting, and rebate administration services for the Keystone Mercy Health Plan and other the AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies affiliated organizations. Argus is the country's leading independent provider of claims processing, information services and administrative support for pharmacy program management.