MultiPlan Awards Rural Health Outreach Grant to Evergreen Medical Center

New York, NY, January 12, 2006 – MultiPlan, Inc., the nation’s oldest and largest independent PPO network, today announced that it has awarded Evergreen Medical Center in Evergreen, Alabama a grant of $3,000 as part of the company’s 2005 Rural Health Outreach Grant Program. Since 1995, MultiPlan has awarded over $180,000 to participating rural facilities to enable them to introduce a new service, expand an existing service, educate, screen or reach out to a new population, or otherwise serve the community.

Evergreen Medical Center was one of 10 rural hospitals selected to receive a grant this year, from over 150 applicants. With the award, the hospital, located in Alabama’s rural south, will begin a program to facilitate change in health and wellness habits in the community. This grant will be used to enroll at-risk children and their families in the Evergreen Medical Center Health and Wellness Center where they will learn proper health guidelines for weight, exercise, nutrition and wellness.

“MultiPlan understands that a hospital’s relationship with the community it serves is extremely important, particularly when that community is small,” said Dan Dragalin, MD, FACS, and Executive Vice President of Network Development for MultiPlan. ”This program helps our rural facilities recognize a need and assists where its residents need it the most.”

"We are pleased to learn of our acceptance for the 2005 Multiplan Rural Health Grant which will assist children in overcoming the trend of obesity seen in Conecuh County,” said Jim Peace, Hospital Administrator at Evergreen Medical Center. “We are grateful to the grant committee in seeing the value offered in our plan for the youth in our community.”

For more information about this program and other community-related programs for participating MultiPlan hospitals, visit the MultiPlan website at www.multiplan.com/providers.

About MultiPlan

For 35 years, MultiPlan has helped healthcare payers and providers partner together to combat rising healthcare costs. Based on The MultiPlan Network®, the nation’s leading independent network of over 4,200 acute-care hospitals, 90,000 ancillary facilities and 750,000 individual practitioner locations, MultiPlan serves as a single gateway to a host of primary, complementary and out-of-network strategies for managing the financial risks associated with healthcare claims. Clients include large and mid-sized insurers, third-party administrators, self-funded plans, HMOs and other entities that pay claims on behalf of health plans. For more information, visit www.multiplan.com.