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St. Joseph Health System and Blue Cross of California Renew Healthcare Coverage Contract

Posted on: Thursday, 20 December 2007, 18:00 CST

St. Joseph Health System (SJHS) and Blue Cross of California (Blue Cross) today announced that they have agreed to a new contract that will continue to ensure Blue Cross HMO and PPO members have access to all St. Joseph Health System hospitals in California and SJHS medical practices across Orange County.

St. Joseph Health System is a not-for-profit, multi-hospital system that provides comprehensive health and wellness services to California residents across the state, from nine acute care hospitals and a medical practice foundation in Orange County. The ministries within the system currently service more than 65,000 Blue Cross HMO/POS members in Orange County, as well as members in Humboldt, Sonoma, Napa Valley and San Bernardino counties.

"As we strive to make the communities we serve the healthiest communities in the country, the renewal of the partnership with Blue Cross allows us to provide the large base of residents they cover with the high quality of care and preventative programs St. Joseph Health System is known for," said Darrin Montalvo, St. Joseph Health System CFO.

"Both St. Joseph Health System and Blue Cross share a common goal, and that's to provide the people of California with access to the highest quality health care at affordable prices," said Brian A. Sassi, president of Blue Cross of California. "It is in the best interest of the communities we serve that we continue our long standing partnership."

The new contract takes effect January 1, 2008, and guarantees that Blue Cross members across Orange County will be able to continue to see their St. Joseph Health System physicians as in-network physicians with no disruption of service. The contract covers all St. Joseph Health Care facilities in the state of California.

About St. Joseph Health System

St. Joseph Health System is an integrated healthcare delivery organization sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange. There are more than 20,000 valued employees of St. Joseph Health System. In California, St. Joseph Health System includes: St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, St. Jude Heritage Healthcare, St. Joseph Heritage Healthcare, St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, Petaluma Valley Hospital, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka and Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna. In addition, SJHS operates the Covenant Health System in eastern New Mexico and Texas and St. Joseph Home Care facilities throughout the communities it serves.

About Blue Cross of California

Blue Cross of California is a subsidiary of WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP), whose mission is to improve the lives of the people it serves and the health of its communities. It is the largest publicly traded commercial health benefits company in terms of membership in the United States, and an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and serves its members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as Blue Cross Blue Shield in 10 New York City metropolitan counties and as Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), and Wisconsin; and through UniCare. Additional information about Blue Cross of California is available at www.bluecrossca.com

Source: Business Wire

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