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Announcement

• Optional Retirment Plan Amendment
  
  
  
• PPO Members - LabCorp Contract Terminated
  

  Attention PPO Members:
  1st Medical Network – Laboratory Network Changes

  1st Medical Network recently terminated its contract with Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp) in order to improve our customer’s overall reference lab costs. The effective date of this termination was September 1, 2007, but due to the lack of a formal notice to the members of The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, 1st Medical Network has worked out an agreement with LabCorp to participate with 1st MN and accept BOR/USG patients through October 31, 2007.

  We realize that some of your members have been surprised by this network change and we would like to apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you. Any claims processed incorrectly, or at the lower benefit level, will be adjusted to the higher benefit level.  Please note effective November 1, 2007, all services from LabCorp and its affiliates, including draw sites and analysis, will be deemed out-of-network and paid at the lower benefit level in your plan.  We continue to contract with other national and local reference and specialty labs to ensure your members have broad access to diagnostic and testing services. To assist in maximizing your members’ benefits, we ask that you remind them to always ask to be referred to in-network facilities for all lab testing, so they can keep their out-of-pocket expenses to a minimum. Also, please feel free to search for participating ancillary providers on www.healthyGeorgia.com. Once in the provider directory section of the site, click on ancillary providers to search for a participating laboratory. For further clarification, physicians that offer lab services within their offices, and Doctors Laboratory in South Georgia are not affected by this change.

  As a preferred option, Quest Diagnostics Inc. remains a national laboratory for all 1st Medical Network members, and has renewed a long-term contract to serve the BOR/USG membership. With over 2,000 service centers nationwide, Quest Diagnostics’ data and technology solutions fully support our commitment to provide you and your members with state of the art diagnostics information and can handle any of your members’ lab testing needs

  Again, we apologize for the delay and the inconveniences this may have caused you and your members.  If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to call me.