Healthsource Selects Equifax for Credentials Verification

Equifax Becomes Primary Provider of Medical Credentials Verification Services

ATLANTA, July 22, 1996 -- Healthsource, Inc. (NYSE: HS) has named Equifax its primary provider of medical credentials verification services. Healthsource is a nationwide managed care organization with more than 45,000 physicians and hospitals providing managed care services to 3.4 million members.

"This is a significant contract under which Equifax will provide the type of fast, complete verification of physician credentials necessary for Healthsource doctors to continue providing excellent patient care. Healthsource is rapidly growing and regarded as a model for health plan management. We're pleased it chose Equifax to handle its credentials verification needs," said Dan Kohl, Senior Vice President and Group Executive for Equifax Health Information Services Group.

The contract calls for Equifax Medical Credentials Verification service, a unit of Equifax Health Information Services Group, to provide Healthsource Plans nationwide with primary source verification of medical credentials using a blend of both full paper reports and Equifax's one-of-a-kind on-line service. The full paper reports will support credentials verification needs as Healthsource enters new markets or as its current HMO plans continue to grow. The Equifax Credentials On-Line service will be used to re-credential existing physicians quickly and inexpensively.

Among the services provided are verification of a physician's education, Drug Enforcement Agency registration, state licensure, malpractice claims history, Medicare/Medicaid sanctions, privileges in good standing at their primary admitting facility and a comparison of verifications with the applications to quickly note discrepancies.

Health organizations verify the credentials of physicians at the time they join a network or medical staff and at least every two years thereafter. Equifax information is designed to allow an organization to strive to exceed the primary source verification guidelines established by the National Committee for Quality Assurance for managed care organizations and by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations for hospitals and managed care organizations.

"Primary source verification for all of our physician communities is a resource-intensive process. Our new arrangement with Equifax will improve this process significantly and allow us to continue to provide the quality, cost-effective care that our customers have come to expect from Healthsource," said Dick Salmon, M.D., Ph.D., President of Healthsource Innovative Medical Management, Inc.

In addition to its growing business in standard medical credentials verification report services, Equifax recently introduced Equifax(R) Credentials On-Line, the only available on-line access to an extensive national database that enables managed care organizations and hospitals to verify physician credentials immediately. Equifax's growing line of credentials verification services has been met with enthusiasm. Current clients include Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Health Plus, ODS Health Plan, Phoenix Healt hcare and Santa Ana-Tustin IPA among others.

For more information about Equifax Medical Credentials Verification Services, including Equifax Credentials On-Line, call 1-800-321-6693.

HealthSource, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is a geographically diversified provider of a broad range of managed health care services, operating primarily in the Northeast, the Midwest and the South. It offers traditional HMO plans, point-of-service plans, preferred provider organizations and utilization review and managed care services to its members and to other health care payors, including workers' compensation and Medicaid.

Equifax Inc., (NYSE: EFX), committed to Global Information Leadership for the Information Age, is the leading provider of information services that help businesses grant credit, authorize and process credit card and check transactions, insure lives and property and control health care costs. Established in 1899 in Atlanta, Equifax today employs 14,000 people throughout North and South America, the United Kingdom and continental Europe. Revenues for the period ending June 30, 1996 totaled $1.7 billion.