News Release: February 14, 2007

ALBUQUERQUE, NM -- As part of an increased focus on delivering nationally excellent healthcare to patients and health plan members, Jim Hinton, Presbyterian Healthcare Services president and CEO, has named David R. Scrase, MD, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Presbyterian system.

Scrase will depart his current position as president of Presbyterian Health Plan and begin his new position on February 19. In his new capacity, Scrase will focus on the processes and structures that deliver reliably excellent healthcare for patients and members.

"Presbyterian is hard at work to deliver nationally-excellent healthcare to every patient, every member, every time. When you look at David's track record at Presbyterian Health Plan, he and his team consistently deliver outstanding healthcare results. All of us are excited to see David take on this new challenge," said Hinton.

Presbyterian Health Plan has earned "excellent" accreditations from the National Committee on Quality Assurance for all three (commercial, Medicaid, Medicare) products for each of the last three years. In each year, fewer than a dozen health plans in the nation earned this distinction. This accreditation considers clinical quality results, member satisfaction results, access to providers, and other important factors.

"Presbyterian's purpose is to improve the health of individuals, families and communities," said Scrase. "Because our system integrates hospitals, physicians and a large statewide health plan, we are in a unique position in New Mexico to improve health. I'm looking forward to bring together my experience practicing medicine and providing health coverage into something even better for the people we serve. I'm also really looking forward to my return to working full time in the clinical care setting."

Presbyterian also announced Mike Henderson, will serve as interim President for Presbyterian Health Plan while a local and national search takes place for Scrase's permanent replacement. Henderson served as chief financial officer for Presbyterian Health Plan from 1999 to 2002 and most recently served as senior vice president of finance for PacifiCare Health Systems of California.

Scrase joined Presbyterian Health Plan in 1998 as medical director later the same year was named health plan president. He continues to practice internal medicine and geriatrics with Presbyterian Medical Group.