Metropolitan Health Adds 1,000 Medicare Advantage Customers With Addition Of Five South Florida Affiliated Physician Practice Locations

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 20 Nov 2007 - 16:00 PDT

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Metropolitan Health Networks, Inc. (AMEX:MDF), a leading provider of healthcare services in Florida, announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Metcare of Florida, Inc., (the "PSN") has entered into a definitive agreement to assume three physician provider agreements along with the responsibility of managing the health care of approximately 1,000 Humana Medicare Advantage members in South Florida. These physician practices will be added to the PSN's existing network of affiliated physician providers in South Florida.

The 1,000 Humana Medicare Advantage members are presently being treated at five physician practice locations in Broward and Palm Beach Counties. Pursuant to the terms of the definitive agreement, Metropolitan will assume certain liabilities associated with the physician practices of approximately $900,000. The additional customers are expected to be effective with the PSN on December 1, 2007.

Jose A. Guethon, M.D., President of the PSN, commented, "We are excited about the opportunity to expand our Humana relationship and grow our network and customers in South Florida. The addition of these affiliate practices will have a positive impact on our PSN business, and we are ready to implement the clinical initiatives and operational processes that, based on our current experience, will yield the types of results we can be proud of. I want to extend a warm welcome to our new physician partners and their staffs. Our team is looking forward to the opportunity to work with them and better serve the customers we all care for."

Michael Earley, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "The addition of these customers will immediately add approximately $7 million of annual revenues to our business and, as importantly, enhances our market opportunity for the current Medicare open enrollment period that began November 15. This transaction is one more step in our efforts to grow our core PSN business and expand our relationship with Humana."

About Metropolitan Health Networks, Inc.

Metropolitan is a growing healthcare organization in Florida that provides comprehensive healthcare services for Medicare Advantage members and other patients in South and Central Florida. To learn more about Metropolitan Health Networks, Inc. please visit its website at http://www.metcare.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Except for historical matters contained herein, statements made in this press release are forward-looking and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as "may", "will", "to", "plan", "expect", "believe", "anticipate", "intend", "could", "would", "estimate", or "continue" or the negative other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

Investors and others are cautioned that a variety of factors, including certain risks, may affect our business and cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. These risk factors include, without limitation: (i) our failure to accurately estimate incurred but not reported medical expense benefit expenses; (ii) pricing pressures exerted on us by managed care organizations and the level of payments we receive under governmental programs or from other payors; (iii) future legislation and changes in governmental regulations; (iv) the impact of Medicare Risk Adjustments on payments we receive for our managed care operations; (v) a loss of any of our significant contracts or our ability to increase the number of Medicare eligible patient lives we manage under these contracts; (vi) our ability to successfully operate a healthcare management organization otherwise known as an HMO; and our ability to continuously increase enrollment and effectively manage expenses in our HMO. The company is also subject to the risks and uncertainties described in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 30, 2007, its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2007, and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2007.

Metropolitan Health Networks, Inc.

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