Sept 11, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Keri Andrews

425-255-4166

membership@simplecare.com

www.simplecare.com

Oregon Physicians Try New Health Program

The McMinnville Physicians Organization (MPO) in Oregon has enrolled all 61 of their physicians in a revolutionary health care program and is now in the implementation process. MPO decision-makers hope that the move will make a positive financial impact on their members.

Doctors who participate in the SimpleCare program set up a "simpler" system for self-pay patients. This system eliminates much of the costs that they would otherwise incur due to procedural coding, documentation and billing.

SimpleCare not only helps doctors – the program is designed to lower the cost of health care for patients, too. By allowing doctors to cut unnecessary costs, it gives them the freedom to offer lower prices to their patients. SimpleCare visits are generally 20-50% lower than the price of a doctor’s normal charges.

Two members of the MPO were already members of AAPP/SimpleCare, with one of them having helped facilitate the decision to enroll remaining members in the SimpleCare program. Dr. Michael Jaczko, DO, has been an active participant in SimpleCare for the past year.

"Since Dr. Jaczko has been active with the program, he really understands how SimpleCare works," said Dr. David MacDonald, who has been working closely with the MPO decision-makers on behalf of SimpleCare. "He has seen first-hand how SimpleCare can turn a practice on the brink of financial ruin into a successful business. My practice was going through the same thing a few years ago. That’s why the whole idea of SimpleCare even came about."

MacDonald and his partner, Dr. Vern Cherewatenko, started SimpleCare in their clinic four years ago as a way to combat their own financial hardships. The program worked so well that they started to promote it to fellow doctors. Now SimpleCare has grown to 700 doctors and 6000 patients nationwide.

SimpleCare is a program of the non-profit American Association of Patients and Providers. For more information about SimpleCare, call 425-255-4166 or go to their web site at www.simplecare.com.