IRVINE, California, April 4, 2006 - CorVel Corporation (NASDAQ: CRVL) reported plans to accelerate investment in its directed care networks. CorVel is expanding both the breadth of care covered by its directed care networks, CareIQ, as well as the geographic coverage. Advances in the Company's medical review technology will support this expansion. Market reception for these second generation networks and their effectiveness are the driving forces for this expansion.
CareIQ directed care networks provide assistance to employees accessing care included in such programs. Access support for healthcare is an unmet need the Company has identified in the marketplace. Specialists help patients by arranging for care and facilitating communicating instructions from treating physicians. Such programs have been shown to also be effective managing utilization. In the last two years interest in more effective management of the utilization of physical medicine has resulted in both legislative changes and increased employer receptivity to new network management techniques. Such networks also help patient access by matching the patient's location to the available care in the community.
In addition to these network extensions, CorVel is continuing to expand its preferred provider networks and related medical review capabilities. Progress in these efforts is producing improved results in CorVel's operations. Current business activity levels in medical review services, following prolonged declines in workers' compensation claims volumes in 2004 and 2005, showed improving results in the December quarter. Though claims levels remain low, improving internal results have continued in the March quarter. Both business results and the pace of product development have shown improving pace in the first two months of the 2006 calendar year. The Company has continued to make progress rebalancing resources to the soft claims market.
The Company began improving the sale of specialty review services during 2005 and these increases continued in the March quarter. This has contributed to a favorable mix change in the array of services offered. Specialty review has improved the savings achieved for the Company's customers by as much as 20%. CorVel's artificial intelligence "smart routing" technologies are improving the effectiveness of the application of specialty medical review and are improving the Company's automation of workflow. The expanded use of specialty review is enabled by the Company's successful implementation of nationwide document management tools, now employed for all of the Company's customers. The combination of digital records and sophisticated artificial intelligence applications, allows for a more complete application of specialty reviews while maintaining prompt completion of reimbursement to providers.
About CorVel
CorVel Corporation (http://www.corvel.com) is a national provider of leading-edge services and solutions in the field of managed healthcare. CorVel specializes in applying information technology and e-commerce applications to improve healthcare management in the workers' compensation, group health, auto and disability management insurance markets. The Company provides networks of preferred providers, case management, utilization management, independent medical evaluations and medical bill review to more than 1,800 clients nationwide. Leveraging its commitment to flexibility and personal service, CorVel delivers custom solutions for employers, insurers, third party administrators and government entities.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
All statements included in this report, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations, estimates and projections about the Company, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions made by the Company, and events beyond the Company's control, all of which are subject to change. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the Company's financial statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.
The risks and uncertainties referred to above include, but are not limited to, factors described in this report and the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2005. The forward-looking statements in this report speak only as of the date they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason.
