HEALTH CARE LEADER GEORGE DEVRIES OF AMERICAN SPECIALTY HEALTH INC. NAMED 2000 NATIONAL ERNST & YOUNG HEALTH SCIENCES ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR ®

San Diego Entrepreneur Receives Top Honors at Prestigious 14th Annual Awards Conference Recognizing Leaders of Tomorrow

San Diego Entrepreneur Receives Top Honors at Pres tigious 14th Annual Awards Conference Recognizing Leaders of Tomorrow

NEW YORK (November 13, 2000)-- For his accomplishments and contributions to the fields of managed care and complementary health, George DeVries, president and CEO of American Specialty Health Inc. (ASHI), has been named the 2000 National Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® in the Health Sciences category.

Always the entrepreneur, George DeVries spent his teen and college years earning money by shoveling snow, raking leaves, delivering papers and selling books door-to-door. Today, he is at the top of the nation's leading company in complementary health care, having grown it from a fledging one-person operation located in the second bedroom of a condominium into a consistently profitable $75 million company that covers more than 25 million members, contracts with over 19,000 providers, and serves 68 health plans.

Prior to starting ASHI in 1987, DeVries predicted that consumer demand for chiropractic treatments would grow as more people experienced them. He and his partners decided to develop a chiropractic network and managed care program that would make it easy for health plans to offer these benefits. Today, consumer use of complementary health care in America has more than doubled since the 1980s, and major health plans now contract exclusively with ASHI in various parts of the country.

DeVries, along with national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award winners in eight other categories, was selected by an independent panel of judges from among nearly 500 regional award recipients. All of these recipients were acknowledged at an awards gala – the world's largest gathering of entrepreneurs – on Saturday, November 11 in Palm Springs, Calif. National and regional award recipients were culled from nearly 4,000 nominees from around the country.

"Entrepreneurs like George DeVries are changing the landscape of business and are having a profound effect on our lives," said Gregory K. Ericksen, National Director of Entrepreneurial Services for Ernst & Young. "He is a model for future entrepreneurs to follow in this age where virtually anything is possible."

If At First You Don't Succeed...

DeVries learned the hard way that entrepreneurial ventures can sometimes be unsuccessful. After graduating from the University of California, San Diego, DeVries founded a company that provided handcrafted Amish furniture to specialty retail stores. After this venture didn't succeed as he had planned, DeVries took a job as a sales representative at an entrepreneurial start-up health company. Though he moved quickly up the ranks to regional manager, DeVries left when the company was sold.

Next, DeVries began working with the Minnesota-based American Chiropractic Network (ACN), a provider of management services to independent chiropractic provider associations that wanted to expand into California. With $5,000 of his own money, DeVries established himself as the exclusive management and marketing company for ACN in California, encouraging managed health care plans in the state to offer self-referred chiropractic benefit plans through the company.

Under DeVries' leadership, ACN obtained California's first chiropractic HMO license and profoundly impacted how the California HMO industry offers chiropractic benefits. In 1998, he created the nation’s first specialty health plan for acupuncture and traditional Chinese herbal supplements. At the end of 1999, DeVries led a buyout of ACN shareholders, secured investments from outside sources, and formed a new parent corporation named ASHI.

Since then, ASHI has become America's premier complementary health care company with the largest national provider network, the largest member enrollment, the largest staff, and the largest annual revenues. DeVries has been recognized as a significant player in this market and was recently nominated by President Clinton and six U.S. Senators and Congressional representatives to serve as a commissioner on the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Health Care.

Those who know DeVries cite his business intuition, knowledge of the industry, demand for the highest levels of service quality and a sound entrepreneurial spirit as reasons for his success. His accomplishments are even more remarkable given that the HMO industry has consistently been challenged by consumer dissatisfaction, legislative and regulatory demands, consolidation, and disappearing margins.

National EOY Finalists

In the Health Sciences Entrepreneur Of The Year category, national finalists are: L. Michael Cutrer, president and CEO, North American Scientific, Inc. (Nasdaq: NASI), a leader in the application of radioisotopes for therapeutic and industrial applications, Chatsworth, Calif.; and R. Scott Greer, chairman, CEO, and president, Abgenix, Inc. (Nasdaq: ABGX), a developer of antibody therapeutic products, Fremont, Calif.

About The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards Program

The Entrepreneur Of The Year awards program was created and is produced by professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP to honor outstanding entrepreneurs whose ingenuity and perseverance have created and sustained successful growing business ventures. It is co-sponsored nationally by USA Today, The Nasdaq Stock Market and the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

In addition to the Health Sciences award, award finalists and winners were honored in eight other national categories, including the following: Master Entrepreneur Of The Year; Manufacturing Entrepreneur Of The Year; Service Entrepreneur Of The Year; Real Estate/Construction Entrepreneur Of The Year; e-Business Entrepreneur Of The Year; Technology/Communications Entrepreneur Of The Year; Retail Entrepreneur Of The Year; and Supporter of Entrepreneurship.

Additionally, for the fourth year, Dr. Stephen R. Covey, co-chairman of Franklin Covey Co., presented the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award for Principle-Centered Leadership. The award, which recognizes entrepreneurs who have achieved outstanding business results in a deeply principled manner, went to Jack Lowe, Jr., CEO and chairman of the board, TDIndustries, an employee-owned construction and service company located in Dallas.

Ernst & Young, a global leader in professional services, helps clients to quickly and confidently make financial decisions designed to enhance value. Its 77,000 people in more than 130 countries have the industry and financial experience to provide fresh perspectives on operating in the new economy. Ernst & Young offers traditional audit and tax services, as well as customized services in corporate finance, online security, risk management, the valuation of intangibles and e-business acceleration. In addition, legal services are available in various parts of the world where permitted. A collection of Ernst & Young's latest ideas on the new economy can be found at www.ey.com/thoughtcenter.

Ernst & Young refers to the U.S. firm of Ernst & Young LLP and other members of the global Ernst & Young organization.

Digital photos of winners and video highlights from the 2000 EOY Annual Conference and Awards Gala are available online at www.ey.com/us/eoy.