American Specialty Health and Healthyroads Net Nine "Finest" Awards from Health Care Communicators of San Diego

SAN DIEGO (Feb. 16, 2005) – American Specialty Health (ASH), the nation’s largest complementary health care benefits organization, garnered nine top awards from the Health Care Communicators of San Diego at their awards dinner on Thursday, Feb. 4. The annual Finest Awards recognizes excellence in communications through a variety of media in the health care industry.

Entries included public relations campaigns, feature and marketing writing, advertising, trade show exhibits, special events, and others. A rotating group of independent, out-of-state organizations reviews the entries each year.

ASH earned Gold Awards in the following categories for these entries:

• Brochures–single, three-color: 2003 Year in Review
• Direct Mail/Direct Response: Broker Road Show Invitation
• Internal Communications: ASH Internal Communications Plan
• Off-the-Wall: The “Walk the Talk” Challenge
• Web Site Redesign: ASHCompanies.com

ASH also earned a Silver Award for ASH News Flash in the category of E-Zines/Internet Newsletters.

ASH subsidiary Healthyroads, Inc. won the Gold Award in the category of Special Publications for its Healthyroads for Living Premium Tobacco Cessation Module. The Premium Tobacco Cessation Module includes an educational guidebook and compact disc and is specifically designed for members who want to stop smoking or using other forms of tobacco. Healthyroads also won Silver Awards for the Healthyroads Cookbook and the redesign of Healthyroads.com.

The Healthyroads for Living program was designed to help individuals improve their overall health through health education, including educational manuals, telephone and online counseling, and Internet tools and trackers. Healthyroads for Living empowers members to adopt healthier habits such as improved nutrition, increased physical activity, and the use of relaxation skills to help manage stress.

“The works submitted by ASH are truly commendable and are fine examples of our company’s commitment to quality and excellence in everything we do,” said George DeVries, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of ASH. “We are proud to be associated with the Health Care Communicators of San Diego, and thank them for recognizing ASH’s marketing, public relations, Internet, and print communications as the industry’s best.”

American Specialty Health, Incorporated (ASH) is the nation’s leading specialty benefits organization for complementary health care, providing health benefits, health education, and affinity network programs to employer groups, trust funds, health plans, and insurance carriers nationwide. Based in San Diego, ASH has over 500 employees and more than 11.5 million members in benefit programs nationwide. ASH provides discount programs for more than 75 million members nationwide. For more information about ASH, please visit ASHCompanies.com.