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Hythiam Announces First Commercial Reimbursement Agreements with Third-Party Payors
8:00 AM ET - BusinessWire

Hythiam, Inc. (NASDAQ:HYTM) announced today that the Company has entered into its first commercial reimbursement agreements with self-insured employer groups and unions that are part of a regional health plan in a state impacted by methamphetamine addiction. Reimbursement will be provided on a case rate basis for treatment and care management components of Hythiam's PROMETA(R) based disease management offering. The members covered by these payors represent a significant portion of this regional health plan's population, and will serve as those initially being included in Hythiam's disease management offering. Confidentiality is being maintained at the request of the plan and participating parties.

"The agreements covering these initial members signify an important early success for Hythiam and represent an opportunity to extend our disease management platform with this health plan. It is also promising when coupled with our progress in working through the contracting process with future national and regional health plans, and validates our newly focused efforts on fully developing and offering a comprehensive substance abuse disease management platform," said Terren Peizer, Hythiam's Chairman and CEO.

"The third-party payor market represents a substantial opportunity, as it allows Hythiam to leverage its disease management platform without significant additional investment in infrastructure. We will continue to cultivate opportunities with prospective national and regional health plans, and will work toward launching our PROMETA(R) based disease management platform for managed care organizations, self-insured employers, unions and other third-party payors throughout the United States," concluded Peizer.

About the PROMETA(R) Treatment Program

Hythiam's PROMETA(R) Treatment Program is designed for use by healthcare providers seeking to treat individuals diagnosed with dependencies to alcohol, cocaine or methamphetamine, as well as combinations of these drugs. The PROMETA(R) Treatment Program includes nutritional supplements, FDA-approved oral and IV medications used off-label and separately administered in a unique dosing algorithm, as well as psychosocial or other recovery-oriented therapy chosen by the patient and his or her treatment provider. As a result, PROMETA(R) represents an innovative approach to managing alcohol, cocaine, or methamphetamine dependence that is designed to address physiological, nutritional, and psychosocial aspects of the disease, and is thereby intended to offer patients an opportunity to achieve sustained recovery. To learn more, please visit www.prometainfo.com.

About Hythiam(R)

Hythiam, Inc. provides behavioral health management services to health plans, employers, criminal justice, and government agencies through a network of licensed and company managed providers. The company approaches the management of behavioral health disorders with a focus on using the latest medical and health technology towards improved outcomes and out-patient treatment. Hythiam also researches, develops, licenses and commercializes innovative and proprietary physiological, nutritional, and behavioral treatment programs. Hythiam offers disease management for substance dependence built around its proprietary PROMETA(R) Treatment Program for alcoholism and dependence to stimulants. The PROMETA(R) Treatment Program, which integrates behavioral, nutritional, and medical components, is available through both licensed treatment providers and company managed PROMETA(R) Centers. Hythiam does not practice medicine or manufacture, distribute, or sell any medications and has no relationship with any manufacturers or distributors of medications used in the PROMETA(R) Treatment Program. For further information, please visit www.hythiam.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for statements of historical fact, the matters discussed in this press release are forward looking and made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect numerous assumptions and involve a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control that may cause actual results to differ materially from stated expectations. These risk factors include, among others, limited operating history and lack of statistically significant formal research studies, the risk that treatment protocols might not be effective, difficulty in developing, exploiting and protecting proprietary technologies, intense competition and substantial regulation in the healthcare industry; and additional risks factors as discussed in the reports filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available on its website at http://www.sec.gov.

SOURCE: Hythiam, Inc.

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