SUNRISE, Fla., March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- NationsHealth, Inc. (Nasdaq: NHRX; NHRXW; NHRXU) announced today that Sharad Mansukani, MD, CPE, CMCE, has been appointed to the newly created position of Chief Strategic Officer. Dr. Mansukani will be responsible for expanding NationsHealth’s business lines and developing new strategic initiatives as they relate to the Medicare Modernization Act.
Dr. Mansukani was most recently at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), where he served as a senior advisor and medical officer. Prior to joining CMS, Dr. Mansukani was Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Health Partners, the Philadelphia-based Medicaid and Medicare health plan with over 150,000 members.
At CMS, Dr. Mansukani advised the CMS administrator and other federal leadership on design and implementation of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. This included advising on Medicare’s market strategy, formulary policy, contracting process, and infrastructure. He participated in drafting the Medicare Modernization Act and the complex new regulations governing the Medicare drug benefit. He also served on the Bush Administration’s Medicare Modernization Executive Committee and helped improve collaboration between Medicare, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health.
“We are pleased to welcome Sharad to NationsHealth,” said Dr. Glenn M. Parker, MD, Chief Executive Officer of NationsHealth. “One of our strategic goals is to further integrate our product and services capabilities to meet the needs of our customers under the Medicare Modernization Act. To support this goal, we believe that Sharad’s extensive participation in the formulation of the Medicare reform as well as his broad industry expertise will allow him to offer a highly relevant perspective to our business. We look forward to Sharad’s contributions, which we believe will be extremely valuable as we continue to expand our services to be a leading participant in the new Medicare environment.”
Dr. Mansukani, 35, is on the faculty at both the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University Schools of Medicine. He also serves as a Senior Advisor to the private equity investment firm, Texas Pacific Group (TPG). Dr. Mansukani completed a residency and fellowship in ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a fellowship in quality management and managed care at the Wharton School of Business. A popular speaker at healthcare conferences, Dr. Mansukani serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Medical Quality, Managed Care, and Biotechnology Healthcare.
About NationsHealth, Inc.
NationsHealth was founded in 2002 to improve the healthcare of Americans including Medicare and managed care beneficiaries by providing medical products and prescription discount services. The Company offers discount prescription cards, accepted at over 50,000 pharmacies nationwide. The Company currently has over 2,500,000 card members. In addition, NationsHealth provides home delivery of diabetes, respiratory and ostomy medical products to approximately 113,000 of its patients. NationsHealth is also the provider of diabetes supplies for Medicare beneficiaries at over 1,000 Kmart pharmacies. For more information please visit http://www.nhrx.com/.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements made in this press release that state NationsHealth’s intentions, belief, expectations or predictions for the future are forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned that these statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future events or results. All forward-looking statements are only as of the date of this press release and NationsHealth undertakes no obligation to update or revise them. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause NationsHealth’s actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding NationsHealth’s intended use of proceeds. Important factors which could cause NationsHealth’s actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements include, without limitation, economic, competitive, governmental and regulatory factors affecting the medical products, pharmaceutical and prescription drug industry and/or NationsHealth’s operations, markets, products, services, prices and other factors set forth under the heading “Risk Factors” in NationsHealth’s Quarterly Report on form 10-QSB for the three months ended September 30, 2004, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
At Nations Health: At Rx Communications Group: Glenn M. Parker, MD Melody A. Carey (investors) 917-322-2571 Chief Executive Officer Tony Loke (media) 917-322-2164 954-903-5000
NationsHealth, Inc.
CONTACT: Glenn M. Parker, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Nations Health,+1-954-903-5000; or Investors: Melody A. Carey, +1-917-322-2571, or Tony Loke,+1-917-322-2164, both of Rx Communications Group, for Nations Health
Web site: http://www.nationshealth.com/