CYPRESS, Calif., Aug. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. has earned a place on the eighth annual 2005 FORTUNE magazine’s 50 Top Employers for Minorities.
According to FORTUNE, companies that are considered for the 50 Top Employers for Minorities list are required to have a history that shows an effort made not only to hire minorities but to retain and promote them. The companies on FORTUNE’s list understand that it is important to actively interact and engage with minority communities to maintain opportunities for a diverse work force in the company’s management and board of directors.
The article announcing this year’s winners appears in the August 22, 2005, issue.
Minorities comprise nearly half of PacifiCare’s employee population and 20 percent of those in vice president levels or higher. Women alone, regardless of ethnicity, account for nearly three-quarters of PacifiCare’s work force.
“At PacifiCare, we value and strive for an employee base that reflects and understands the communities we serve,” said Howard Phanstiel, PacifiCare’s chairman and chief executive officer. “PacifiCare health plan members come from many different backgrounds, communities and cultures, so we established a diversity initiative to better appreciate and meet the unique health care coverage needs of the diverse populations we serve. Our commitment to foster workplace diversity is an integral part of our brand pledge, ‘Caring is good. Doing something is better.’ The board of directors and I are proud to receive such acclaimed recognition from FORTUNE magazine.”
PacifiCare has been recognized by several publications and organizations for building a culturally and ethnically diverse work environment. This year and last, LATINA Style Magazine named PacifiCare to its LATINA Style 50 as one of the best companies for Latinas, and Hispanic Magazine placed PacifiCare on the Corporate 100 list in 2004 and 2005. Also this year and last, Asian Enterprise listed PacifiCare as one of the top 10 companies for Asian Americans for developing innovative initiatives to include Asian Americans in its corporate culture.
Last year, the California Chapter of the Black Chamber of Commerce of Orange County named PacifiCare as Corporation of the Year. In addition, Catalyst named PacifiCare among the top 25 percent of companies in 2004 based on gender diversity in top management positions.
PacifiCare launched its Strategic Diversity Initiative as part of a corporate culture that embraces diversity and reflects the communities where its employees and members live and work. However, according to Phanstiel, PacifiCare’s commitment to diversity goes beyond its multicultural work force. The Strategic Diversity Initiative also focuses on improving health outcomes and expanding health care access and information among specific, diverse populations.
PacifiCare’s Latino Health Solutions, Asian American Markets and African American Health Solutions initiatives were launched in an effort to develop and manage new programs and services designed to help build stronger ties with consumers, providers, employers and organizations in each population’s respective communities.
In addition to creating culturally appropriate marketing collateral, health care information and multilingual Web sites (including sites in Spanish and Chinese), PacifiCare through these initiatives specifically tailored its numerous disease management and health improvement programs to better address the various disease states that affect different populations, such as heart disease for African Americans, diabetes for Latinos and cancer for Asian Americans.
PacifiCare Health Systems is one of the nation’s largest consumer health organizations with nearly 3.2 million health plan members and approximately 11.3 million specialty plan members nationwide. PacifiCare offers individuals, employers and Medicare beneficiaries a variety of consumer-driven health care and life insurance products. Specialty plan operations include behavioral health, dental and vision, and complete pharmacy benefit management through its wholly owned subsidiary, Prescription Solutions. More information on PacifiCare Health Systems is available at www.pacificare.com.
“Caring is good. Doing something is better.” is a service mark of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.
PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.
CONTACT: Dan Miller, Media Relations, +1-714-226-3726, dan.miller@phs.com,or Sierra Mowll, Media Relations, +1-714-226-3026, sierra.mowll@phs.com,both of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.
Web site: http://www.pacificare.com/
