03/26/2004 - Harry M. Feder Recognized for Outstanding Leadership in Healthcare Quality Improvement Management

Lake Success, NY, March 26, 2004 - Harry M. Feder, Senior Vice President at IPRO, is the first recipient of the James Q. Cannon Memorial Endowment's Outstanding Leader in Operations Management Award. The award was presented to Mr. Feder at the Fifth Annual Health Care Quality Improvement Awards Dinner. The dinner was held in conjunction with the recent American Health Quality Association (AHQA) conference in New Orleans.

"I am deeply honored to receive this inaugural award," says 53-year-old Feder, a resident of Riverdale, the Bronx. "I am proud to be a part of this important industry and will continue to work towards improving health care in New York and in our nation."

According to Dan Memmott, Chief Financial Officer at HealthInsight, located in Utah, and member of the James Q. Cannon Memorial Endowment Board: "Harry has championed quality improvement and quality evaluation, both at state and federal levels, and is recognized as a national expert in developing and managing Medicare quality evaluation efforts and state-based review programs under Medicaid. His ability to operate effectively within the halls of Congress and to articulate our message has been key to this industry's ongoing successes."

"Harry is one of very few managers who have guided our program literally from the beginning, starting with the Professional Standards Review Organizations of the 1970s to the Quality Improvement Organizations of today," says Theodore O. Will, Chief Executive Officer at IPRO. "Through all these years, Harry has worked tirelessly to advance both quality improvement and quality evaluation and to build bridges between the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and between public and private payers. His leadership and dedication are unsurpassed and we are fortunate to have him on the IPRO team."

With 20 years' experience in health care quality evaluation, IPRO holds major contracts with state and federal governments to review the cost and quality of services provided to Medicaid recipients, Medicare beneficiaries, and patients enrolled in managed care organizations. Based in Lake Success, New York, IPRO also holds contracts with private-sector clients to improve the quality of privately financed services.

AHQA is an organization that represents Quality Improvement Organizations such as IPRO that work to improve the quality of health care in communities across America.

Contact:

Whitney Wasserman/Dennis Tartaglia

212/481-7000

Spencer Vibbert

516/326-7767 ext. 652