Healthcare Marketing Report Honors American Specialty Health With Eight Healthcare...

Healthcare Marketing Report Honors American Specialty Health With Eight
Healthcare Advertising Awards

SAN DIEGO, May 19, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American Specialty Health (ASH), a
national health and wellness organization, earned eight Healthcare Advertising
Awards -- three gold and two silver, plus three merit distinctions -- from
Healthcare Marketing Report. The Healthcare Advertising Awards celebrated its
26th anniversary with over 3,600 entries, making it both the oldest and largest
health care advertising awards competition.

A national panel of judges reviewed all entries based on creativity, quality,
message effectiveness, consumer appeal, graphic design, and overall impact. The
judges gave gold distinctions to 259 entries, silver distinctions to 251
entries, and bronze distinctions to 241 entries.

ASH and Healthyroads (ASH's wellness and prevention subsidiary) won three Gold
awards for their:

* How to Build a Fit Company(tm) catalog

* "This Year I Will..." New Year's resolution posters

* Social events for members of Silver&Fit, ASH's healthy aging program
ASH and Healthyroads received two Silver awards for their:

* Wellness employee communication program

* Healthyroads.com Web site
ASH and Healthyroads also received merit distinctions for their Healthyroads
monthly newsletter, ASH year-in-review employee Flash presentation, and the ASH
corporate awards banquet.

"Day in and day out, we strive to create materials that aptly reflect our
commitment to personal health improvement," said ASH CEO and chairman George
DeVries. "It is only through effective communication that we can hope to reach
our members and help them change their lives."

About American Specialty Health

American Specialty Health Incorporated (ASH) is a national health and wellness
company that provides wellness and prevention services, specialty network
management programs, and fitness and exercise services to health plans,
insurance carriers, employer groups, and trust funds. Based in San Diego, ASH
has 700 employees and covers over 15 million members.

Healthyroads, Inc. is the wellness and prevention management services subsidiary
of ASH. Healthyroads offers a wide range of wellness solutions -- including
award-winning telephone-based coaching programs for weight management, tobacco
cessation, and healthy living, and products and resources through its integrated
Web site, Healthyroads.com.

For more information about Healthyroads and other ASH health and wellness
programs, visit www.ASHCompanies.com or call 800.848.3555.

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CONTACT: American Specialty Health
Debby Clark
619.578.2000
debbyc@ashn.com
Tim Curns
800.848.3555
timc@ashn.com