MIAMI, Feb. 1, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Stock Market Alert's watch list includes: ER Urgent Care Centers (Pink Sheets:ERUG), Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:ASTM), Amgen, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMGN) and Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK).
ER Urgent Care Centers (Pink Sheets:ERUG) issued a press release that may get investor's attention. Late yesterday afternoon, the company announced that it has added several discount health plans to their list of provider contracts and has renegotiated contracts with their existing discount plans. Before the news was released, the company's stock closed at seventy-eight cents a share.
The press release stated that the company is currently contracted with at least 12 discount plans in the south Florida area alone, representing a membership of over 30,000 lives. Members of discount health plans typically pay cash for a 3 tiered schedule of fees for the types of services provided at discount rates. They offer an alternative to fully insured health plans at a much lower cost to the member.
"A member can have a complete visit (including doctor, lab and x-ray) for a discount rate," explains Ray Pinedo, ER Urgent Care Centers' Finance Director, who goes on to say that "every little bit helps in getting the word out to educate the public on after hours care."
ERUC Management Company Inc. operates ER Urgent Care Centers in the South Florida area. The "true, bona-fide, Urgent Care Center" is a one-stop-shop where patients can receive premier health care, after-hours, at a fraction of the cost of emergency room visits. With the "Urgent Care Center" model, emergency rooms will no longer lose money on ER patients with minor injuries and illnesses and the HMOs will no longer have to pay exorbitant claims for non-admitted patients. ER Urgent Care Centers create a win-win situation for everyone, filling the financial and service gap between primary care physicians (PCPs) and hospital emergency rooms.
ER Urgent Care Center is a provider for Amerigroup, Avmed, Humana, Aetna, Hip/Vista/Beacon, Medicaid/Medipass/Medi-Kids, Total Health Choice, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida, Assist Card, Cigna, Neighborhood Health Partnership, Corvel, Health Insurance Plans and many more.
Other stocks of interest yesterday were: Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:ASTM) up 5.6% on 16 million shares traded, Amgen, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMGN) up 1.5% on 7.8 million shares traded and Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) up 0.1% on 29.7 million shares traded.
The release is provided by Stock Market Alerts LLC, an electronic broadcaster and publisher of this release, and hereafter referred to as "the company". The company received compensation for services performed for ER Urgent Care Centers (ERUG). The compensation is one hundred thousand dollars from non-affiliated third party, Company Reporter Inc. Because the company received compensation for its services, there is an inherent conflict of interest in the company statements and opinions and such statements and opinions cannot be considered independent.
The information contained in this press release is for informational purposes only, and not to be construed as an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any security. The company makes no representation or warranty relating to the validity of the facts presented nor does the company represent or warrant that all material facts necessary to make an investment decision are presented above. Stock Market Alerts LLC is an advertising company and therefore, this release should be viewed for informational purposes only.
The company relies exclusively on information gathered on the public company, such as public filings, press releases and its web sites. Investors should use the advertising information contained in this release as a starting point for conducting additional research on the public company in order to allow the investor to form his or her own opinion regarding the public company. Factual statements contained in this publication are made as of the date stated and they are subject to change without notice. The company is not a registered investment adviser, broker or a dealer.
Investing in the public company that this release is providing service for should be reviewed is speculative and a high-risk and may result in the loss of some or all of any investment.
This release may contain statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The words "may," "would," "will," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements.