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Press Release

Independence Blue Cross Donates $3.5m for Local Heart Research Center

Philadelphia, PA - June 30, 2006 - Independence Blue Cross (IBC) has pledged $3.5 million to build a research center at the Temple University School of Medicine that will focus on heart disease, one of the top public health threats facing this region and the nation today.

The Independence Blue Cross Cardiovascular Research Center will occupy the top floor of a new, state-of-the-art, $150 million medical teaching and research facility slated to open at Temple in 2009. The center will feature sophisticated technologies to promote cardiovascular research.

"An investment in Temple's heart research center is an investment in our community and in the health of people throughout our region who benefit from heart research," said Joseph A. Frick, IBC president and chief executive officer. "That fits our mission of helping people live healthy lives."

"Research is essential to providing quality medical education and patient care," said John Daly, M.D., Dean of the School of Medicine. "Through this gift, Independence Blue Cross shares our commitment to patient health and wellbeing as well as to the education of superior physicians and outstanding biomedical researchers."

Cardiovascular disease is a shared concern for both Temple and IBC. Chronic heart failure is the leading cause of death in the United States and carries a staggering economic burden.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 70 million Americans currently live with a cardiovascular disease and each year, over 910,000 - or one person every 35 seconds - die of cardiovascular disease. By the end of 2006, the CDC estimates that the cost of heart disease and stroke in the United States alone will be $403 billion, a figure that includes health care expenditures and lost productivity from death and disability.

IBC provides support to its members with cardiovascular disease through its successful disease management program, ConnectionsSM Health Management Program. The program gives members access to health coaches, specially trained health care professionals available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help members understand their conditions and treatment options. The program also offers members educational materials, health reminders, and an online encyclopedia of health information.

IBC is a leader in tackling issues to improve access to quality, affordable health care for people who live in the Philadelphia area. For example, IBC has partnered with more than 70 of the region's hospitals in the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council to stamp out hospital-acquired infections, which afflicted more than 11,000 Pennsylvanians last year. IBC is also combating the shortage of more than 10,000 nurses in Pennsylvania through its Nurse Scholars Program.

The IBC Cardiovascular Research Center will be occupied by the Temple University School of Medicine's Cardiovascular Research Group. These scientists are currently researching cardiac regeneration, which encourages diseased, damaged hearts to self repair and has shown positive results in treating heart failure in 10 small clinical trials in Europe. The Temple research group has already successfully grown new heart tissue in the laboratory using an adult stem cell from the heart of a large mammal.

The Temple University School of Medicine's new facility will be located at the University's Health Science Center along North Broad Street in Philadelphia. Six of the 11 floors in the 460,000 square foot building will be devoted to research.  Other interdisciplinary medical research centers operating at Temple are the Center for Neurovirology, the Center for Substance Abuse Research, the Sol Sherry Thrombosis Research Center, the Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology, the Center for Minority Health, and the Center for Obesity Research and Education. The new medical school building is the largest construction project ever undertaken by Temple University, part of more than $400 million in capital projects currently underway.

Independence Blue Cross is the leading health insurer in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Nationwide, IBC and its affiliates provide coverage to nearly 3.4 million people. For nearly 70 years, Independence Blue Cross has offered quality health care products and services tailored to meet the changing needs of members, employers, groups and providers.

Independence Blue Cross recently received the highest ratings from the National Committee for Quality Assurance for its HMO and PPO health care plans. In addition, in 2005, Independence Blue Cross's Personal Choice was rated the No. 1 PPO in the nation and its Keystone HMO was ranked the No. 1 HMO in the region by health care consumers in a leading independent consumer magazine.