A Medical Device Daily

Avalon Healthcare (Tampa), an insurance plan in Florida, has signed a provider agreement with the Collier County based Physicians Regional Healthcare System (Naples, Florida), according to Charles O'Neill, Avalon's CEO.

The agreement became effective Aug. 1, 2009. The Physicians Regional Healthcare System is comprised of two campuses and has a combined 201 acute care beds in Collier County.

"Avalon Members in Collier County benefit from direct hospital contracts because competitive reimbursements provide lower costs especially in a world of consumer directed healthcare," O'Neill said. "As a Florida only health plan, the new contracts help Avalon keep premiums competitive with larger, less personalized national insurers and offer us a wider footprint in southwest Florida."

"The addition of the Physicians Regional Healthcare System brings us even closer to completing our hospital network on the west coast of Florida," said O'Neill. "We're now working to contract with additional hospitals and some smaller facilities after which our efforts on this side of the state should be completed."