UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934
October 4, 1999
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(Date of earliest event reported)
LABORATORY CORPORATION OF AMERICA HOLDINGS
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(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
DELAWARE 1-11353 13-3757370
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(State or other (Commission (IRS Employer
jurisdiction of File Number) Identification
incorporation) Number)
358 SOUTH MAIN STREET, BURLINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA 27215
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(Address of principal executive offices)
336-229-1127
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(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
ITEM 5. OTHER EVENTS
On October 4, 1999, Healtheon Corporation and Laboratory
Corporation of America-Registered Trademark- Holdings,
announced that LabCorp has selected BenefitCentral-Trademark-
, Healtheon's online enrollment and benefits management
service, to streamline the process of benefits management
for approximately 18,400 LabCorp employees. BenefitCentral
will be deployed and serviced by Buck Consultants, a leading
worldwide human resources consulting firm.
ITEM 7. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS, PRO FORMA FINANCIAL
INFORMATION AND EXHIBITS
(c) Exhibit
20 Press release of the Company dated
October 4, 1999.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities and Exchange
Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to
be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly
authorized.
LABORATORY CORPORATION OF AMERICA HOLDINGS
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(Registrant)
By:/s/ BRADFORD T. SMITH
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Bradford T. Smith
Executive Vice President,
General Counsel, Secretary
and Compliance Officer
Date: October 6, 1999
Contact: Christine Aylward
Ogilvy Public Relations `
415-541-8495
christine.aylward@ogilvypr.com
Ed Gadowski
Buck Consultants, Inc.
201-902-2565
egadowski@buckconsultants.com
Pamela Sherry
Laboratory Corporation of America-Registered Trademark-Holdings
336-584-5171 ext. 4855
sherryp@labcorp.com
HEALTHEON-TRADEMARK- AND BUCK CONSULTANTS TO PROVIDE ONLINE
BENEFITS ENROLLMENT SERVICES TO LABCORP-REGISTERED TRADEMARK-
One of Nation's Largest Clinical Laboratories to Offer Employees
Online Access to Manage Benefits and Healthcare
SANTA CLARA, Calif., BURLINGTON, North Carolina, October 4, 1999 --
Healtheon Corporation (NASDAQ: HLTH) and Laboratory Corporation of
America-Registered Trademark- Holdings (LabCorp-Registered
Trademark-) (NYSE: LH), one of the largest national clinical
laboratories in the United States, today announced that LabCorp has
selected BenefitCentral-Trademark-, Healtheon's online enrollment
and benefits management service, to streamline the process of
benefits management for approximately 18,400 LabCorp employees.
BenefitCentral will be deployed and serviced by Buck Consultants, a
leading worldwide human resources consulting firm.
As previously announced, Healtheon and WebMD agreed in May to merge
to form Healtheon/WebMD, the first end-to-end provider of
healthcare information and services. Additionally, LabCorp and
Healtheon recently entered into an e-commerce agreement for
Healtheon to process laboratory requests and reports for physicians
using LabCorp's clinical laboratory services.
Healtheon's BenefitCentral is an Internet-based service used by
employers, employees and members, consultants and payers to provide
online enrollment and benefits management. BenefitCentral enables
employers to better manage benefit enrollment and administration
and to improve the accuracy of critical data. Plan administrators
benefit from an enormous improvement in their productivity while
using the Internet. BenefitCentral also allows human resource
administrators to tailor their benefits programs to their company's
needs.
Employees can access BenefitCentral from home, work or on the road
to compare health plans, search provider directories and
electronically enroll in or change their benefits online. This
reduces the costs and errors associated with today's paper-based
enrollment systems. BenefitCentral also provides secure e-mail
between the employee and employer to simplify customer service
communications.
"We are pleased that LabCorp has selected BenefitCentral as its
benefits administration service," said Sanjiv Luthra, general
manager for Employer Services, of Healtheon. "It is another
example of how Healtheon is enabling companies like LabCorp to
address Internet-enabled connectivity among healthcare participants
- - in this case, connectivity between employees, their health plans
and their physicians."
"BenefitCentral will provide our employees with a fast, accurate
and secure method of managing their benefits and obtaining
information. It also will help us collect accurate and timely
data, helping us better manage our benefit plans," said Bradford T.
Smith, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, of LabCorp.
"The partnership we have developed with Healtheon to deploy and
service BenefitCentral allows us to provide our clients with a
benefit management system that is secure and cost-effective," said
Steven J. Ferruggia, Principal and National Director of Buck
Consultants' Health and Welfare Consulting Services. "Through the
use of the Internet, BenefitCentral connects all participants,
allowing employees to enroll in benefit plans in real time."
About Healtheon
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Healtheon, founded in 1996 and based in Santa Clara, Calif., is a
pioneer in providing Internet-based, business-to-business and
consumer-to-business electronic commerce services that link doctors
and consumers with healthcare institutions, enabling them to
efficiently and conveniently manage their business and personal
healthcare needs. Healtheon's services simplify the business and
clinical processes of healthcare, provide more timely access to information,
provide faster and more convenient service, and lead to higher quality,
more affordable care. The company recently announced definitive
agreements to acquire MEDE AMERICA Corp. and merge with WebMD, Inc.
Healtheon can be reached through its Web site at
http://www.healtheon.com.
About LabCorp
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Laboratory Corporation of America-Registered Trademark- Holdings
(LabCorp-Registered Trademark-) is a national clinical laboratory
with annual revenues of $1.6 billion in 1998. With approximately
18,400 employees and over 100,000 clients nationwide, the company
offers more than 2,000 clinical tests, ranging from simple blood
analyses to more sophisticated technologies. Included in LabCorp's
network of 25 major laboratories are three Centers of Excellence.
The Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology, in Research
Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina, develops applications for
polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology. Its Center for
Occupational Testing in RTP is the world's largest substance abuse
testing facility, and the Center for Esoteric Testing in
Burlington, North Carolina, performs the largest volume of rare
analyses in the network. LabCorp's clients include physicians,
state and federal governments, managed care organizations,
hospitals, clinics, pharmaceutical and Fortune 1000 companies, and
other clinical laboratories. Visit LabCorp's Web site at
http://www.labcorp.com.
About Buck Consultants
- ----------------------
Buck Consultants, Inc. is headquartered in New York City and has 60
offices worldwide. The company employs more than 3,000
professionals and serves over 5,000 pension and other benefit plans
in all 50 states and throughout the world. These plans cover some
10 million active and retired employees and have assets of $400
billion. Buck Consultants is a Mellon Consulting Company. Visit
Buck Consultants' website at http://www.buckconsultants.com on the
Internet.
About WebMD
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WebMD offers a comprehensive suite of Internet-based services and
information for physicians as well as healthcare information
services and online communities for consumers, enabling healthcare
professionals to efficiently manage their business and consumers to
become equal partners in taking care of their personal healthcare
needs. WebMD can be reached through its Web site at www.webmd.com.
WebMD physician subscriptions are available by calling (877) GO-WEBMD
or accessing the Web site at www.webmd.com. Consumers can also access the
information and services they need to take control of their health
and lifestyles through a separate Web site at the same address.
About MEDE AMERICA
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Headquartered in East Meadow, NY, MEDE AMERICA is a leading
provider of healthcare transaction solutions to a broad range of
providers and payers in the healthcare industry. The company offers
an integrated suite of electronic transaction solutions that allows
hospitals, pharmacies, physicians, dentists and other healthcare
providers and provider groups to electronically edit, process and
transmit claims, eligibility and enrollment data, track claims
submissions throughout the claims payment process and obtain faster
reimbursement for their services. With offices in New York, Ohio
and Atlanta, MEDE AMERICA has 450 employees and can be reached
through its Web site at http://www.mede.com.
# # #
Healtheon is a trademark of Healtheon Corporation. All rights
reserved.
Other than historical information set forth herein, this
announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties, including those relating to the ability of
Healtheon's and LabCorp's services to decrease costs and improve
patient care. Actual results could be materially different from
those discussed in this announcement. Factors that could cause
actual results to differ include, among others: Healtheon's limited
operating history, continued growth in the use of the Internet, and
acceptance of the Internet as a secure medium over which to conduct
transactions. Additional risks associated with Healtheon's and
LabCorp's businesses can be found in Healtheon's recent
Registration Statement on Form S-4 and the companies' periodic
filings with the SEC.