First Health Enhances 24/7/365 Member Service with Unique, Free Medical Director Electronic Question & Answer Service

New service offers members personalized answers to medical questions from board-certified medical directors

Contact:
Erin Gardiner
Public Relations Manager
(630) 737-5016
eringardiner@firsthealth.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DOWNERS GROVE, IL - August 5, 2003 - First Health Group Corp. (Nasdaq: FHCC) announced today that a new service, First Health® Medical Director Q & A, will be available to members beginning September 1. The free service allows members to e-mail questions to First Health Medical Directors to receive personal, detailed responses.

After logging on through their company-specific, customized website, covered employees and their family members will be able to click a link and send e-mails directly to board-certified First Health Medical Directors. After personally reviewing and researching the general health question, a Medical Director will respond directly to the member with relevant information and suggestions.

“First Health® Medical Director Q & A provides us with an exciting new way to reach out to members,” said Scott Smith, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of First Health Group Corp. “Not only are we helping members get the medical information they need, but we are also creating more empowered and intelligent health care consumers.”

First Health Medical Directors will offer vital tips for members’ consideration and for discussion with their personal physician and may recommend topics for further investigation. Medical Directors may also send members additional information, such as medical guidelines, information on research articles about certain conditions, or website addresses for further research.

Medical Directors do not diagnose or make treatment recommendations and are not a substitute for members’ personal physicians.

“The First Health® Medical Director Q & A is a breakthrough reaffirmation of First Health’s industry-leading commitment to customer service,” said Edward L. Wristen, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Health Group Corp. “We run our business 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so that when a consumer calls he or she can talk to a real person for help making the right decisions. Now that benefit is paralleled on the Web.”

First Health, the premier national health-benefits services company, specializes in providing large payors with integrated managed care solutions. First Health is a unique national managed care company serving the group health, workers’ compensation and state agency markets. Using technology to enable service and managed care innovations, First Health sets the bar for industry performance. For more information, visit the company website at www.firsthealth.com.