UBS Warburg Hosts 11th Annual Global Healthcare Services Conference NEW YORK, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ -- The 11th Annual UBS Warburg Global Healthcare Services Conference begins today at the Plaza Hotel in New York City and runs through Thursday, February 8. Over 1,000 portfolio managers, financial analysts, and investors are scheduled to attend. Senior executives from over 170 public and private healthcare services companies will present over the four-day period, representing nearly every aspect of healthcare services, including hospitals, managed care, rehabilitation, long-term care, senior living, and alternate site providers, distributors, IT and outsourcers, laboratories, prescription benefit managers, and REITs. Given the strong stock price performance of several healthcare service sectors and the backdrop of broader market volatility, investors will be intently listening to gauge the outlook for various sector pricing trends and labor and wage cost growth, and questioning growth strategies in light of the industry's broad resurgence. Two other key themes that will emerge will be how companies are positioned to raise capital and take advantage of the consolidation opportunities resulting from several years of government under- funding and how they plan to adapt to the advent of Medicare prescription drug coverage. Monday's agenda offers one track of 14 companies that are leaders in their respective niches based upon market share, market capitalization and growth outlook. Ken Freeman, CEO of Quest Diagnostics, will kick of company presentations. During the day, we will also hear from Paul Ormond, chairman and CEO of ManorCare; Richard Scrushy, founder, chairman and CEO of HEALTHSOUTH Corp.; David Colby, CFO of WellPoint Health Networks; Alan Miller, chairman and CEO of Universal Health Services; and Joel Germunder, president of Omnicare, among others. A highlight of Monday will be the keynote lunchtime discussion with Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Tom Harkin (D-IA). In keeping with the "power sharing" theme of the new administration, these Senators, each high-ranking members of Senate Committees that oversee Medicare and healthcare, will stress the needed role of and opportunity for private sector leadership in addressing spending on, access to, and quality of health care over the next decade. Other presenters on Tuesday through Thursday in multiple tracks include Jeffrey Barbakow, chairman and CEO of Tenet Healthcare; Dr. William McGuire, chairman and CEO of UnitedHealth Group; John Byrnes, CFO of Lincare Holdings; Norm Payson, CEO of Oxford Health; Jay Gellert, CEO of Health Net; Robert Martini, chairman and CEO of Bergen Brunswig; Vic Campbell, Senior Vice President of HCA - The Healthcare Company; Jack Walsh, CEO of IMS Health; and Paul Klassen, founder, chairman and CEO of Sunrise Assisted Living. In addition, leading healthcare service companies from Australia, The United Kingdom, Germany, and India will present their respective market strategies. We will hear presentations from Dr. Ben Lipps, chairman and CEO of Fresenius Medical Care AG; Peter Smedley, of Mayne Nickless; Richard Clough of Care UK Plc; Stefan Meister of Gehe AG; and Geoffrey Cooper of Alliance UniChem Plc. In his opening remarks, Howard Capek, executive director, UBS Warburg Equity Research, will mention opportunities in several healthcare service areas. "Congress' upward Medicare adjustments bode well for providers and for investor sentiment. The long-term care sector in particular should benefit from such a bias. With better sentiment, we also see opportunities in secular growth sectors such as rehabilitation and outpatient surgery and drug distribution segments. From 1997 through 1999, mandated healthcare under- spending and reimbursement changes drove significant operating pain and fallout. Industry leaders that managed change and retrenched their businesses, then, have emerged today, with market share, strong balance sheets, and lean operating structures. These survivors are poised to create enormous shareholder value as prospectively-based reimbursement leads us into 21st century healthcare delivery." Matthew Ripperger, director, UBS Warburg Equity Research, intends to state that, "the fundamental outlook for the hospital industry remains the best that it has been in the last decade. Both commercial and government reimbursement trends are positive and inpatient admission growth is beginning to accelerate. The competitive landscape remains very attractive for investor-owned hospitals due primarily to the challenges facing many not-for-profit systems, which is contributing to the higher volume growth and a pick-up in the acquisitions in the sector. Also, we believe that outsourcing will continue to accelerate in 2001 as hospitals and providers focus on their core businesses and contract with third parties for selected services, such as imaging, physician management, disease management and temporary nurse staffing. Overall, we remain very bullish on the whole services sector." William McKeever, UBS Warburg's managed care analyst will state that, "the fundamentals in managed care remain very strong for 2001, driven by a robust premium pricing environment that will outpace the medical cost trend. The industry is also actively integrating the Internet into its dealings with providers, employers, members and brokers, and we see significant opportunities to reduce administrative costs and improve relations with the industry's key constituents. With a new Republican administration and a slight GOP majority on Capital Hill, we also see reduced risk from the passage of a strong Patient Bill of Rights or other potentially negative legislation. We see 2001 as an exciting year in which the industry will continue to grow margins, use technology to improve its business processes, and deliver solid returns to investors." For the past 11 years, UBS Warburg's Healthcare Service Conference has evolved from a focus on traditional domestic HMO and hospital sectors to encompass all aspects of healthcare services and delivery, globally, taking great measure to provide investors and clients with access to the widest range of public and private, for-profit and not-for-profit industry operators and managers. The listen only for live dial in will be (719) 457-2605 and (888) 515- 2781. Replay line (402) 220-0705 and (877) 803-5524. The replay line will be available for up to four weeks after the completion of the conference. UBS Warburg is a business group of UBS AG (NYSE: UBS), one of the largest financial services firms in the world with 78,000 employees in more than 40 countries. In the United States, UBS Warburg's securities activities are conducted through UBS Warburg LLC and PaineWebber Incorporated, U.S.- registered broker-dealers. The firm is a leader in equities, corporate finance, M&A advisory and financing, financial structuring, fixed income issuance and trading, foreign exchange, derivatives and risk management. UBS Warburg also offers a full range of innovative wealth management services through PaineWebber, and provides private equity financing through UBS Capital. (More)