Contact:      Kathi Petersen, Publicity Chair

            For Release: Immediately           Date: July 31, 2003

Employer and Healthcare Provider Relations To Be Topic of HR Program

 Meeting to be held in partnership with Asheville Accounting Association 

(Asheville, NC): The next regular meeting of the Western North Carolina Human Resources Association will be held at 12 noon on Wednesday, Aug. 13 at Renaissance Asheville Hotel in downtown Asheville. Jim Bross of Rutherford Hospital will present a program on employer and healthcare provider relationships, health plan contracting options, and health management initiatives based on employer-provider partnerships.   

                Bross is vice president and chief financial officer for Rutherford Hospital, Inc., and is responsible for managed care operations, business office services and accounting and information systems. He will be joined by Myrna Harvey, chief operating officer of Crescent preferred provider organization.    

                The meeting is being held in conjunction with the Asheville Accounting Association. It is open to all members of both organizations, as well as students and anyone else interested in learning more about human resource- and management-related issues.  Reservations are required by 5pm Friday, Aug. 8 and can be made by emailing Terry Clark at tcfromwnc@charter.net, or by calling 645-3225. The cost to attend the lunch meeting is $16 for members and students, $20 for nonmembers, and includes lunch (a vegetarian option is available by request when making reservations). 

                The Western North Carolina Human Resources Association is a certified chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and is comprised of human resource and other professionals from various area businesses and industries. The purpose of the association is to develop the personnel function in each participating company by close contact and cooperation with others in the same field, to facilitate the dissemination of information of value to human resource professionals individually and collectively, and to promote positive human relations principles.