Corporate Profile on Newport Oncology And Healthcare, (NOAH) Inc.

Introduction

NOAH Inc. is a privately held California Medical Practice Corporation licensed by the California Medical Board (Fictitious Name Permit # 26536) and the Secretary of State for California (C2160876). It was incorporated in March of 1999 and has been involved in providing specialized healthcare delivery to the prison health services division of the California Department Corrections, across the State of California. The areas of clinical subspecialties services delivery to this population include but are not limited to Hematology/Oncology(Cancer care), Internal Medicine, and Chronic Care Practice, Psychiatry, Telemedicine, Teleradiology, and Medico-Legal evaluations in compassionate release of terminally ill inmates.

NOAH Inc. principals come from the following areas of medical subspecialties: (Hematology/Oncology, Clinical Pharmacology, Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Forensic Medicine, Hospice and Palliative Care), Nursing, Health Care Management, Law and Strategic Planning. The visionary outlook for NOAH, Inc. is to be the hub for provision of superb clinical subspecialty medical services along with project-oriented programs both in the Federal Penitentiary and in key strategic state prison systems across the country. It is based on this background that NOAH Inc. has been concentrating its resources to developing a well-rounded healthcare delivery system that emphasizes quality, cost containment, access and security within the prison health services.

History

NOAH Inc. was founded by the current Medical Director / CEO, Joshua Atiba MD, who is board certified in hematology/oncology, internal medicine, clinical pharmacology and Hospice/Palliative medicine. The idea for the care of this special and needy population of patients was borne out of a Health care marketing and health business enterprise paper written to analyze the inefficiencies inherent in the provision and delivery of clinical subspecialty services within the California Department of Corrections when done in an outpatient and off-prison campus setting. The cornerstone of this great idea is a change from what it used to be: off campus care at medical specialist offices versus bringing boththe specialist physician and nurse specialist into the prison campus. By doing so, one eliminates both the cost of transporting inmates and the inherent security and escape risks entailed. This enables more inmates to be seen during any given clinic time, and also addresses the ongoing problems of delay in diagnosis and treatment associated with off-campus care, which by nature is spotty and irregular, because it requires the scheduling of off-campus trips by the same transport teams that have to transport regular inmates for legal visits-Court / Appeal hearings at off-site courts. In addition, the on campus clinic services include provision of Chemotherapy and Diagnostic Radiology Services for the patients within the prison facility. In return, NOAH Inc. is compensated through long-term professional contracts with the paying entity.

The pilot project was started in 1999 at the Correctional Medical Facility in Vacaville with an 80% cost reduction from previous arrangements (see attached cost saving analysis attached as addendum); this was then followed by introduction of similar services at California State Prison in Corcoran and Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. NOAH Inc. has had two master contracts to provide hematology and oncology consultation/treatment in all the thirty-three (33) state prison facilities, and at two institutions to provide chronic care physicians, registered nurses and nurse practitioners for ambulatory care medicine. NOAH Inc. prides itself in recruiting well-trained specialist physicians and specialty registered nurses who are dedicated to their profession and have the compassion to render these much needed services in locations where otherwise, it would be difficult to recruit providers of this caliber.

It is the compliment of strategic planning, well qualified compassionate clinical personnel and excellent management team that has kept NOAH Inc. in the cutting edge of this niche market and a force to both our competitors and detractors in the economic and political arena of state-contracted medical services.

Business Lines

The various businesses that NOAH Inc. was previously involved with the CDC and the State of California include the provision of Hematology and Oncology services to the inmates as well as currently negotiating a Chronic Care Practice to cover high risk populations at 17-CDC sites across the state.

These can be further delineated as follows:

  • On-campus Hematology/Oncology Consults, Treatment and Follow Up
  • Procedures such as of bone marrow biopsies.
  • On-campus RN Oncology
  • On-campus identification, delivery and supervision of chemotherapy treatment protocols.
  • Provision of Triage Services
  • Telemedicine Services.
  • Medical / Legal Consultation / Expert Witness Services
  • Delivery of on-call coverage seven days a week, 24 hours per day.
  • Provision of educational oncology/hematology seminars to California Department of Corrections physicians and nurses.
  • On-campus Comprehensive Chronic Care to high risk populations.

Target Population

The US inmate population is 2.1 million, which is 25% of the world’s prison population of 8.1 million. Of this number, the Federal Penitentiary system holds about 155,000. However, California, the largest state in the union, houses 325,000 with 130,000 parolees and the rest resident on 32 prison campuses in the state. It leads the nation in recidivism at a rate of 65-85%. Other states with at least 150,000-inmate population or significantly high incarceration rates include Florida, Texas, New York, Illinois, Georgia and Virginia.

The California Department of Corrections (CDC) operates 32 state prisons, some conservation camps, and a variety of community correctional facilities, and supervises parolees during their re-entry into the mainstream society. In 1997/98, it costs the State $21,470 per year to house an inmate in a California State Prison, and health care accounts for 16.3% of that cost ($ 3,263) compared to 49.3% for security ($10,584). CDC also runs 3 licensed acute care hospitals and one licensed health center for female inmates.

Competition

A major competitor in the delivery of health services in this niche market is the Prison Health Services (PHS) a subsidiary of a publicly held company called American Service Group (ASGR). The latter has been involved in contract medicine with the local County/City jails and some federal military and civilian prisons. A barrier to entry in this market has been the recruitment and retention of qualified personnel to provide these mandated health care services to the prison population. NOAH Inc. has been quite successful in this arena.

Related Projects with CDC

NOAH Inc. is currently in negotiations with CDC to develop a Women’s Health Mobile Van that will house a digital mammography machine, digital ultrasound, Pap smear stations, and bone densitometry for over 10,000 female inmates across the state. This project serves to centralize medical needs for these very hard to find services. The clinical services will include but not limited to mammogram/ultrasound/biopsy, Pap smears, preventive medicine (vaccination), bone screening for osteoporosis using bone densitometry, flex sigmoidoscopy all run by licensed nurse practitioners, under MD suspension. Teleradiology services to provide on-campus diagnostic imaging modalities including CT Scan, MRI Scan, PET-CT fusion Scan, Ultrasound, and Mammography based on an 18-wheel Tractor Trailers which can be located regionally to service facilities in the Northern, Central and Southern California divisions of the state with reading of images carried out at one location by transmitting the image data electronically though a web-based PACS and DICOM software by a highly trained group of radiologists.

Other projects we would like to be engaged in with the CDC / State of California are:

  • Ambulatory Renal Care Medicine
  • Staffing Services for a QuadrupleWideUnitDialysisCenter (CSP Corcoran)
  • Staffing Services for an AIDS / Infectious Diseases Unit (CSP Corcoran)/CSP Sacramento
  • Staffing Services for Hospice Care
  • Staffing for Long Term Care for Elderly Inmates
  • Staffing Services for Hepatology/Hepatitis A, B, C, D, E care

Similar programs are also currently being negotiated with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, under the Department of Justice, on a per session basis in their Western Region, specifically at the Federal penitentiary Atwater, Dublin, and Lompoc, all in California.

Financial Projections

Will be provided on request.

Future Outlook

  • Federal Programs.
  • Replication of similar programs in Texas, Florida, Illinois and New York.
  • Public Offering is projected for the spring of 2006.
  • Replication of similar programs in the prison systems of Germany, Australia, and South Africa, other developed countries with high incarceration rate like USA and high per capita expenditure for healthcare delivery in the prison population.
  • Partnership with Wackenhut Corrections Corporation and CCA (Correctional Corporation of America) publicly traded private prison contractors who run prisons in South Africa, Australia, Germany, and State/Federal prisons in the USA on a long term contract basis.

References:

  1. Wall Street Journal Gary Fields A22 “Federal Prison Population to Soar; Bush Seeks $4.66 Billion to Cope” April 17, 2001
  2. Associated Press: Don Thompson. “Inmate suit alleges poor medical care” April 10, 2001
  3. Daily Republic Tim Fields “Aging prisoners, growing issues” February 14, 2001
  4. Bureau of Justice Statistics: James J. Stephan, statistician-author; August 1999, NCJ 172211, State Prison Expenditures, 1996

Notes:

STATE PRISON POPULATION PLACEMENT / CLINICS

General Medicine Yard Clinics Schema and relation to NOAH-specialty clinics

A-alpha yard clinic with MD/RNP 1500 InP

B-bravo yard clinic with MD/RNP 1500 InP

C-charley yard clinic with MD/RNP 1500 InP

D-delta yard clinic with MD/RNP 1500 InP

E-specialty clinics: Cancer (Hem/Onc) Clinic

AIDS/Infectious Diseases Clinic

Hepatology/G.I. Diseases Clinic

Renal Medicine/Dialysis Clinic

Chronic Care Physician Clinic

Yard Clinics staffed by CA state employed MD(FP/GP), RNs, MTAs and COs.

E-Clinic staffed by contract MDs/RNs from companies such as NOAH/NMS.

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