FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Thursday, August 24, 2000	Diane Landry King (301) 838-5636

MAMSI HMO Earns 'Excellent' Rating from NCQA

Rockville, Md. -- Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Inc. (MAMSI), (MME-NYSE), one of the mid-Atlantic region's largest managed care companies announced today that the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) upgraded MD-Individual Practice Association, Inc.'s (M.D. IPA) accreditation status to 'Excellent', effective September 1, 2000. As of July 15, 2000, only 41 commercial health plans in the country received this excellent rating.

"This is an honor for M.D. IPA and MAMSI," said Mark D. Groban, M.D., Chairman of the Board. "And, it is further evidence of our commitment to provide excellent health care coverage for our members."

Excellent Accreditation is reserved for those health plans that deliver the highest quality of care and service and whose clinical and administrative systems meet or exceed NCQA's rigorous requirements for consumer protection and quality improvement. To earn this designation, health plans must achieve top scores in the following five categories: access and service; qualified providers; staying healthy; getting better; and living with illness. Moreover, health plans with Excellent Accreditation must achieve scores consistently at or near the top of all plans on performance measures such as immunization and mammography rates, advising smokers to quit, prenatal care, eye exams for diabetics, claims processing, access to care and overall satisfaction.

NCQA is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to measuring the quality of America's health care. Its mission is to improve the quality of health care to people everywhere. The NCQA Accreditation process is an evaluation of how a health plan ensures that its members are receiving high-quality care.

M.D. IPA, a health maintenance organization, operates in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia. MAMSI's health care subsidiaries cover approximately 1.8 million lives in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Delaware, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. The Company's Internet address is www.mamsi.com.

# # #

Note 1: Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: All forward-looking information or statements contained in this release, including expectations regarding future or continued performance, are based on management's current knowledge of factors, all with inherent risks and uncertainties, affecting MAMSI's business. MAMSI's actual results may differ materially if these assumptions prove invalid. Significant risk factors, while not all-inclusive, are: the possibility of increasing price competition in the Company's marketplace; the possibility that the Company is not able to increase its market share at the anticipated premium rate; the possibility of increased litigation, legislation or regulation that might increase regulatory oversight which, in turn, would have the potential for increased costs; the possibility of increased medical expenses due to increased utilization, inflation or legislative mandates; and the possibility that the Company is not able to negotiate new or renewal contracts with appropriate physicians and health care practitioners. Investors should review other risks and uncertainties contained in Company documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Note 2: MAMSI is a regional holding company for health care organizations that provides comprehensive health insurance products and services including: MD-Individual Practice Association, Inc. (M.D. IPA), a federally qualified HMO; Optimum Choice, Inc.® (OCI) , a non-federally qualified HMO; Optimum Choice of the Carolinas, Inc. (OCCI); Alliance PPO, LLC, a preferred provider organization; Mid Atlantic Psychiatric Services, Inc., a preferred provider organization offering managed psychiatric health care services; MAMSI Life and Health Insurance Company (MLH), a life and health insurance company; HomeCall, Inc. and FirstCall, Inc., home health care companies; and HomeCall Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., a pharmacy and home infusion services company.