Coventry Health Care/Southern Health is pleased to report that we were able to reach an agreement with HCA Health System (HCA) to extend our contracts in the Richmond metropolitan area, Southwest Virginia, and Northern Virginia.  As you recall from our previous announcement on November 23, our contracts with HCA were set to terminate on January 4, 2010.  The contract extension will be in effect until March 5, 2010 to allow for continued discussions focused on meeting our goals.  This means that there will be no change to our members' access to HCA facilities during this contract extension. The contracts for each region will continue to be negotiated with the needs of our employers, members, and communities in mind. Thank you for your partnership and support in this difficult time. We will provide you with an update before the end of the year.