River Region Health Systems Thursday received a check for $160,500 for its part of the settlement of a health-maintenance organization taken over by the office of Insurance Commissioner George Dale.

Dale, who is in his eighth term as Mississippi’s commissioner of insurance, made the presentation to Phillip Clendenin, chief executive officer of River Region Health Systems.

The check is part of a second distribution of money due to health-care organizations from the old Mississippi Managed Care Network Inc. Dale’s office took the HMO over in 2000 because of mismanagement and financial concerns.

“At the time that we took control of the HMO, there were not enough funds to pay outstanding insurance claims,” Dale said.

“It’s a wonderful thing Mr. Dale did,” Clendenin said.

“He was able to get money from a bankrupt company that owned health-care providers,” he said.

Dale said his office pursued claims against the former officers and directors for their actions involving the operations of MMCN.

The litigation against the officers and directors has been concluded and the office is in a position to distribute the funds to the HMO’s claimants.

Two of the officers have previously entered guilty pleas to criminal charges brought by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.

“We recovered $2.2 million, which was owed to a number of health-care providers in the state,” Dale said.

The Mississippi Office of Medicaid received a check for about $630,000.

“It is my understanding that the federal government will match 4-to-1, which means these funds could result in an additional $2.52 million to the state Medicaid program,” Dale said, citing financial constraints and budget shortfalls facing the state agency.