MEDPARTNERS: TO PURCHASE AETNA’S PHYSICIAN BUSINESS
MedPartners Inc. announced yesterday that it will purchaseThis is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
"Aetna's physician practice management business and its family
medical centers in seven major metropolitan areas," Birmingham
POST-HERALD reports. Aetna's physician practice management
business consists of six independent physician associations with
approximately 800 doctors. In addition, the Birmingham-based
physician practice management firm will acquire Aetna's 47
HealthWays Family Medical Centers in Atlanta, Baltimore/
Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Chicago, southern California and
Akron, OH. The value of the deal was not disclosed (Rupinski,
3/5). According to one analyst, however, the purchase price
"probably was $50 million to $80 million" (NEW YORK TIMES, 3/6).
GROUNDBREAKER: POST-HERALD reports that the deal "includes
a 10-year agreement in which 14 million people insured by Aetna's
U.S. Healthcare subsidiary will have access to MedPartner's
10,000 affiliated physicians." Randy Pittman, MedPartner's vice
president of finance, said, "To our knowledge, this is the first
time a physician management practices company, like MedPartners,
has done a national contract with a national HMO to deliver care
at a national level." POST-HERALD reports that "[s]ince its
creation," MedPartners has "worked to develop a national network
of physician practices with a goal of signing contracts with
national HMOs like Aetna's."
AETNA: Jill Griffiths, a spokesperson for Aetna U.S.
Healthcare, said that Hartford, CT-based Aetna's "goal is to
provide quality health care to its members rather than operate
health centers" (3/5). HARTFORD COURANT reports that Aetna "said
it is selling the HealthWays centers and Aetna Professional
Management Corp. "because its strategy is now to develop
strategic relationships with health care providers rather than
own physician practices" (Levick, 3/6).