Medical Mutual Acquires Mercy’s HealthSpan Partners

Cleveland – Medical Mutual of Ohio is acquiring the 105,000 members in the group and individual health insurance business of HealthSpan Partners.

Medical Mutual is the largest health insurance provider based in Ohio. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

HealthSpan Partners is affiliated with Mercy Health, the Cincinnati-based nonprofit hospital system that operates hospitals in the Mahoning Valley. Some 32,000 Mercy employees are insured by HealthSpan Partners. About 300 jobs will be eliminated, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier.

Meanwhile, HealthSpan’s physicians group will be disbanded by the end of this month, the newspaper reported Jan. 15. The Mercy affiliate reported a $117 million loss during the first nine months of 2015. Mercy got into the insurance business when it purchased portions of Kaiser Permanente in 2013.

“The deal calls for HealthSpan continuing to insure its members enrolled in employer-sponsored plans through their renewal date or Aug. 31, whichever comes first, and individual members through December 31, 2016,” said Jared Chaney, Medical Mutual’s chief communications officer.

As part of the agreement and to help with the transition, HealthSpan is endorsing Medical Mutual as its replacement carrier.

“Medical Mutual has plans with comparable coverage based on rates, benefits and provider network, which, depending on the plan, is likely to include the same physicians offered by the HealthSpan network,” Chaney said. “We are going to work hard to transition as much of the HealthSpan membership to us as we can. We think we will be a great fit for them.”

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