It looks like the bank is moving away from benefit administration with this sale and the 600 employees will join HealthSmart.  They manage benefits and claims for imageemployers.  They provide services for companies that are “self funded”, so corporate accounts here are the target for benefits administration.  I wonder when all of this will hit bottom with analytics some day and certainly there’s a lot of room to drill down costs, but will it benefit the patient is my question.  As a reminder, don’t forget this government agency swings into action as well to work with insurers.  Have not heard of it, read up. 

Government Research Dollar Fee Starts This Year With Health Insurance Plans to Cover Medical Drug Research–Comparing Generics & Name Brand Drugs-Insurers Will Use To Fine Tune Employer Provided Health Plans

Long and short of much of this is that it all comes down to contracts with price protections on who can go where and see who.  In a related story from earlier this year, another TPA signed up with a company that provides medical tourism services, also out of Texas like HealthSmart, so I would expect we will see more of this type of activity as the cost of doing business with healthcare entities grows with additional contracts and analytics.  BD 

HealthFirst TPA Signs Up With Satori To Bring Medical Tourism Benefits For Their Client Employers in Texas

HealthSmart Holdings Inc., confirmed that effective December 31, 2011, it has completed its acquisition of Wells Fargo Third Party Administrators, Inc., the medical third-party administration (TPA) business of Wells Fargo Insurance Services USA, Inc. — part of Wells Fargo & Company. Terms of the transaction, first announced in October, were not disclosed.

Wells Fargo TPA offers employee benefits and claims administration services for employers. HealthSmart will acquire all of the operating assets and related liabilities of the TPA. As part of the transaction, nearly 600 Wells Fargo TPA employees will join HealthSmart. HealthSmart will assume the leases for office locations in Charleston, West Virginia; Anchorage, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska; Fayetteville, North Carolina and Newnan, Georgia. With this acquisition, HealthSmart now has annual revenues of more than $100 million, employs more than 1,000 workers, and manages more than $5 billion in claims.

HealthSmart Holdings, Inc. is a healthcare solutions company that manages more than $5 billion in claims annually. The company’s headquarters is in Irving, Texas, with service locations around the country. The HealthSmart companies are dedicated to delivering integrated, self-funded solutions via innovative products and services, including benefit administration, provider networks and care management. HealthSmart’s mission is to improve member health and reduce healthcare costs.

http://www.dailymarkets.com/stock/2012/01/03/healthsmart-completes-acquisition-of-wells-fargo-tpa/

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