Lovelace Health System Sells Health Plan to Blue Cross Blue Shield

Lovelace Health System, based in Albuquerque, N.M., has signed a definitive agreement to sell its health insurance arm, Lovelace Health Plan, to Health Care Service Corp. and its BlueCross BlueShield of New Mexico subsidiary.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction still must receive regulatory approval and meet other unnamed conditions, but both parties expect the deal to close by Dec. 31.

Lovelace decided to sell the health plan after it was not chosen to remain as part of the state's Medicaid managed care program, losing 84,000 members in the process. Lovelace and HCSC officials have said there will be a "seamless transition" in ownership for beneficiaries.

Lovelace Health Plan covers 108,000 members in New Mexico. HCSC is one of the largest consumer-owned health insurers in the United States. Its other subsidiaries include BCBS of Illinois, BCBS of Montana, BCBS of Oklahoma and BCBS of Texas.

Lovelace Health System, part of Nashville, Tenn.-based for-profit hospital operator Ardent Health Services, includes four general acute-care hospitals, a heart hospital and a rehab hospital.

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