Most Popular Stories
Featured Jobs
- Director of Clinical InformaticsEMR in jewel-like Ozarks
Comphealth - Western, AR - Top Rated MO hospital seeks ASCP/MT's for Part Time night shift
CompHealth - Northwest, MO - Clinical Protocol/Administrative Coordinator
Kelly Government Solutions on site NIH - Bethesda, MD - RN Director Operating Room - Florida's Atlantic Coast
CompHealth - Coastal, FL - RN Healthcare Informatics Director - Florida
CompHealth - Northern, FL
Events
- ACOs Summit: A Transitional Model to Full Risk Care Management
January 23-24, 2012 — Hyatt Regency Austin, Austin, TX - Wharton Health Care Business Conference
Feb 16-17 — Philadelphia, PA - Web&ACTION: Using the IHI Global Trigger Tool for Measuring Adverse Events
Begins February 14, 2012 - Mobile Healthcare Communications 2012: Case Studies & Roundtables
January 26, 2012 — New York City
Paid Research Reports
-
Electronic health records: getting it right first time
-
Cloud Computing Adoption In The APAC Life Sciences Industry
-
Stakeholder Opinions: Ophthalmology - Leading brands under threat
-
Genomics, Proteomics and Metabolomics in Diagnostics: Market landscape, innovative technologies and future outlook
-
Healthcare Regulatory Update: The United Arab Emirates
-
Point of Care Testing: Evaluating the return to evidence based medicine, novel technologies and the competitive landscape
Free Newsletter
FierceHealthPayer provides the latest news about the fast-changing and heavily regulated area of healthcare reimbursement. Join 16,000 healthcare plan executives who get FierceHealthPayer via twice weekly email. Sign up today!
Top Tags
Highmark acquires West Penn Allegheny
The buyer: Highmark, based in Pittsburgh
The acquired: West Penn Allegheny Health System (WPAHS), based in Pittsburgh
The price: $475 million
The timeline: Deal announced June 28, 2011; signed an agreement to affiliate Nov. 1, 2011. Deal is awaiting state and federal regulators' approval.
The scoop: Highmark's pending purchase of WPAHS (and its $800 million in debt) included an upfront $50 million payment to rescue the hospital system from imminent closure and $75 million to fund scholarships for students attending medical schools affiliated with WPAHS. The deal, when finalized, will enable WPAHS to reopen its emergency room next year.
With its takeover of WPAHS, Highmark will offer healthcare focused on providing quality and efficient service rather than increasing revenue. "This transaction is critical to ensuring the continued vitality of the West Penn Allegheny Health System and maintaining provider choice in our community," Highmark CEO Kenneth Melani said in a Nov. 1 press statement. The payer also plans to add other hospitals and physician practices into an integrated delivery system division that it will create.
However, Melani clarified that, despite the acquisition, Highmark will keep its providers as a separate self-sustaining division of the organization because WPAHS will continue contracting with rival health plans. Melani remained CEO of Highmark's insurance business, leading the parent organization to oversee the insurance and provider divisions.
Highmark is assuming certain risk with its acquisition of WPAHS, which hasn't had a positive operating margin in at least four years. WPAHS also has a pension plan that is $196 million underfunded for more than 11,000 employees. Plus, the system's hospitals need upgrades, its acute services need bolstering, and many essential services need to be reinstated.
Home | Subscribe | Advertise | Mobile Edition | RSS | Privacy | Site Map | EditorsTHE FIERCEMARKETS NETWORKFierceEnergy | FierceSmartGrid | FierceFinance | FierceFinanceIT | FierceComplianceIT | FierceHealthcare | FierceHealthFinance | FierceHealthIT | Hospital Impact | FierceMobileHealthcare | FierceHealthPayer | FiercePracticeManagement | FierceEMR | FierceCIO | FierceCIO:TechWatch | FierceContentManagement | FierceMobileIT | FierceGovernmentIT | FierceGovernment | FierceHomelandSecurity | FierceBiotech | FierceBiotech Research | FiercePharma | FierceVaccines | FierceBiotechIT | FiercePharma Manufacturing | FierceMedicalDevices | FierceDrugDelivery | FierceIPTV | FierceOnlineVideo | FierceTelecom | FierceEnterpriseCommunications | FierceBroadbandWireless | FierceDeveloper | FierceMobileContent | FierceWireless | FierceWireless:Europe | FierceCable© 2011 FierceMarkets. All rights reserved. |