WellPoint Inc. of Indianapolis, owner of health insurer Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Nevada, today said it’s buying a health care provider with Las Vegas operations.
WellPoint is buying Cerritos, Calif-based CareMore, a senior-focused health care operator that has Medicare Advantage plans and clinics.
With 54,000 members and 26 clinics, CareMore operates in certain California, Arizona and Nevada markets.
CareMore services locally are offered at the Las Vegas Flamingo Care Center and the Las Vegas Tenaya Care Center.
In announcing plans to expand to Las Vegas in June 2009, the company said it would develop such "full-service, one-stop neighborhood care centers that offer a 'medical home' to its membership."
The centers offer health education including education on nutrition; programs dealing with foot care and programs for such conditions as high blood pressure and diabetes.
An Anthem spokeswoman said Anthem has about 190,000 members in Nevada while CareMore has about 2,700 customers in the state. Anthem/WellPoint plans to keep the CareMore clinic operations, but a decision hasn't been made on whether the CareMore brand will continue to be used, Anthem spokeswoman Joyzelle Davis said.
Terms were not disclosed, but the New York Times reported WellPoint is paying about $800 million for CareMore.
CareMore is owned by CCMP Capital Advisors LLC, a New York private equity firm.
"The Medicare market is particularly significant for WellPoint's growth strategy," WellPoint CEO Angela Braly said in a statement. "We anticipate that more than one million Baby Boomers will age into Medicare every year between now and 2030 across our 14 Blue states."