Jefferson Health takes full ownership of Health Partners Plans
Jefferson Health paid $305 million for Temple University Health System’s 50% ownership stake in Health Partners Plans, the not-for-profit health system announced Monday.
Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health now owns all of a health plan that covers nearly 290,000 Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, Medicare-Medicare dual-eligible Special Needs Plan, and Children’s Health Insurance Program beneficiaries. Temple University Health System will continue to participate in Partners Health Plans’ network.
Jefferson Health obtained 25% of Health Partners Plans when it acquired the Aria Health system in 2016 and another 25% when it merged with Einstein Healthcare Network last month. The company formed a digital health alliance with private equity firm General Catalyst in October and established a social determinants of health partnership with Novartis Pharmaceuticals in September.
These deals give Jefferson Health scale that will enable it to improve care and reduce costs for the Philadelphia area’s underserved patients, said Dr. Stephen Klasko, CEO of Jefferson Health and president of Thomas Jefferson University.
“We need to align the payer and provider, especially with government-related services,” said Klakso, who plans to step down at the end of the year. “There is no way of being a great, integrated system with a significant amount of fragmentation.”
Government payers accounted for about 70% of Einstein Healthcare Network’s revenue in 2020, including significant Medicare Advantage business. The Medicare Advantage demographic represents a significant growth opportunity, said Klakso.
Jefferson Health’s Novartis partnership aims to close care gaps among cardiovascular patients in five high-risk Philadelphia zip codes. The General Catalyst alliance is part of the health systems’ efforts to expand operations including hospital-at-home, telehealth and value-based care.
“I happen to live in one of poorest cities in the country. We have five academic medical centers but one of the greatest life-expectancy discrepancies in the country,” Klakso said.
In May, Thomas Jefferson University scrapped plans to acquire Temple University’ Health System’s Fox Chase Cancer Center, blaming financial pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jefferson Health reported $5.9 million in operating income for the fiscal year that ended June 30, which included a one-time goodwill impairment charge, after recording a $459.4 million operating loss in 2020, according to its unaudited annual financial statement. The health system had $5.66 billion in annual revenue in 2021, up from $5.27 billion last year.