EAGAN, Minn., July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota completed a sale of its affiliate, Behavioral Health Services, Inc. (BHSI) to an experienced group of clinicians and employees currently running the operations.
“We are proud to have been part of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota organization and will continue the shared commitment to serving members of the health plan,” said Paul Hill, the managing partner of the newly independent BHSI LLC.
“Our objectives, first and foremost, are to make this a seamless transition for our existing patients and then focus on the task of expanding to meet the well-documented shortage of behavioral health services in our state,” added Hill.
With six clinics in the metro area, BHSI works with health plans and hospitals to provide patients with psychiatry, psychotherapy and other mental health services. BHSI employees will continue operating the clinics and the organization’s transition to a private practice model.
“All the parties stand to benefit from this transaction,” said Michael Morrow, CEO of Blue Plus, Blue Cross’s HMO affiliate that owned BHSI. “Blue Cross can better focus on its core health plan business and the clinics are now under a structure where they have a greater opportunity to grow and thrive,” added Morrow. “And most of all, the community retains access to a valuable mental health resource,” he concluded.
The deal, which closed on July 13, 2004, includes clinics in Eagan, Fridley, Golden Valley, North St. Paul, Shakopee and Woodbury. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, with headquarters in the St. Paul suburb of Eagan, was chartered in 1933 as Minnesota’s first health plan and continues to carry out its charter mission today: to promote a wider, more economical and timely availability of health services for the people of Minnesota. A not-for-profit, taxable organization, Blue Cross is the largest health plan based in Minnesota, covering 2.6 million members in Minnesota and nationally through its health plans or plans administered by its affiliated companies. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, headquartered in Chicago.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
CONTACT: Joel Swanson, +1-651-662-2882, Pager: +1-651-629-3961, or KarlOestreich, +1-651-662-1502, Pager: +1-651-610-7422, both of Blue Cross; orPaul Hill of BHSI, +1-651-769-6516
