The Regence Group
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The Regence Group is a Blue Cross Blue Shield licensed health insurance company located in Portland, Oregon. It is licensed to sell health insurance plans under the Blue Cross Blue Shield name in Idaho, western Washington, Utah, and Oregon, and uses the Asuris name in eastern Washington, due to its competitor Premera having acquired the Blue Shield license in 1998 when it merged with Spokane's Medical Services Corporation, which held the local Blue Shield license.
As you can see, merger activity has been a regular part of managed care in the Northwest since the beginning of time. By 1997, there only thirty or so health plans, and by 2002, there were twenty left. It got busier when Thurston County Medical Bureau merged with King County Medical Bureau, and it shifted into overdrive when Pierce County Medical Bureau and King County Medical Bureau merged with the BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon (which had themselves merged in 1983), to form The Benchmark Group in 1995 under Dick Woolworth's leadership. Richard (Dick) Woolworth's experience as chair of the BlueCross BlueShield Association would prove useful in his new role as CEO, as he led TBG in their coming wave of M&A activity. BlueCross BlueShield of Utah joined in 1996, and BlueShield of Idaho joined shortly thereafter, under an administrative services agreement that allowed BSI to remain owned by its members as a mutual insurance company but have Regence handle the management, ironically taking on a role analogous to Philippe d'Orléans during the Régence period in France, with the members as the young Louis XV. Skagit County Medical Bureau and Whatcom County Medical Bureau merged in 1998, as part of the unaligned movement, to form Northwest Medical Bureau. In 1999, Regence RX was created, to create a Pharmacy Benefit Manager not beholden to any interests beyond that of the member. This set a precedent in an era when Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) firms were notorious for taking kickbacks, known as rebates (among other euphemisms), from pharmaceutical manufacturers for pushing expensive brand name drugs instead of generics. In 2001, Northwest Medical Bureau merged with Regence. In 2003, Dick Woolworth retired, his place taken by wunderkind Mark Ganz. In 2006, he made one more contribution to the company, his name, as Regence's headquarters in Portland was renamed in his honor.
Main Competitors:
Idaho:
Blue Cross of Idaho
First Choice Health
Oregon:
Pacificare (purchased by UnitedHealth Group in December, 2005)
Kaiser Permanente of Oregon
PacificSource
Lifewise (Premera subsidiary)
Healthnet
ODS
Healthcare Direct (Purchased by First Choice Health Network on June 20, 2006)
Utah:
Altius (purchased by Coventry in 2003)
Intermountain Healthcare
Washington:
Group Health Cooperative
Premera
Aetna
Cigna Managed Care
First Choice Health Network
200 S.W. Market Street
Portland, Oregon 97201
U.S.A.
Telephone: (503) 225-5221
Toll Free: 800 452-7278
Fax: (503) 225-5274
Private Company
Incorporated: 1996 as The Benchmark Group
Employees: 6,000
Total Assets: $6.7 billion (2003)
NAIC: 524113 Direct Life Insurance Carriers; 524114 Direct Health and Medical Insurance Carriers
"The Regence Group: Introduction." International Directory of Company Histories. Ed. Tina Grant. Vol. 74. Thomson Gale, 2006. eNotes.com. 2006. 20 Jul, 2006 <http://business.enotes.com/company-histories/regence-group>
[edit] External links
- [1] (Pacificare/UNH Merger)
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