Elevance Health will acquire Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, adding the Baton Rouge-based payer's 1.9 million members to its Anthem Blue Cross brand.
The two companies said in a Jan. 23 news release that BCBS's 3,000 employees will join Elevance, but the plan's headquarters will remain in Baton Rouge.
Prior to the acquisition, Elevance and BCBS jointly owned Healthy Blue, a Medicaid managed care plan in Louisiana.
Elevance owns Anthem BCBS plans in 14 states. Louisiana is the first BCBS affiliate the company has acquired in nearly 20 years.
The Advocate reported that BCBS Louisiana had been seeking a partnership to keep up with rising costs of digital technology and chronic care.
I. Steven Udvarhelyi, MD, president and CEO of BCBS Louisiana, said joining Elevance will help the payer advance its mission of improving health outcomes.
"To remain strong in today's environment with an ability to provide leading innovations, products and capabilities, we concluded that we needed a partner that could help us deliver these faster and better than we could alone," Dr. Udvarhelyi said in a news release.
Elevance and BCBS did not disclose the financial terms of the deal. The acquisition is expected to close later this year.