July was a busy month for the Alhambra-based company Astrana Health Inc.
Astrana, formerly Apollo Medical Holdings, is a healthcare management and technology company that enables physician groups to better manage their practices and improve outcomes for the patients they serve.
Astrana announced July 12 that its subsidiary Allied Health IPA has formed a partnership with an Indianapolis-based company Blue Cross Hymn A California subsidiary will establish an unspecified number of health care clinics in underserved communities.
The first of these clinics opened the same day in Whittier, offering a wide range of services, with an emphasis on comprehensive health assessments, preventive care and chronic disease management.
“We are excited about this partnership, which opens a new channel of access to provide high-quality care to Anthem Blue Cross members, beginning with the Los Angeles Gateway Cities,” Brandon Sim, Astrana HealthCEO of , said in announcing the partnership.
Beth AndersenPresident of Anthem Blue Cross Commercial Health Plans, said, “This collaboration with Astrana Health will address critical health needs while ensuring our members receive top-notch care in their local community.”
In another development, on July 17, Astrana Health announced a partnership with a San Francisco-based electronic medical records company Health ElationThe goal is to deliver high-quality healthcare in a more cost-effective manner.
Under the partnership, which will operate as a joint venture, Elation will provide its electronic medical records platform and billing technology to healthcare providers, while Astrana Health will provide its cost management and containment platform to those same providers.
“We strongly believe that the success of value-based care requires an integrated approach, comprised of an EHR that primary care providers value with analytics and insights delivered within the provider workflow, and care models with care management capabilities that support the patient’s overall health,” Sim said in the partnership announcement.
The partnership is being tested with an unidentified medical organization in Hawaii, comprised of more than 100 primary care providers that collectively treat 20,000 patients, primarily on Medicare. Astrana said it expects all of those providers to have access to its care management technology platform by the end of the third quarter.
Then, on July 25, Astrana Health announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Collaborative health systemsa managed services organization serving more than 129,000 beneficiaries in 17 states. Collaborative Health is a subsidiary of St. Louis-based healthcare giant Centene Corp. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Astrana Health intends to integrate its care management platform into the various practices of healthcare providers that are part of the Collaborative Health System network.
Collaborative Health Systems “has built a large-scale, high-impact, value-added care ecosystem in the South Coast and East Coast markets,” Sim said. “Through this acquisition, we believe Astrana will be even better positioned to deliver accessible, high-quality, high-value care to more patients across the country.”
Shareholders greeted these announcements with enthusiasm. The first announcement, on July 12, came just one day after an analyst upgrade that had already propelled the stock from $38.30 to $45.00. By July 16, the stock had broken through the $50 threshold, and the general upward trend continued through July 26, when the stock closed that day at $52.20.
