More Deals For HealthCare Partners

Fresh off a recently announced merger with dialysis giant Da Vita, Inc., Torrance-based HealthCare Partners has engaged in two more deals closer to its core business, one in Orange County, the other in the Land of Enchantment.

In the local transaction, HealthCare Partners acquired Irvine-based Arta Health Network and two affiliated organizations, Arta Western Medical Group and Western Medical Management, a management services organization. Altogether, Arta has 800 physicians and 76,000 lives.

The acquisition more than doubles the lives HealthCare Partners has in Orange County. It purchased Talbert Medical Group in 2010 and had 61,000 lives under its care prior to the Arta deal.

“Arta further expands our geographic coverage in Orange County,” said HealthCare Partners Chief Executive Officer Robert Margolis, M.D.

HealthCare Partners also announced its acquisition of ABQ Health Partners for an undisclosed sum. The Albuquerque-based ABQ is New Mexico’s largest independent medical group, with 184 physicians and 180,000 patients, including 26,000 enrolled in the state’s Medicaid managed care program.

The deal marks HealthCare Partners’ entry into New Mexico, the fourth state where it operates, along with California, Florida and Nevada. Although New Mexico is a mostly rural desert state like Nevada, it has far less population, and is one of poorest regions in the U.S. 

Margolis said in a brief interview that ABQ, which had previously been aligned with a series of health plans and hospitals, wanted to align with physicians.

“We have a vision of changing healthcare to coordinated care systems, and working with like-minded organizations. They are ripe to move forward with that,” Margolis said.

“Like HealthCare Partners, our core values have always centered on putting patients first and keeping people healthy,” said ABQ Health Partners Chief Executive Officer Harry Magnes, M.D., in a prepared statement. “Their leaders recognize that the doctor-patient relationship should be at the center of healthcare and healthcare reform. Our patients will now have access to world-class patient care resources and systems.”