IBC, DaVita create company to support physicians

Independence Blue Cross and DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. on Tuesday announced a new company that would provide services to primary-care physicians in Southeastern Pennsylvania, in another of IBC's efforts to improve care and cut costs.

Terms of the deal were not released.

The goal of the 50-50 joint venture, called Tandigm Health and based in Philadelphia, is to sign up 300 doctors by the time it starts operating Jan. 1, said Anthony Coletta, an IBC executive who was named president and chief executive of Tandigm.

"Tandigm Health will provide primary-care physicians with the most innovative tools and technology, so they can achieve a new standard of highly coordinated care," Coletta said during a news conference in the lobby of IBC's Center City headquarters.

Tandigm is already in advanced discussions with two physicians groups - including the region's largest, Renaissance Health Network - that would bring 280 doctors into the fold, according to Coletta.

"I would say we have emotional and intellectual commitment, and we trust one another, and that's the road toward the signatures," he said of the two groups.

The goal, by the end of 2018, Coletta said, is to have 700 to 800 physicians participating in Tandigm Health.

IBC's partner in the deal used to be known simply as DaVita Inc., but that was before the giant kidney-dialysis company paid $4.7 billion to buy HealthCare Partners Holdings L.L.C. in November 2012 and changed its name. HealthCare Partners is a managed-care provider.

Tandigm represents HealthCare Partners' first entry into the Northeast. HealthCare Partners had about 764,000 members under its care in California, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona, according to DaVita's 2013 annual report. HealthCare Partners has its headquarters in Torrance, Calif.

HealthCare Partners in 2013 had operating income of $385 million on revenue of $3.2 billion. IBC has not yet released 2013 results.