INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Anthem, Inc. (NYSE:ANTM) announced today the completion of its acquisition of Aspire Health, the nation’s largest provider of non-hospice, community-based palliative care for people facing a serious illness.
“Anthem is focused on leading the industry by offering innovative, integrated clinical care models that help to transform how we deliver care, enhance quality and improve outcomes,” said Gail K. Boudreaux, President and CEO, Anthem. “With the addition of Aspire, we are able to expand our capabilities and serve a broader set of consumers in the home and other settings outside of the hospital, while further deepening our relationships within the healthcare community. The addition of Aspire to Anthem’s other clinical care services, such as CareMore and AIM, will provide tremendous benefit to our consumers, customers, health plan and provider partners as well as future growth opportunities for our company.”
Aspire Health offers specialized medical care focused on addressing a patient’s specific symptoms, pain, and stress; and improving quality of life for both patients and their families. Working together with a patient’s medical team, Aspire’s clinicians develop an integrated care plan to help manage symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping and depression. The company also offers 24/7 support to patients, including nurse practitioner home visits.
Aspire Health will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anthem, and its associates will join Anthem’s Diversified Business Group. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and the transaction is expected to be neutral to earnings in 2018 and accretive to earnings in 2019.
About Anthem, Inc.
Anthem is working to transform health care with trusted and caring solutions. Our health plan companies deliver quality products and services that give their members access to the care they need. With over 74 million people served by its affiliated companies, including nearly 40 million within its family of health plans, Anthem is one of the nation’s leading health benefits companies. For more information about Anthem’s family of companies, please visit www.antheminc.com/companies.
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These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the impact of federal and state regulation, including ongoing changes in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, as amended, or collectively the ACA; trends in healthcare costs and utilization rates; our ability to contract with providers on cost-effective and competitive terms; our ability to secure sufficient premium rates including regulatory approval for and implementation of such rates; reduced enrollment; risks and uncertainties regarding Medicare and Medicaid programs, including those related to non-compliance with the complex regulations imposed thereon, our ability to maintain and achieve improvement in Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, Star ratings and other quality scores and funding risks with respect to revenue received from participation therein; competitive pressures, including competitor pricing, which could affect our ability to maintain or increase our market share; a negative change in our healthcare product mix; our ability to adapt to changes in the industry and develop and implement strategic growth opportunities; costs and other liabilities associated with litigation, government investigations, audits or reviews; the ultimate outcome of litigation between Cigna Corporation, or Cigna, and us related to the merger agreement between the parties, including our claim for damages against Cigna, Cigna’s claim for payment of a termination fee and other damages against us, and the potential for such litigation to cause us to incur substantial costs, materially distract management and negatively impact our reputation and financial positions; medical malpractice or professional liability claims or other risks related to healthcare services provided by our subsidiaries; possible restrictions in the payment of dividends by our subsidiaries and increases in required minimum levels of capital; the potential negative effect from our substantial amount of outstanding indebtedness; a downgrade in our financial strength ratings; the effects of any negative publicity related to the health benefits industry in general or us in particular; unauthorized disclosure of member or employee sensitive or confidential information, including the impact and outcome of any investigations, inquiries, claims and litigation related thereto; failure to effectively maintain and modernize our information systems; non-compliance by any party with the Express Scripts, Inc. pharmacy benefit management services agreement, which could result in financial penalties, our inability to meet customer demands, and sanctions imposed by governmental entities, including CMS; state guaranty fund assessments for insolvent insurers; events that may negatively affect our licenses with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association; regional concentrations of our business and future public health epidemics and catastrophes; general risks associated with mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances; our ability to repurchase shares of our common stock and pay dividends on our common stock due to the adequacy of our cash flow and earnings and other considerations; possible impairment of the value of our intangible assets if future results do not adequately support goodwill and other intangible assets; changes in economic and market conditions, as well as regulations that may negatively affect our liquidity and investment portfolios; changes in U.S. tax laws; intense competition to attract and retain employees; various laws and provisions in our governing documents that may prevent or discourage takeovers and business combinations; and general economic downturns.
