Excellus parent, Capital Region health-insurance carrier to affiliate

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Two of New York’s larger health-insurance carriers have announced plans to affiliate.

The Lifetime Healthcare Companies — the Rochester–based parent company of Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS) and Univera Healthcare — and CDPHP of Albany on Wednesday announced plans to form an affiliation.

Under the agreement, the health insurers say they will maintain their local brands and identities while “gaining economies of scale” through shared technologies, systems, processes, and resources as part of “one corporate family.”

If the affiliation is approved by state and federal regulators, the Lifetime Healthcare Companies would become the parent company of CDPHP, Excellus BCBS, and Univera Healthcare.

Excellus is Central New York’s largest health insurer.

Established in 1984, CDPHP is a physician-founded health plan that offers health insurance throughout New York. CDPHP covers an area with that includes Madison, Oneida, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Broome, Chenango, and Tioga counties.

“As we celebrate 40 years of CDPHP delivering high-quality, affordable health care —and as I mark 16 years of leading this great organization — it gives me tremendous pride to announce our plans to partner with The Lifetime Healthcare Companies,” Dr. John D. Bennett, president and CEO of CDPHP, said in the announcement. “It was important for us to partner with a not-for-profit health plan that shares in our mission of driving better health outcomes, increasing member satisfaction, and controlling the rising cost of care in the combined communities we serve.”

The boards of directors of CDPHP and The Lifetime Healthcare Companies unanimously approved the affiliation.

Working together, Excellus BCBS, CDPHP, and Univera Healthcare will combine resources; leverage best practices; and develop “new and innovative ways to improve the quality, affordability, and experience of care” for millions of New Yorkers, per the joint announcement.

“I’m excited to partner with CDPHP to work together on quality, affordability, and access to health care in our respective regions,” Jim Reed, president and CEO of the Lifetime Healthcare Companies, said in the announcement. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for the reputation CDPHP has built in the Capital Region and the work of the health plan. It just makes sense to partner with such a trusted, mission-driven not-for-profit whose culture aligns so closely to ours.”