Evergreen Medical Group to discontinue health plan

Columbus-based Evergreen Medical Group has announced it will discontinue its health benefits business Evergreen Health Plan Inc. over the next year to focus on other parts of the corporation.

Evergreen Health Plan stopped quoting any new business after Jan. 1 and will not renew any existing contracts in the next 12 months, said Mike Hill, president and chief executive officer of Evergreen Medical Group.

The group has signed a long-term contract with Humana Inc., one of the country’s largest publicly-traded health benefits companies, that will allow Humana to bid for health-care contracts with existing Evergreen corporate customers.

Alongside the likes of Blue Cross Blue Shield, Evergreen is one of the biggest players in the Columbus health benefits market. A little more than 200 local businesses, including Columbus Regional Healthcare System, TSYS, Synovus and Carl Gregory, use Evergreen Health Plan. The plan has about 15,000 commercial members in the six-county Columbus market.

Come back to www.ledger-enquirer.com Friday for more on this story.

This story was originally published January 8, 2009 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Evergreen Medical Group to discontinue health plan."