The Regence Group

Infobox_Company
company_name = The Regence Group
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1996
location = Portland, Oregon, USA flagicon|USA
key_people = Mark Ganz: President & CEO
num_employees = 6,000 (2008)
industry = Health Care Plans
products = Health Care Plans| revenue =
net_income = profit$6.7 billion USD (2006)
homepage = [http://www.regence.com/ www.regence.com]

The Regence Group is a Blue Cross Blue Shield licensed health insurance company located in Portland, Oregon. It is licensed to sell health insurance plans under the Blue Cross Blue Shield name in Idaho, western Washington, Utah, and Oregon. It uses the Asuris name in eastern Washington, due to its competitor Premera having acquired that territory's Blue Shield license in 1998 when it merged with Spokane's Medical Services Corporation.

History

Merger activity has been a regular part of managed care in the Northwest. By 1997 there were approximately thirty health plans and by 2002 there were twenty left. Activity increased when Thurston County Medical Bureau merged with King County Medical Bureau, and increased more when Pierce County Medical Bureau and King County Medical Bureau merged with the BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon (which had themselves merged in 1983), to form The Benchmark Group in 1995 under Dick Woolworth's leadership. Richard (Dick) Woolworth's experience as chair of the BlueCross BlueShield Association would prove useful in his new role as CEO, as he led TBG in their coming wave of M&A activity. BlueCross BlueShield of Utah joined in 1996, and BlueShield of Idaho joined shortly thereafter, under an administrative services agreement that allowed BSI to remain owned by its members as a mutual insurance company but have Regence handle the management. Skagit County Medical Bureau and Whatcom County Medical Bureau merged in 1998, as part of the unaligned movement, to form Northwest Medical Bureau. In 1999, Regence RX was created, to create a Pharmacy Benefit Manager. In 2001, Northwest Medical Bureau merged with Regence. In 2003, Dick Woolworth retired, his place taken by Mark Ganz. In 2006, Regence's headquarters in Portland was renamed in Woolworth's honor.

In 2005, Regence received 24.8% of the customer complaints with the Washington Insurance Commissioner, with a share of 22.3% of the market.

Leadership team

*Mark B. Ganz - President and Chief Executive Officer
*Kerry E. Barnett - Executive Vice President and Corporate Services and Chief Legal Officer
*Bill Barr - Executive Vice President, Health Care Operations
*Steve Hooker - Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
*Scott Ideson - President, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah
*Tom Kennedy - Senior Vice President, Health Care Services
*Jo Anne Long - Senior Vice President, Enterprise Program Management
*Bart McMullan, M.D. - President, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon
*Mary O. McWilliams - President, Regence BlueShield
*Mohan Nair - Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Executive
*Jeff Robertson, M.D. - Chief Medical Officer
*John Stellmon - President, Regence BlueShield of Idaho
*Cheron Vail - Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer

Main competitors

Idaho

*Blue Cross of Idaho
*First Choice Health

Oregon

*Healthnet
*Kaiser Permanente of Oregon
*Lifewise (Premera subsidiary)
*ODS
*Pacific Source
*Pacificare (purchased by UnitedHealth Group in December, 2005)
*Providence Health plans
*Healthcare Direct (Purchased by First Choice Health Network on June 20, 2006)

Utah

*Altius (purchased by Coventry in 2003)
*Intermountain Healthcare

Washington

*Aetna
*Cigna Managed Care
*First Choice Health Network
*Group Health Cooperative
*Premera

External links

* [http://www.regence.com Company website]
* [http://business.enotes.com/company-histories/regence-group eNotes entry]

* [http://www.uhc.com/newsroom/newsreleases/pacificaremerger.htm] (Pacificare/UNH Merger)