Spring Health

Charter Medical Corp., the largest operator of psychiatric hospitals in the nation, has purchased a majority share in Columbia-based Green Spring Health Services Inc., which manages mental health and drug and alcohol abuse programs for 12 million people.The deal, announced in October and concluded yesterday, creates the first fully integrated behavioral health care company. It will provide a range of services from emergency hospitalization to calculating how much services should cost.Atlanta-based Charter becomes a new holding company, Magellan Health Services Inc., with projected 1996 revenue of $1.4 billion and 22,000 employees.

Columbia-based Magellan Health Services will announce quarterly earnings this week, but it's already warned that profit will be about 10 percent below expectations. Change is never easy - and Magellan has changed a lot. It used to be a Georgia company. Last year, it moved its headquarters to Maryland, employing about 1,000 employees in Columbia, and 12,000 nationally. Five years ago, it was a company that operated mental hospitals. Then, it bought controlling interest in Maryland-based Green Spring Health Services, a company that got it into the business of being, in effect, an HMO for mental health, collecting premiums and contracting with therapists and hospitals for care.

Green Spring Health Services of Columbia will "certainly look at strategic opportunities," but will not merge with a similar company being acquired by Green Spring's majority owner, said Clarissa Marques, executive vice president of Green Spring and Magellan Health Services.Magellan, based in Atlanta, owns 61 percent of Green Spring, a company which provides managed-care services in mental health.Magellan said Tuesday that it would buy Salt Lake City-based Human Affairs International from Aetna U.S. Healthcare in a deal valued at $422 million.

The country's largest manager of mental health care plans will announce today it is moving its headquarters from Atlanta to Columbia and is creating 600 jobs in the state over the next 2 1/2 years.Magellan Health Services Inc., a $1.5 billion company with more than 11,000 employees nationwide, will rank as one of the Baltimore area's top 10 public companies.The new jobs were promised in exchange for $2.8 million from the state Department of Economic Development's Sunny Day fund. About 60 percent of the new positions will pay between $20,000 and $40,000, with the remainder paying from $40,000 to more than $100,000.

Green Spring Health Services of Columbia said yesterday that it will buy Vista Behavioral Health Plans of San Diego in a $6 million deal.The acquisition continues Green Spring's rapid consolidation in the managed behavioral health care field. Such companies operate like HMOs, providing counseling and inpatient care, generally for a fixed monthly fee.The deal will add 600,000 members to Green Spring's business, which provides managed behavioral care to 16 million people.Green Spring and three other companies already control more than 70 percent of the market -- and one of those three, Human Affairs International, is being acquired by Magellan Health Services, which owns a controlling interest in Green Spring and operates mental hospitals.

Columbia's Green Spring Health Services Inc. stands to double in size as its parent company, Magellan Health Services Inc. of Atlanta, announced plans yesterday to buy Merit Behavioral Care Corp. for $560 million in cash and assumed debt.The New Jersey-based Merit will be merged into Green Spring, said Dr. Henry T. Harbin, Green Spring's president and chief executive officer. That would create a Maryland-based company with more than $1 billion of annual revenue, providing managed-care mental health services for 40 million people by contracting with more than 50,000 clinicians and mental health facilities.

Tomorrow, the world.Already on its way to building the largest mental health managed care company in the United States, Green Spring Health Services of Columbia yesterday announced its first international acquisition -- buying 80 percent of CHC, a Canadian operator of employee assistance plans.Green Spring hopes to expand CHC's business in Canada, and is exploring opportunities in other countries as well, said Dr. Clarissa Marques, executive vice president and chief clinical officer.Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Its name, one might say, is a Beltway accident; not a collision, but a bit of I-695 serendipity.The accidental naming of Green Spring Health Services might nTC seem a symbol for a company that was in the right place at the right time -- and made the most of it.While the managed mental health care industry is growing quickly, Green Spring is growing even more quickly -- from 2 million members covered and $12 million in revenue in 1991 to almost 15 million covered...

The state's largest health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland, has asked insurance regulators to approve the insurer's attempt to appraise one of its subsidiaries and use the new value to boost its lagging reserves.Blue Cross wants to set the value of the unit, Green Spring Health Services Inc., on the basis of a 20 percent stake it sold last month to Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania.If Blue Cross is permitted to use the newly appraised value, it would add to the company's assets and boost its most recently reported reserve level of $72 million by about 16 percent.

Dr. Henry T. Harbin, president and chief executive officer of Green Spring Health Services in Columbia, will become CEO of the managed behavioral health care division of Green Spring's parent, Magellan Health Services, the company announced.Harbin's move is part of a reorganization to provide management over Green Spring and two other behavioral managed care companies Magellan has acquired, Human Affairs International and Merit Behavioral Care.The consolidated operation will be based in Columbia, but will have little impact on employment there, now about 800, Harbin said.

Dr. Henry T. Harbin, president and chief executive officer of Green Spring Health Services in Columbia, will become CEO of the managed behavioral health care division of Green Spring's parent, Magellan Health Services, the company announced.Harbin's move is part of a reorganization to provide management over Green Spring and two other behavioral managed care companies Magellan has acquired, Human Affairs International and Merit Behavioral Care.The consolidated operation will be based in Columbia, but will have little impact on employment there, now about 800, Harbin said.

Tomorrow, the world.Already on its way to building the largest mental health managed care company in the United States, Green Spring Health Services of Columbia yesterday announced its first international acquisition -- buying 80 percent of CHC, a Canadian operator of employee assistance plans.Green Spring hopes to expand CHC's business in Canada, and is exploring opportunities in other countries as well, said Dr. Clarissa Marques, executive vice president and chief clinical officer.Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Columbia's Green Spring Health Services Inc. stands to double in size as its parent company, Magellan Health Services Inc. of Atlanta, announced plans yesterday to buy Merit Behavioral Care Corp. for $560 million in cash and assumed debt.The New Jersey-based Merit will be merged into Green Spring, said Dr. Henry T. Harbin, Green Spring's president and chief executive officer. That would create a Maryland-based company with more than $1 billion of annual revenue, providing managed-care mental health services for 40 million people by contracting with more than 50,000 clinicians and mental health facilities.

Green Spring Health Services of Columbia said yesterday that it will buy Vista Behavioral Health Plans of San Diego in a $6 million deal.The acquisition continues Green Spring's rapid consolidation in the managed behavioral health care field. Such companies operate like HMOs, providing counseling and inpatient care, generally for a fixed monthly fee.The deal will add 600,000 members to Green Spring's business, which provides managed behavioral care to 16 million people.Green Spring and three other companies already control more than 70 percent of the market -- and one of those three, Human Affairs International, is being acquired by Magellan Health Services, which owns a controlling interest in Green Spring and operates mental hospitals.

Green Spring Health Services of Columbia will "certainly look at strategic opportunities," but will not merge with a similar company being acquired by Green Spring's majority owner, said Clarissa Marques, executive vice president of Green Spring and Magellan Health Services.Magellan, based in Atlanta, owns 61 percent of Green Spring, a company which provides managed-care services in mental health.Magellan said Tuesday that it would buy Salt Lake City-based Human Affairs International from Aetna U.S. Healthcare in a deal valued at $422 million.

Its name, one might say, is a Beltway accident; not a collision, but a bit of I-695 serendipity.The accidental naming of Green Spring Health Services might nTC seem a symbol for a company that was in the right place at the right time -- and made the most of it.While the managed mental health care industry is growing quickly, Green Spring is growing even more quickly -- from 2 million members covered and $12 million in revenue in 1991 to almost 15 million covered...

Charter Medical Corp., the nation's largest operator of psychiatric hospitals, said yesterday that it will pay $73 million for a majority share in Green Spring Health Services, a rapidly growing Columbia-based company that manages mental health and substance abuse programs for 12 million people nationwide.The deal, seen by stock analysts as an extremely positive move by Charter, creates the first behavioral health care company in the country that is "fully integrated," meaning it handles every aspect of care from deciding how much services should cost to providing emergency counseling and hospitalization.

Maryland has awarded the job of administering mental health treatment for 400,000 Medicaid enrollees to two Baltimore-area managed-care companies.A joint venture of Green Spring Health Services Inc. of Columbia and CMG Health Inc. of Owings Mills will manage mental health care for Medicaid patients over the next three years, the companies said. The job starts Jan. 2, and the joint venture is called Maryland Health Partners.Public details of the contract were fuzzy yesterday. It was unclear, for example, how much the job would add to the companies' revenue or how the contract would affect patients.

Maryland has awarded the job of administering mental health treatment for 400,000 Medicaid enrollees to two Baltimore-area managed-care companies.A joint venture of Green Spring Health Services Inc. of Columbia and CMG Health Inc. of Owings Mills will manage mental health care for Medicaid patients over the next three years, the companies said. The job starts Jan. 2, and the joint venture is called Maryland Health Partners.Public details of the contract were fuzzy yesterday. It was unclear, for example, how much the job would add to the companies' revenue or how the contract would affect patients.

Charter Medical Corp., the largest operator of psychiatric hospitals in the nation, has purchased a majority share in Columbia-based Green Spring Health Services Inc., which manages mental health and drug and alcohol abuse programs for 12 million people.The deal, announced in October and concluded yesterday, creates the first fully integrated behavioral health care company. It will provide a range of services from emergency hospitalization to calculating how much services should cost.Atlanta-based Charter becomes a new holding company, Magellan Health Services Inc., with projected 1996 revenue of $1.4 billion and 22,000 employees.