Health plan provider to cut most of its workforce

Advantage Health Solutions Inc., which was was placed under the supervision of the Indiana Department of Insurance in November, plans to part ways with most of its workers, the Indianapolis-based company said Friday in a notice to the state.

The health plan provider told the Indiana Department of Workforce Development that it planned to terminate 78 of its 130 employees beginning March 31. The workforce reduction would end by the end of June, the company said.

In the notice, Chief Financial Officer Terry Metzger said the decision came after management determined to "substantially modify the nature and scope of Advantage's business operations."

Advantage, based at 9045 River Road, was put under supervision after the company lost $46.3 million during the first eight months of the year and decided to terminate its Medicare Advantage business.

The company, founded in 2000, has struggled in recent years. It posted losses in 2014 of $10.7 million. While it had profit of more than $4 million in 2013, it lost $9 million in 2012.

Advantage Health put a new management team in place in the fall, according to insurance department officials. And it received about $33 million in cash infusions late last year from its owners, the largest of which are the St. Vincent Health and Franciscan St. Francis Health hospital systems.

But those actions didn’t significantly improve its financial picture. Its Medicare Advantage plan, in which Advantage provided private health insurance to 22,500 seniors, continued to lose money. So Advantage came to an agreement with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to terminate its Medicare Advantage policies by Dec. 31.