Changes ahead for MED Group

FLORHAM PARK, N.J.- Managed Health Care Associates is moving operations for The MED Group to its corporate headquarters, closing the Lubbock, Texas, office.

The office is no longer needed now that MHA plans to manage MED's payer network and GPO businesses in Florham Park, N.J., MED says in a Jan. 17 letter to members.

“The business will continue to operate as MED Group under the MED Group brand,” said Michael Sicilian, president of MHA, which bought MED in 2011, in a statement to HME News. “That includes the GPO and payer network.”

MED also plans to “wind down” MED Professional Services, according to the letter to members. MED launched MED Professional Services as a separate entity last year to offer complex rehab, sleep and HME providers services related to payer and clinical networks, credentialing and clinical education, and marketing.

“Market conditions” no longer support MED Professional Services and non-payer network services, the letter says.

Additionally, MED has told state and regional HME associations that it would not be renewing its membership agreements with them for 2019, according to a number of those associations. In a Jan. 17 letter to one state association, MED said it would forward their information to MHA “for their use in contacting you to join the membership if so applicable in the future.”

MHA has sent subsequent letters to the associations, introducing them to the appropriate person at MHA to send information about memberships, company officials say.

“MED Group has not pulled support from state associations,” Sicilian said in the statement.