When and How It All Began

Berkshire Health Partners (BHP), formally Berkshire Health Plan and Berkshire Health Systems, was founded in 1986 not only as a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) spanning Berks, Montgomery, Schuylkill and Northern Lancaster counties in PA, but also as a locally based and operated contracting vehicle for relationships with other insurance products. Initially, the organization provided managed care services under PPO arrangements to a number of self-funded groups in the Berks County area in conjunction with a third-party administrator. Utilization Management was outsourced. In 1988 BHP formed Medicus Resource Management, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, to provide medical management services for its block of business. Since then, Medicus has provided utilization management and case management services to BHP clients, as well as to other networks both regionally and nationally. Medicus provides services to a current enrollment of over 88,000 members covered by a multitude of arrangements, including PPO (self-funded and fully-insured), Point-of-Service, and HMO.

In 2002, BHP successfully launched its Short Term Disability (STD) and FMLA management services to assist employers in the administration of these benefit programs.

The success of any endeavor such as this is measured in covered lives. With over 88,000 covered lives, Berkshire Health Partners has been a tremendous success. BHP is a fully integrated, not-for-profit, managed health care organization, which strives for better patient care. The mission of BHP is to "Provide our community with quality and accessible health care."