Anthem To Acquire Aspire Health - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Anthem, Inc. (ANTM) announced that the company has entered into an agreement to acquire Aspire Health, a non-hospice, community-based palliative care provider. Aspire was founded in 2013 by former U.S. Senator and physician William Frist and Brad Smith, who serves as Chief Executive Officer of the company.

Aspire currently provides services under contracts with more than 20 health plans to consumers in 25 states. The company uses proprietary predictive clinical and claims-based patient algorithms to identify patients with a serious illness who may benefit from an extra layer of support. The company also offers 24-7 support to patients, including nurse practitioner home visits.

Anthem expects the transaction to be neutral to earnings in 2018 and accretive to earnings in 2019.