Employees Are Offered Transfers : Relocation: Alta Health Strategies gives 80 O.C. workers affected by its consolidation the option of moving to Utah.

About 80 claims workers are being offered transfers to Salt Lake City in a consolidation of Alta Health Strategies Inc., a medical insurance claims processor that will close its Orange County claims office.

Alta Health Strategies plans to move all of its claims services to its Salt Lake City headquarters to provide centralized control over the computerized system, officials said.

Employees in the Santa Ana office affected by the move will be offered new jobs in Utah, said Paul Ashton, a senior vice president. They will be given a moving allowance if they decide to relocate or an equal amount in severance, if they decide against it. Ashton said he was unsure, however, how much those allowances would be.

The relocation comes six months after Alta Health Strategies was sold to First Financial Management Corp. of Atlanta. Overall, the company will be adding employees as it combines operations with First Financial’s health division, Health Services Corp. of Richmond, Va., according to Ashton. The new, combined firm will be called First Health starting Jan. 1.

The company plans to maintain a marketing office in Santa Ana, to be staffed with 16 workers--a number that will probably grow by an additional four or five next year, he said.

First Financial, which specializes in computer applications, acquired Alta last April in hopes of bringing greater computerization to the health claim processing systems used by self-insured companies.

“They see the health care industry as the last frontier for automation,” Ashton said. In particular, he said, the new company should be able to bring advances such as patient health cards with magnetic strips that contain identifying information and health history for doctors. Doctors will be able to bill for their fees directly into a computer network linked to Salt Lake City, streamlining the payment and treatment system.

Because of these advances, Ashton said, the company probably will add jobs--although most will not be in Orange County.

Alta Chairman W. Terry Nofsinger will retain his title and duties in overseeing First Health. He will be joined by Harlan F. Seymour, a First Health Services Corp. executive who will be the president of the new entity.

Alta pays more than $2 billion in claims a year on behalf of 1,000 clients and their 3 million employees.