Homedco Gets Big Contract With Travelers : Health: Company will provide home services to 1.8 million people in managed-care programs.

Homedco Group Inc. said Wednesday that it will begin providing home-health-care services to 1.8 million people enrolled in managed-health-care programs offered by The Travelers Corp.

“This is probably one of the largest contracts that we’ve signed,” said Lawrence H. Smallen, Homedco’s chief financial officer.

“Travelers estimates that their (1993) expenses for home care were about $25 million. We’re not saying we’ll get all of that business, but we feel we’ll be working on a large part of it.”

“The significance of this contract is that, in the past, a lot of our referrals came from individual institutions and hospitals,” Smallen said. “Today, and increasingly in the future, they’ll come from large managed-care providers like Travelers.”

Homedco, based in Fountain Valley, provides home respiratory therapy, home infusion and nursing through 225 branch locations in 44 states.

The company recently reported a $21.6-million profit on revenue of $385.2 million for nine months ended June 30.