MedPartners to Sell Nine of Its Clinics in California

MedPartners Inc. agreed Thursday to sell nine clinics in California as it works to exit the physician group-management business. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

The nine clinics, whose 120 doctors serve 70,000 patients, will be purchased by Talbert Medical Group Inc. and TM Acquisition, MedPartners said. In May, MedPartners agreed to sell about five doctors’ groups, which made up about 20% of its operations in California.

On Wednesday, the Birmingham, Ala.-based health plan reached a settlement with the state, which had seized its California-based MedPartners Provider Network and forced it into bankruptcy on the grounds it had insufficient funds to pay claims.

A Superior Court judge must still approve the settlement agreement, which would end all litigation between the state and the company, though the state will monitor some aspects of its California operations, which cover 1.3 million people.

MedPartners shares fell 44 cents to close at $6.44 on the New York Stock Exchange. The company said the settlement would not affect a charge against earnings it took in its fourth quarter to cover the costs of shedding the physician-management business.

MedPartners, which was the largest U.S. manager of physician groups, announced last year that it intended to quit that business to concentrate on its Caremark Inc. pharmaceutical services unit.