MEDecision sale to Chicago insurer completed

The sale of Wayne-based MEDecision Inc. to a Chicago-based medical-plan operator has been completed, the companies announced today.

MEDecision, which has about 250 employees and makes software that insurance companies use to manage the care of subscribers with chronic illnesses, has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Health Care Service Corp.

MEDecision's shareholders received $7 a share in cash, the companies said in a release; the acquisition had been valued earlier at $121 million.

Company shares had skyrocketed 287 percent in mid-June, when the deal was announced.

Health Care Service Corp., a leading Blue Cross/Blue Shield provider in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, has about 12.4 million members, company spokesman Mark Lane said today.

He noted that MEDecision, which will remain in Wayne, has a lot of customers outside the Blues plans.