Health Plans, MedPartners to Reach Pact

A group of health plans and MedPartners Inc. will guarantee an initial $50 million to sustain the company’s troubled California subsidiary as part of a tentative deal with the state. The settlement, meant to ensure uninterrupted medical care to more than 1 million patients and payment to their doctors, should be finalized by Saturday if approved by all parties, according to documents filed by MedPartners with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under the tentative deal, Alabama-based MedPartners would have control over the day-to-day management of its California subsidiary, MedPartners Provider Network, with continuing bankruptcy court supervision. State regulators seized MPN earlier this month. The network subsequently filed for bankruptcy.