Maxicare Unit in Dallas Will Close April 30

Maxicare Health Plans, which has filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition, said Thursday that it will close its 32,000-member Dallas health maintenance organization April 30. It will be the third such program Maxicare has dismantled in recent weeks.

Before its Chapter 11 filing for protection from creditors March 16, Los Angeles-based Maxicare had said Maxicare North Texas was among a core group of plans in 10 states--out of 33 where it had operated--that it intended to keep.

However, “we were concerned that the current instability of the Dallas provider network could affect our ability to ensure continued health care to our members,” Peter J. Ratican, Maxicare’s chairman and chief executive, said in a prepared statement. The company was unable to find a qualified buyer for the plan, he said.

Maxicare spokeswoman Tobi Nyberg explained that some health-care providers serving the Dallas members were experiencing financial difficulty. “We felt that because of those difficulties, we couldn’t rely on them. There was no strong commitment,” she added.

Nyberg said the financial problems of the Dallas providers were not related to debts owed by Maxicare. Maxicare North Texas owes at least $3 million to Texas health-care providers--mostly hospitals--according to a U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing describing unsecured claims by the Texas unit’s 20 largest creditors.

Despite the planned closure, the Texas Department of Insurance said it will pursue its motion pending before the bankruptcy court in Santa Ana to withdraw Maxicare North Texas from the bankruptcy proceedings. The department wants to ensure that pending claims will be paid according to Texas law, department spokeswoman Dixie Evatt said.