Managed Care

• Coventry Health Care (Bethesda, MD) and E.M. Warburg Pincus & Co. formed a partnership to develop and fund a company that will invest in emerging companies developing healthcare technologies. Coventry said Warburg intends to provide the initial working capital to develop the new company. The new company’s investments will be funded 80% by Warburg, and Coventry will cover the remaining 20%, the company said.

• Standard & Poor’s (S&P’s; New York) last week raised its counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield to triple-B from double-B. The outlook is stable, S&P’s said.

• A.M. Best (Oldwick, NJ) has assigned an A (excellent) rating to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia (Atlanta). The rating reflects the company’s strong position in the Georgia health market, consistently good earnings, and adequate level of capital, A.M. said. Partially offsetting these strengths are a substantial investment in equity securities, increasing over the past few years, and the pending merger with WellPoint Health Networks