On August 14, 2019, the boards of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and
Tufts Health Plan announced plans for the two insurers to
merge their organizations into a new company. The new company serves 2.4 million members in Massachusetts,
Maine,
Connecticut,
New Hampshire, and
Rhode Island.[1] The merger completed on January 1, 2021, making the then unnamed company the second largest health insurer in Massachusetts.[2][3] On June 15, 2021, the new name of the parent company was announced as Point32Health, named for the 32 points on a compass.[4]
Overview
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care was formed in 1994 from the merger of the Harvard Community Health Plan (HCHP) and the Pilgrim Health Plan. Harvard Community Health Plan had been founded in 1969. One of its founders was
Maurice Lazarus.[5][6]
Harvard Pilgrim is home to the
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, a collaboration with
Harvard Medical School. As Harvard Medical School’s Department of Population Medicine, the Institute is the only appointing department of a
U.S. medical school housed within a health plan. Funded primarily through external government and private sources, it provides information to the health care system on issues affecting population health and health care delivery.[7]