Diverge Health and Medical Home Network merge to form value-based care player across nine states
What's the deal? Diverge HealthDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → is merging with Medical Home Network (MHNDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →), a public benefit corporation, to create one of the largest value-based care organizations focused on under-resourced communities. The deal, announced October 13, 2026, combines Diverge's network of independent primary care practices with MHN's longstanding work alongside federally qualified health centers (FQHCs). Terms were not disclosed.
What each side brings: MHN has spent more than 15 years with community health centers and launched one of the first FQHC-focused Medicaid accountable care organizations nationally. Diverge built its network across independent practices and community-based care teams, reporting a 2% reduction in population-level medical loss ratio with a national payer and a 6% increase in patients visiting their primary care provider in 2025.
By the numbers: In 2027, the combined company will partner with nearly 100 FQHCs, more than 300 independent practices, and over 20 Medicaid and Medicare payer partners across nine states. It will support nearly 500,000 members and $3 billion in medical spend.
What's the endgame? The merged organization will embed local community health teams alongside partner practices to address patients' clinical, behavioral, and social needs. Proprietary risk modeling flags rising-risk patients early, and the company plans to invest in AI to lower the cost of engaging each patient.
Why now? The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is backing value-based payment models aimed at community health centers and independent providers, and a growing number of state Medicaid procurements require health plans to do the same.
What they said: "Value-based care is notoriously hard, especially in Medicaid, but strengthening our country's primary care backbone and supporting their patients to live their healthiest lives is a moral imperative," said Binoy Bhansali, chief executive officer and co-founder of Diverge HealthDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. Bhansali will lead the combined company; Cheryl Lulias, president and chief executive officer of MHN, will serve as co-founder and president.
The signal: The merger reflects a push to give safety-net providers the infrastructure to compete in value-based models that have been difficult to make work in Medicaid. "One in seven Americans receives care at an FQHC," said Art Jones, chief clinical officer of MHN. The bet is that scale, data, and community teams can close the gap between what health centers are asked to do and what they are paid.
Read more: finance.yahoo.com
Image credit: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
