DAYTON — Premier Health Plan has announced that it has signed an expanded partnership agreement with Evolent Health, the company that helped Premier Health launch the locally based, physician-led health plan in 2015.

Under the terms of the agreement, Evolent will acquire Premier Health Plan’s Medicare Advantage and commercial lines of business. The organizations anticipate that members enrolled in Premier Health Plan’s Medicare Advantage and commercial health insurance products will transition to Evolent management in early 2018. The change in plan ownership will not affect member benefit changes for the 2018 plan year. No changes will be made to the plan’s network of nearly 6,000 providers. The organizations aim to maintain core health plan operations in the Dayton, Ohio, area.

The acquisition will have no impact on open enrollment currently underway for Medicare Advantage plans, nor will it affect the plan’s commercial products. Medicare beneficiaries can continue to enroll in Premier Health Plan through the end of open enrollment, Dec. 7.

As part of the agreement, Premier Health will enter a continued services agreement in which Evolent will support the health system’s population health management efforts for the Premier Health employee benefits plan, Next Generation ACO and payer partnership populations.

The acquisition is expected to close early in 2018, subject to regulatory approvals.