About 150 employees in the Ann Arbor office of Blue Care Network will be moving to locations in Southfield and Detroit over the next few months, Crain's has learned.

The moves are expected to reduce Blue Cross operating costs by about $900,000 per year, according to Crain's analysis of data provided by CoStar Group, a Southfield-based real estate consulting and data company.

Blue Care leases about 45,000 square feet at a 90,000-square foot building at 2311 Green Road, said Andy Hetzel, Blue Cross' vice president of corporate communications. Hetzel said the lease on the building would have expired later this year.

"We had targeted (the move) for later this year, but the real estate market is strong in Ann Arbor," said Hetzel, adding that Blue Cross negotiated an early lease termination for Sept. 30. "The owner has a tenant ready for the space, so we are in the process of moving now based on the units (Blue Care employees work in)."

Blue Care units moving include behavioral health, field services, provider affairs and customer service, Hetzel said. "There is no reduction in force," he said.

"This is an opportunity for us to become more cost-efficient on the facility side," Hetzel said.

The employee moves and cost savings are considered part of a larger "strategic business transformation" to reduce administrative cost by $300 million by 2019. The effort began in January 2016. Hetzel said the cost reduction program is on schedule. So far, Blue Cross has reduced costs by about $157 million, sources who requested anonymity have told Crain's.

"We are tracking along schedule," Hetzel said.