Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. signed an agreement on Thursday to purchase FutureHealth Corp., a business that helps chronically ill employees manage and improve their health, which in turn can reduce employers’ health-care costs.

The purchase will augment Nationwide’s GatesMcDonald subsidiary, which helps companies manage workers who have taken time off for a variety of reasons, said Terri Wearsch, a Nationwide spokeswoman.

Wearsch would not discuss terms of the purchase. The privately held FutureHealth, which will maintain its headquarters and management group in Hunt Valley, Md., employs 190 workers and services more than 800,000 individuals.

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