Ascension Health is the parent of Warren, Mich.-based St. John Providence Health System, a five-hospital system, and nine other hospitals in the Wolverine State.
This is part of a growing national trend of hospital systems uniting with insurance companies — a very happy sign for efforts to control healthcare costs. Hospital systems that own insurance companies have a powerful incentive to control costs, an incentive that they have not had before in the virtually out-of-control fee-for-service, cost-plus system.
Modern Healthcare reported that “Joseph Aoun, healthcare lawyer with Nuyen, Tomtishen and Aoun in Ann Arbor, said the acquisition of USHL will provide {Ascension affiliate} Together Health Network, a physician-led clinically integrated network, with the ability to participate in the state’s health insurance exchange.”
