Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), a large nonprofit health system based in Colorado, has dropped plans to develop a “wholly owned and nationally driven” insurance business, reports The Wall Street Journal. Instead, it’s going to sell portions of the health-insurance business it has now.
Its announcement comes in the wake of some other big systems saying that they would get into the insurance business and others saying that they would get out.
Once more, fear and chaos triumph!
Fierce Healthcare reported that Dean Swindle, chief financial officer and president of its enterprise business lines for CHI, didn’t agree to an interview on the latest news, but told the WSJ in April that “it’s tough in the health plan business. You lose money. You make mistakes. You plow forward. It takes cash.”
Fierce reported: Many hospitals face difficulties establishing an insurance arm, Eric R. Wagner, executive vice president for insurance and diversified operation for MedStar Health… told FierceHealthcare last year: “There is more volatility associated with insurance. You need to be prepared mentally to take on that volatility and truthfully not to panic when you have a bad month.”
In addition to CHI, The Wall Street Journal noted that Tenet Healthcare, based in Dallas, and WellStar Health System and Piedmont Healthcare, both in Georgia, also will exit the insurance business because of financial losses.
To read The Wall Street Journal’s story, please hit this link.
To read a Fierce analysis, please hit this link.
