Catholic health system ups its game

Catholic Health Initiatives, one of the nation's largest health systems, is keeping its eye on the future by launching a new health brand that will compete with established health insurers.

The 93-hospital system based in Denver has renamed the small insurance unit it has quietly built Prominence Health. The subsidiary will oversee a growing portfolio of commercial and Medicare Advantage health plans, along with delivery networks and other insurance products and services.

Catholic Health Initiatives leaders say the Prominence Health subsidiary will "operate and consult across the full continuum of healthcare," spanning payers, providers, employers and consumers, with particular focus on population health in a post-fee-for-service world.

"Prominence Health will significantly advance CHI's ability to excel in a pay-for-value environment," said Juan Serrano, CEO of Prominence and senior vice president of payer strategy and operations, in a media release. "Through Prominence, CHI has developed a catalyst to position us as a broadly integrated health system that enables exceptional health services and superior value for the communities we serve," said Serrano, a former UnitedHealthcare and WellCare executive.

Along with CHI's health plans and networks, Prominence Health will oversee benefits management, data analytics, corporate wellness and occupational health, with the aim of creating a "customer-centered 'bridge' to population health," the organization said.

Focus on the employer

The insurance subsidiary will be one way CHI can expand one especially large market: employer-sponsored health benefits, said Serrano in the press release.

Prominence is already working directly with employers in collaborations that "will go far beyond the provision of basic insurance administration and medical care." Among the products and services being tailored for employers are wellness education and health coaching, preventive screenings and disease management support and onsite healthcare.

The bid to directly partner with employers is a strategy other large health systems are taking, most notably of late the accountable care contracts Boeing has set up, one with the Providence and Swedish health systems and one with University of Washington Medicine.

For CHI, the nation's third largest religious-based health system, rebranding and expanding the Prominence insurance subsidiary is part of a strategy to offer integrated health services and find a path towards value-based, non-fee-for-service business – and one only recently in the making.

Prominence Health, formerly called CollabHealth Managed Solutions, was created in 2012. That was CHI's first foray into insurance, begun with a majority interest acquisition in Southpath Health, a Medicare Advantage plan in Tacoma, Wash.

In April, CHI announced an acquisition of the Little Rock, Ark.-based insurance company QualChoice. Arkansas, where CHI operates the St. Vincent Health System, is "a fantastic place to develop our health insurance capabilities as we strive to better serve communities here and across the nation," Serrano said at the time.

Now, CHI is planning to use QualChoice to extend its insurance reach with third party administrative services and Medicare Advantage plans in Kentucky, Nebraska, Ohio and Tennessee – putting competitive pressure on established national and regional insurers in those Midwestern markets.

This story is based on a report appearing on Healthcare Payer News.