Froedtert Health, an academic medical center based in Milwaukee, is in negotiations to buy a 50% stake in Network Health, a health insurance company based in Menasha, Wis.
Ministry Health Care, a 15-hospital division of Ascension Health headquartered in Milwaukee, has solely owned Network Health since 2012. St. Louis-based Ascension is the largest not-for-profit health system in the country.
Froedtert's CEO Cathy Jacobson said selling health insurance directly to employers and consumers was “the next logical place to go” for her organization, as providers are expected to take on more risk in the health of local populations. Froedtert was a founding member of the Integrated Health Network of Wisconsin, an accountable care organization, and Ministry joined IHN last September. The network contracts with a number of insurers in new payment structures such pay-for-performance contracts, and the ACO wanted to add its own products.