Revenue within the health insurance division of North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System tripled in the past year, and the Great Neck, N.Y.-based organization has no intentions of slowing down investment in its payer operations.
North Shore-LIJ launched its commercial health plan, CareConnect, in 2014. The company sells individual health policies on New York's insurance exchange and also sells group plans to employers. CareConnect covered more than 26,000 members as of June 30, compared with 10,000 at the same time in 2014.
In the first half of 2015, premium revenue from CareConnect and the system's Medicaid managed long-term-care plan jumped to $95.3 million, compared with $31.2 million in the year-ago period, according to the latest unaudited figures. However, the bottom line suffered: the plans lost $12.4 million in the first half of 2015, giving them a negative operating margin of 13%.
North Shore-LIJ CEO Michael Dowling told Modern Healthcare this spring that insurance losses were “fully expected” and that becoming both a provider and a payer was a long-term strategy.
—Bob Herman
