The chief executive of Tenet Healthcare Corp.'s revenue cycle subsidiary will step down at the end of the month, the Dallas-based hospital chain announced late Tuesday.
Conifer Health Solutions CEO Joseph Eazor stepped down for personal reasons, Tenet said. The leadership change—the second in about a year—will not impact Tenet's plans to spin off Conifer by the end of the second quarter of 2021, said Ron Rittenmeyer, CEO and executive chairman of Tenet.
"We respect Joe's decision and are sorry to see him leave at this time," he said in prepared remarks. "He had made solid contributions during his short tenure."
Conifer has recently added Arvind Ramakrishnan as chief operating officer and Matt Bayley as chief commercial operations officer, Rittenmeyer said.
Tenet had been trying to sell Conifer, but after more than a year of fielding offers, the company landed on a tax-free spinoff that would create an independent, publicly traded company.
During that July 2019 announcement, Tenet also disclosed that former Conifer CEO Stephen Mooney would be leaving his position to pursue other endeavors. "It's very positive; no negative," Rittenmeyer told Modern Healthcare at the time, adding that Tenet is "not pushing him out the door."
Tenet managed to more than quadruple its profit during the quarter ended June 30 even as elective surgeries virtually stopped for two months, in part thanks to hundreds of millions of federal stimulus grants. The company also reported an 11.3% reduction in expenses.
Conifer's revenue declined to $305 million in the second quarter, down 14.1% from the second quarter last year, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic-related volume declines as well as attrition due to hospital divestitures by both Tenet and other clients. Conifer generated $73 million of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the second quarter, down 29.1%.
