Via Christi Health System is exploring the potential sale of Preferred Health Systems, its health insurance subsidiary, the health system said Wednesday.
"We are giving thoughtful consideration to whether, in the long term, our core mission of providing quality health care services is best served by operating an insurance company as part of our health system," Kevin Conlin, Via Christi Health System president and CEO, said in a release.
A sale would be the latest change in what insurance broker Gary Hardman called "the ever-changing landscape of health insurance in Wichita."
Hardman, president of Hardman Benefit Plans, said a sale "could totally change the health insurance delivery system in south-central Kansas."
He and Karen Vines, director of business development and client services for IMA of Kansas, another insurance broker, said a sale potentially would reduce the number of options available to consumers if the buyer was already doing business here.
"That's the concerning aspect," Vines said.
Conlin said several insurance companies have responded to a request for proposal. As the process evolves, the health system will make more information available, a statement said, with no additional information available at this time.
PHS and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas are the two major health insurance players in the Wichita area.
By written premiums, the five largest health insurance companies in Kansas are, in order, Blue Cross, United Healthcare Insurance Co., Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, PHS and Humana Insurance Co. For companies offering health maintenance organizations, the biggest are Preferred Plus of Kansas, which is owned by PHS, and Coventry Health Care of Kansas.
Via Christi facilities traditionally have been the in-network facilities for those with PHS insurance, but earlier this year PHS announced contracts with Galichia Heart Hospital and then with Wesley Medical Center.
In addition, Blue Cross, which traditionally limited its network to Wesley Medical Center, announced that it had signed a contract with the Via Christi Wichita Health Network.
PHS and Blue Cross have been in talks with other hospitals in the area as well.
Hardman and Vines said a potential sale wouldn't have any immediate impact on consumers.
"It's the technology that usually takes more time than anything" to merge, Hardman said.
Even if a sale were immediate, changes probably wouldn't be effective until after the first quarter of 2010, he predicted.
Preferred Health Systems was incorporated in 1993. It is headed by Marlon Dauner.
It grew out of Preferred Health Care, an insurance organization owned by St. Francis Regional Medical Center, before its merger with St. Joseph Medical Center and the creation of the Via Christi system.
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