Dive Brief:
- Kaiser Permanente is acquiring Geisinger Health and forming a new nonprofit to buy and operate other value-oriented nonprofit systems, the organizations announced Wednesday.
- The new nonprofit, Risant Health, will operate separately from Kaiser Permanente. Geisinger will become part of Risant but maintain its own name and mission, according to a press release.
- Geisinger president and CEO Jaewon Ryu will be CEO of Risant as the transaction closes, subject to regulatory review. Risant will have its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Dive Insight:
Risant represents an opportunity for Kaiser, which currently operates in eight states and Washington, D.C., to expand its reach nationwide through targeted acquisitions of nonprofit community health systems, as smaller hospitals continue to struggle in a difficult operating environment.
About half of all U.S. hospitals finished last year with negative margins, according to consultancy Kaufman Hall.
Kaiser, which reported $95 billion in revenue in 2022, plans to spend $5 billion on Risant over the next five years, a Kaiser spokesperson said. It will add five or six health systems to Risant over that period, according to reports.
Kaufman Hall said recently it expects a “new wave of transaction activity” and a growing number of cross-regional partnerships.
Pennsylvania-based Geisinger has 10 hospital campuses and a health plan that covers more than 500,000 members. It has more than 25,000 employees. Both Geisinger and Kaiser reported operating losses last year, as supply and labor expenses rose.
Kaiser in 2022 posted a $4.5 billion net loss, compared to a prior-year gain of $8.1 billion. Providence, The Cleveland Clinic and Advocate Aurora all posted net losses for last year as well.
Federal and state regulators still need to approve the deal, the financial terms of which were not disclosed. It’s likely to face a high bar for approval as regulators more aggressively scrutinize hospital mergers.
At closing, expected early in 2024, Risant Health will be governed by a board of seven voting directors, including the chair and CEO of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, three Kaiser Foundation Hospitals board members, one independent director and two Geisinger appointees, according to the spokesperson.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with more information.
