Before being acquired last year, Wichita, Kan.-based Via Christi Health handled its medical malpractice insurance through a self-owned company in the Cayman Islands, according to a Wichita Eagle report.
Via Christi, the largest nonprofit health system in Kansas with six acute-care hospitals, previously was part of Tulsa, Okla.-based Marian Health System. Last April, St. Louis-based Ascension Health acquired Marian, making Via Christi part of Ascension.
Because Ascension bought Via Christi, Ascension now owns the medical malpractice insurance firm, Sunflower Assurance. The for-profit captive insurance company covered Via Christi against medical malpractice issues and is based in the Cayman Islands — a notorious tax haven site for large conglomerates and affluent individuals.
David Hadley, CFO of Via Christi who will be joining Oklahoma City-based Integris Health next month, told the Eagle the practice was common, legal and helped the system contain costs while avoiding onerous regulations.
"The insurance regulations in the states are significantly more bureaucratic than the Cayman," Mr. Hadley said in the report. "If the fed regulations would just let us put that money on the Via Christi Health balance sheet and let us fund it all right here, we'd do it here. But the feds require you to have a licensed insurance company."
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