We are beginning to see signals that health insurance companies may become increasingly aligned with providers of medical care, which is being fueled by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. A recent example of this shift can be found in Joseph Swedish's appointment as WellPoint Inc.'s CEO in February. Prior to joining WellPoint, a for-profit managed healthcare company with approximately $60 billion in annual revenue, Mr. Swedish was chief executive of Trinity Health, a tax-exempt Catholic healthcare system with annual revenues of almost $9 billion.
As economic incentives in healthcare shift from volume-based, fee-for-service reimbursement to value-based care focused on quality, efficiency and shared savings, it's essential for healthcare providers to modify their core models for business and service delivery. These strategic changes can also be extended to payers. As Mr. Swedish noted in an interview with the Indianapolis Star, "We have to become consumer-centric. Both [payers and providers] are in equal pursuit of the formation of networks and collaborative arrangements between payers and providers."
Given what appears to be an evolving and continuing alignment of payers and providers, the labor market for executive talent in the healthcare provider sector is changing. As insurance companies are increasing their capabilities to provide healthcare services and the prevalence of "accountable care organizations" continues to increase, Towers Watson's healthcare industry experts are closely tracking the evolving market for talent in the tax-exempt healthcare sector and, more specifically, whether general industry data should be considered when conducting competitive compensation assessments. As a result, we anticipate that general industry and for-profit comparables will become increasingly relevant as healthcare providers continue to position themselves for talent retention and success in the new healthcare environment.
Becky Huddleston is a senior executive compensation consultant in Towers Watson's Chicago office. Email becky.huddleston@towerswatson.com.