After regaining full ownership of Conifer Health Solutions, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare is planning to expand investments in its revenue cycle management subsidiary, and the system’s CEO Saum Sutaria, MD, said that artificial intelligence is only one aspect of that enhancement.
Dr. Sutaria said on a Feb. 2 investor call that revenue cycle effectiveness depends on having algorithms that can accurately and efficiently sort millions of claims to generate the highest yield.
“So our investments are split between things that we are doing to drive automation, things we’re doing to improve the reliability and speed of the workflow and things where we are deploying AI in order to either augment what people are doing, or in some cases, replace what people are doing in a higher-fidelity way,” he said.
Dr. Sutaria said the combination of those three things is driving its Conifer investment strategy.
“The objective, of course, is straightforward,” he said. “It’s reduction in the cost to collect stepwise over time, which makes the business more competitive from a pricing standpoint. And, secondly, improving the yield and the speed at which you realize that yield, which is really the product that Conifer produces for the marketplace. That’s how we think about it and strategically, our investments are focused across those areas, both with our domestic and global business centers.”
Tenet announced Feb. 2 that it was regaining full control of Conifer, with Chicago-based CommonSpirit exiting the partnership. Under the agreement, CommonSpirit will pay about $1.9 billion to Tenet over the next three years, while Conifer will pay CommonSpirit roughly $540 million to redeem its 23.8% equity stake, effective Jan. 1. Conifer will continue to provide services for CommonSpirit through the end of 2026.
Dr. Sutaria said Tenet “respects CommonSpirit’s strategic imperatives and decision to insource the revenue cycle operations currently served by Conifer.”
“CommonSpirit worked closely with us to structure a mutually beneficial transaction that reflects our longstanding partnership and commitment to the joint venture.”
Conifer’s contract with CommonSpirit began in 2012 and was set to run through 2032, Dr. Sutaria said on the call.
In response to an investor question, Dr. Sutaria said there are no concerns over retaining other Conifer clients, noting that there are new clients coming on board.
“I wouldn’t think of this as anything other than a highly accreted asset sale,” Dr. Sutaria said. “It happened to be a contract rather than what we’ve done in the past, which are hospitals.”
