Menasha-based health insurer Network Health has a new ownership structure after Froedtert Health completed its acquisition of Ascension Wisconsin’s 50% stake in the health insurer, taking full ownership of the company. Network Health CEO Coreen Dicus-Johnson recently joined BizTimes managing editor Arthur Thomas to discuss what the change means and how the company competes in an industry dominated by giants.
Adapting to new ownership
“There will be some changes when you’re a solely owned organization. I think our finance department is probably going to feel a lot of it from an operational change because they’ll be required to close the books a lot earlier and do things of that nature. But from how we operate every day, the answer is no. What really is exciting is the opportunities that it presents from a strategic perspective related to how we can continue to be innovative and how we leverage the knowledge, skills, and abilities of our team as well as the Froedtert team and the innovation that Froedtert is so well known for.”
Using your strengths to compete with industry giants
“One of the disciplines that I would recommend is try to look at where your competitors are going to see the opportunity or how they’re going to attack it. And quite frankly, break the rules, not legally, break the norms maybe is probably a better way to say it. … What we like to do is we like to take a look at what’s the standard, how is the industry going to approach … what’s interesting about it is then you start to see where your advantage comes in in terms of your size and everything. Because I think generally we always look at, well, is this a problem that money will fix and you just throw money at it, or is this a problem that quite frankly a relationship is the better way to be able to go about it? … And how do you play to your strength as it relates to your size and their lack of agility generally.”
Balancing speed with guardrails
“In business, sometimes you have to take risks, right? You apply the business judgment rule, you make the best decision that you have with the best information and you go forward. And mistakes are going to happen sometimes with assumptions and things of that nature just regardless of how your guardrails are. But it’s what you do with that information in terms of learning it. … We don’t waste a mistake at Network Health. We learn from it. And the third thing is, part of it is really important is for everyone to know that mistakes don’t get you fired at Network Health. Sloppiness will, but mistakes won’t. And so how do we learn and how do we build a culture that’s got the right balance of discipline in terms of our decision-making, but appropriate risk-taking.”
