Land of Lincoln Health, the startup insurer funded in part by a $160 million federal loan, is shuffling its leadership team ahead of the start of open enrollment in the second year of the Affordable Care Act.
The Chicago-based insurance cooperative, which is affiliated with the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, plans to announce Monday that Chief Executive Officer Daniel Yunker will step aside from day-to-day operations to take on additional responsibilities with the council. The move is effective Sept. 30.
Jason Montrie, who was formerly executive vice president of Land of Lincoln, will be elevated to president, taking the lead on the insurer’s strategic and operational functions.
Yunker, 45, was appointed president and CEO of the council, replacing Kevin Scanlan, 65, who will retire.
Yunker was previously a senior vice president of the council. He will retain his CEO title at Land of Lincoln, focusing primarily on the insurer’s relationships with hospitals and provider groups.
In an interview Friday, Yunker said the move was planned previously as part of the council’s succession planning. He said he’s excited about the opportunity to lead the organization, which directly represents all 89 acute-care hospitals in the eight-county metro area and 150 hospitals and health care providers throughout Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana.
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“Our vision is for Chicago to be among the best, if not the best, health care market in the country,” Yunker said. “My focus will be on what things we can do to deliver value to the health care community and consumers to meet that vision.”
Montrie will step in as president at a crucial time for Land of Lincoln, which stumbled out of the blocks in its first year offering policies in Illinois, falling far short of its original enrollment goals.
The insurer, one of 23 nonprofit insurers that fall under a new category of carriers called Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans, or “co-ops,” had initially hoped to enroll as many as 75,000 members for 2014. As of this month, fewer than 4,000 had bought the company’s policies.
Land of Lincoln took a different approach than its competitors, opting to design most of its lower-tier policies with lower annual deductibles in exchange for higher monthly premiums, a strategy that backfired.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, the state’s largest insurer, had among the lowest premiums in every plan category, a major factor in it corralling 92 percent of the market this year.
Yunker said Land of Lincoln’s proposed 2015 rates will be lower than this year, pending final approval by state and federal regulators.
“We will be competitive,” he said. The insurer also plans to offer a variety of “unique plans that are different than anything else in this market” in hopes of bringing on new customers.
In his new role with the council, Yunker will focus on the development of MetroChicago Health Information Exchange, a health record clearinghouse that will include data from 34 Chicago-area hospitals.
The online portal will allow hospitals to share patient information in real time, an initiative aimed at preventing errors, improving patient care, and reducing waste and redundancy.
As of Friday, the portal had more than 400,000 patient records, including lab tests, imaging, health conditions, prescriptions and patient histories, Yunker said.
David Crane, the chairman of the council’s board and president and CEO of Adventist Midwest Health, said in a statement that Yunker is “the perfect fit to guide MCHC’s strategic direction at this critical time in health care in Illinois.”
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