STAT+: Nonprofit health system raked in $1.1 billion this year from stake in medical billing firm
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- Bon Secours Mercy Health received a $671 million payment from Ensemble Health Partners roughly two weeks before the Q2 filing when Ensemble signed a new private equity sponsor
- Bon Secours Mercy Health separately recorded a $427 million distribution from Ensemble in February, bringing its 2024 payments from the billing firm past $1.1 billion
- Bon Secours Mercy Health sold stakes in its in-house billing and collections arm to private equity investors seven years ago, yet still holds a minority position generating massive cash returns
- Ensemble Health Partners is the medical billing and collections company that originated inside Bon Secours and was spun out to PE backers
- Both payments were disclosed in the Cincinnati-based nonprofit's Q2 financial report covering the period ending June 30
- Ensemble Health Partners continues to operate as a revenue-cycle vendor while the nonprofit system collects escalating distributions from its retained stake
Why it matters: Bon Secours Mercy Health, a tax-exempt nonprofit that sells itself as a charitable hospital mission, has pulled over $1.1 billion this year alone from a PE-backed medical billing company — payments that flow to a system whose community-benefit obligations are the justification for its tax-exempt status.
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