Dan Peres named president of Modern Healthcare
Crain Communications has named Dan Peres president of Modern Healthcare.
Peres, who will retain his title as president and editor-in-chief of Ad Age, succeeds Fawn Lopez, the longtime publisher and vice president of Modern Healthcare who retired Jan. 1.
Peres has quickly risen through the ranks at Crain since joining the company as Ad Age’s editor-in-chief in July 2020. He was named associate publisher of Ad Age in October 2021 and promoted to his current role at that brand in June.
“I’m honored by the opportunity to help grow the prestigious Modern Healthcare brand, working with the incredible team of professionals who contribute to its success every day,” Peres said.
“This brand has always represented the gold standard, and I look forward to collaborating with the entire staff to keep Modern Healthcare evolving as quickly as the industry it covers.”
Under Peres, Ad Age has become a digital-first news organization and grown its audience exponentially, while revenue has reached its highest point in over a decade.
“Dan is a proven leader with a strong audience strategy, having significantly grown reach and revenue at Ad Age since joining the company in 2020,” said KC Crain, president and CEO of Crain Communications, parent company of Modern Healthcare and Ad Age. “He was a natural pick to shepherd Modern Healthcare into the future, and we look forward to his continued contributions in 2023 and beyond.”
Prior to joining Ad Age, Peres served as editor-in-chief of Details magazine for 15 years. ■
Nonprofit health insurers SCAN Group and CareOregon plan to merge and create a $6.8 billion company called HealthRight Group focused on government health programs.
SCAN Group CEO Dr. Sachin Jain would lead the combined company and CareOregon President and CEO Eric Hunter would be president of HealthRight’s Medicaid operation.
The SCAN Health Plan and CareOregon brand names would continue and CareOregon would retain its separate board, community advisory councils and employees. HealthRight Group would have approximately 3,000 employees and cover nearly 800,000 members, according to the companies.
The insurers expect the transaction to close this year, subject to regulatory approval. HealthRight Group would focus solely on covering Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries and compete with for-profit insurers such as Centene, Molina Healthcare and Humana, Jain said.
“We think that we have landed upon something that is going to be a model for how regional nonprofits can compete,” he said.
The proposed merger represents a proactive effort by both insurers to ensure sustainability against the growing threats of provider consolidation and investor-backed and for-profit insurers entering markets and seizing market share with low premiums, Jain said.
SCAN Group, which is the secondlargest nonprofit Medicare Advantage insurer, would bring approximately 275,000 members to the combined company. SCAN Group attracted notice in 2021 when it grew its Medicare Advantage membership 17% during open enrollment, far outpacing the 3% industry average and gaining market share from
Alignment Healthcare, Humana and Bright Health Group.
CareOregon would bring approximately 515,000 members, most of whom are on Medicaid, to the deal. The insurer aims to integrate SCAN Group’s care models for LGBTQ and homeless populations into its insurance products, Hunter said. The CareOregon side of the business also would benefit from SCAN Group’s experience negotiating with large health systems, he said.
“With added complexities coming from state governments and the federal government on regulations and bureaucracy, and the need for technology and data administration, this is an effort to say: How do we allow smaller organizations that truly are linked to their communities to have the wherewithal to operationally stay in the game, and be a viable option for members and for regulators and state governments?” Hunter said. ■