Banner Medicare Advantage
Legal name: Banner-University Care Advantage
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 463757358
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2016–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Phoenix, AZ, USA
- Phone
- 1-855-891-9400
- Rating
- 67
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community Health Systems
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $304,950,739
- Expenses
- $319,354,309
- Assets
- $87,306,264
- Liabilities
- $81,700,307
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
21 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CHARLES LEHN (DIRECTOR/DIVISION PRESIDENT)
- JAMES STRINGHAM (Director/Vice President/CEO)
- CLINTON CLARKE (VICE PRESIDENT/CMO)
- JENNIFER BROOKS (VICE PRESIDENT ASO ADMINISTRATOR)
- MATT HALL (Executive Director, IT INSURANCE DIVISION)
- MELISSA DUKE (Executive Director, STRATEGY)
Highest reported compensation
- JEAN FITTERER LANCE (SECRETARY): $2,926,123 total reported compensation
- CHARLES LEHN (DIRECTOR/DIVISION PRESIDENT): $1,691,122 total reported compensation
- JAMES STRINGHAM (Director/Vice President/CEO): $1,144,537 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Supporting the health of the communities we serve.
What it reported doing in 2024
Banner-university ("care advantage") holds a contract with the centers for medicare & medicaid services for the operation of a medicare advantage prescription drug health plan. The plan is a qualified plan under medicare to provide coverage to certain enrollees who qualify as part of a special needs population, who are dually eligible for both medicare and medicaid benefits. Care advantage promotes the health of the community by engaging the following: (1) the provision of education programs regarding the benefits provided by care advantage to enrollees; (2) counseling and the provision of assistance to enrollees making the transition to a network-based managed care plan; (3) the provision of preventative healthcare programs for care advantage enrollees; (4) the coordination of healthcare services among providers in the care advantage provider network; and (5) the facilitation of access to the care advantage provider network. Care advantage has worked diligently to develop and maintain a comprehensive provider network which provides a foundation that supports both individual member needs as well as care advantage's membership in its 10 county service areas. Care advantage continually strives to have a high-quality contracted provider network that exceeds accessibility requirements issued by regulatory authorities, is service focused, and culturally diverse in order to meet member needs, both immediate as well as long range. Care advantage maintains a fully staffed service center that members can access in order to obtain guidance on accessing needed care. The service center can be accessed at 877-874-3930. Care advantage contracts with banner health (bh) for bh to provide primary health care services to care advantage's enrollees. Bh provides almost all of these services at its clinics through its employed health care providers. Care advantage also contracts with independent physicians engaged in the private practice of medicine to provide primary and specialty health care services to care advantage's enrollees at the physicians' own facilities on a non-exclusive basis. In addition, care advantage has negotiated with several unrelated hospitals to provide inpatient and outpatient hospital services to care advantage's enrollees. Care advantage ensures that enrolled beneficiaries are adequately informed about their health care benefits, by providing them with counseling and assistance in making the transition to managed care. Care advantage educates beneficiaries regarding access to health care, providing direction as to the appropriate utilization of health care facilities and encouraging the use of preventive health care measures. Care advantage also ensures that enrolled medicaid beneficiaries obtain appropriate health care by ensuring that providers are available and that services will be provided in a coordinated manner.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 99% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 66
- Accountability: 47
- Sustainability: 19
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 91.3%; rating input score 91
- Program expense ratio: 87.1%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 33.3%; rating input score 33; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -4.7%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.27; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.94; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0.8%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 10.1% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 10.1% per year; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 11 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 91.3% of revenue deployed · 87.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 2 of 6 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $278.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $2.9M · 21 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 43 of 44 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 7 filing years from 2016 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Related organizations: 17 filed related-organization links
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 33/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.