Tina Freese-Decker, CEO of Corewell Health, has eased out Praveen Thadani, the now former President of Priority Health. Priority Health has been a subsidiary of Corewell Health since it was created in 2022. Corewell Health is the largest healthcare system in Michigan, based on both inpatient admissions and net patient revenue. Corewell Health employs over 60,000 people, quite a few of which have been leaving recently:
Priority Health names Nick Gates as interim president(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — April 28, 2025) Priority Health, a nationally recognized health plan serving more than 1.3 million members, today announced that Nick Gates, senior vice president of finance for Priority Health, has been named interim president of the health plan, effective May 1. He succeeds Praveen Thadani, who made the decision to step away from the role. Thadani will remain with the company as an advisor until June 13, 2025, while the company conducts a nationwide search.
Gates has been with Priority Health since 2004, serving in a variety of finance and leadership roles with the organization before ascending to his current position. In that role, Gates oversaw all of Priority Health’s finance strategy and long-range planning, investments, finance operations, accounting and auditor relationships. With nearly 25 years of finance and accounting experience, Gates has provided governance support to the Priority Health finance and audit committee, and the valuation and due diligence for several acquisitions including Total Health Care and Physicians Health Plan of Northern Indiana.
“I have full confidence in Nick’s ability to lead Priority Health. His extensive experience in finance and leadership roles, coupled with his deep understanding of our organization, make him the ideal person to step into the role of interim president,” said Tina Freese-Decker, CEO of Corewell Health. “Nick’s commitment to collaboration, financial expertise and mentorship will ensure Priority Health continues to achieve its strategic goals. I look forward to working closely with Nick and supporting him as he guides Priority Health.”
Gates said: “I am honored to step into the role of interim president. Priority Health is a strong and mission-driven organization, and I am committed to working with our leadership team to continue building on our positive momentum.”
Under Praveen’s leadership, Priority Health has been recognized nationally as a leading provider-affiliated health plan, with best-in-class satisfaction and quality scores, real momentum for growth among employers, and exceptional performance in the Medicare, ACA, Duals and Medicaid arenas, Freese-Decker added. “With recent expansion into the Indiana and Ohio markets, Priority Health’s future prospects remain bright and exciting,” she said. “Praveen deserves our thanks for helping outline the potential of our integrated system, and helping his team reach all these accomplishments. We wish him the very best.”
Priority Health was closely affiliated with Spectrum Health since its inception, and openly owned by it soon after.
Spectrum/Priority was one of the first vertical mergers in the US, and this was common knowledge in the West MI healthcare community.
Interestingly, ownership and dates are not currently to be found on either organization's website, or in a broad web search. Nor is this information included in news reports of the Spectrum/Beaumont > Corewell merger.
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