Darwin's Our Take 8.10.26: Summa Health names new CEO to lead next phase of HATCo's health assurance vision

Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health announced that Jennifer Eslinger will assume the dual role of president and CEO on Sept. 21.

Eslinger will be the first permanent CEO to be appointed since General Catalyst’s Health Assurance Transformation Co. (HATCo) announced in January 2024 that it intended to acquire Summa Health. The acquisition was finalized last October, and Summa Health, previously a nonprofit organization, became a for-profit subsidiary of HATCo.  

Dr. Cliff Deveny, Summa Health’s president and CEO before the acquisition, announced in late October that he would be stepping down; he transitioned to the role of CEO emeritus and strategic adviser at the start of this year. Daryl Tol, HATCo’s president and CEO, has served as acting president and CEO of Summa Health while a national search was conducted the health system’s next chief executive.

Eslinger will draw upon her three decades of experience in healthcare as she assumes responsibility for leading Summa Health through the next phase of its transformation. Most recently, she has served as CEO and chief operating officer of Rochester (N.Y.) Regional Health.

While Eslinger will be instrumental in carrying out HATCo’s vision for Summa Health, she told Becker’s Hospital Review in an interview that she plans to spend her first few months engaging in listening-and-learning tours across the health system before setting her priorities.

“The work is typically much better informed when folks at the front line have a voice in it,” she said.

OUR TAKE: With Eslinger’s appointment, we’re seeing the leadership evolution that occurs with every venture capital-backed healthcare organization rollup: A founding leader pitches the vision, an in-house operator stabilizes it, and then a career health system executive institutionalizes it.

In this case, Dr. Marc Harrison essentially served as the founding leader.* Dr. Harrison was president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare in 2017 when he met Hemant Taneja, who at the time was a managing director at General Catalyst. Taneja would go on to become CEO and managing partner of General Catalyst in 2021.

In collaboration with Dr. Stephen Klasko, the former president of Thomas Jefferson University and CEO of Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health, Taneja created the thesis for “health assurance,” which he described in an article written in February 2022 as a transitioning of the health system from “sick care” to “a more resilient, proactive system designed to help people stay well, bend the cost curve, and make quality care more affordable and more accessible to all.”

Dr. Harrison left Intermountain Healthcare in 2022 to join General Catalyst and co-found the spinoff venture HATCo with Taneja. When they unveiled the new company in 2023, they laid out HATCo’s core principles and established three main areas of focus for carrying out the company’s purpose:

1. Working with HATCo’s 20+ health system partners to develop and execute their transformation to health assurance
2. Helping to catalyze the health assurance ecosystem by building an interoperability model with technology solutions
3. Acquiring and operating a health system (subsequently identified as Summa Health) to demonstrate the blueprint of the health assurance transformation for the rest of the industry

Dr. Harrison served as HATCo’s inaugural CEO, transitioning in mid-2025 to a strategic advisory role. (Today, he’s the chair of the TowerBrook Healthcare Institute.)  

As co-founder, Taneja became and still serves as HATCo’s board chair.

In the leadership cycle we referred to earlier, Dr. Deveny and Daryl Tol both fulfilled the function of stabilizing the health assurance vision. Now, it will be up to Jennifer Eslinger to develop a plan for institutionalizing it.

In January 2024, when General Catalyst and Summa Health signed a nonbinding agreement for Summa Health to become a subsidiary of HATCo, Dr. Harrison described the acquisition in an interview with Becker’s as “the big swing.” He said no one else was attempting “anything of this size, scope, and scale with a real possibility of getting it done.”

With her planned listening-and-learning tours within Summa Health, Eslinger appears to be signaling more of a stepwise approach to transforming the health system.

Becker’s interviewed Tol, the acting president and CEO of Summa Health, at the same time it interviewed Eslinger. He said another priority has become evident: addressing the Akron community’s exposure to Medicaid cuts and the loss of coverage resulting from the enhanced ACA subsidies, which we wrote about last week (read it here).

“If anything, this community is as stressed or more stressed than the average community across the country around reductions in Medicaid coverage and reductions in subsidies for the exchanges, and we see that tangibly playing out here,” Tol told Becker’s.

“One of the areas of innovation I’ve become more excited about since learning how this community thinks and where the struggles are is applying access and innovative concepts to individuals who don’t have rich coverage, and who need care and who don’t want the emergency room to be their only pathway for care,” Tol said.

Summa Health’s conversion to a for-profit organization means the health system’s health plan, SummaCare, and its accountable care organization, NewHealth Collaborative, are now part of HATCo, a taxed subsidiary of a long-duration venture capital vehicle. But this is different from what we’d expect to see when private equity firms acquire healthcare providers and convert them to for-profit status.

You may be thinking: In far too many instances, for-profit hospital conversions backed by outside capital have fared poorly. Steward Health and Prospect Holdings are two prime examples. But the structure of the Summa Health-HATCo relationship suggests a different outcome is possible.

For one thing, General Catalyst and HATCo have repeatedly expressed their long-term commitment to the Summa Health experiment, with the goal of positioning the health system as a template for others interested in making the transition to health assurance.

For another thing, Ohio’s attorney general stipulated as part of the regulatory approval of HATCo’s acquisition of Summa Health that a new community foundation had to be created to benefit community health in the greater Akron community. HATCo pledged $15 million to this foundation, called the Trailhead Community Health Foundation of Greater Akron.

HATCo also said it would maintain the same levels of medical services and charity care Summa Health had provided before the acquisition — a promise that’s often made when private equity firms acquire healthcare providers but don’t always follow through on. Only time will tell whether HATCo is different in this regard.

Eslinger said in her interview with Becker’s that she plans to implement AI technology, starting with the “back office” because it’s an easier lift, and then wrapping in AI support for front-line clinicians.

“[T]hat’s where the shortages are really going to be compounded, especially as the demographic ages,” she said.

This strategy isn’t uncommon among health systems and physician group practices. It’s often easier to implement AI-powered technology for administrative tasks such as billing and revenue cycle processes before tackling clinical documentation and decision-making support.  

We’ll keep an eye on Summa Health over the next couple of quarters to see how the health system proceeds under Eslinger’s leadership. By the end of the year, she most likely will have completed the planned tours and established her 90-day priorities.

Longer term, we’ll watch to see if any of HATCo’s other 20+ partnerships with health systems begin to experience the same sort of founder-to-operator handoff we’re now seeing with Summa Health.

* Dr. Harrison will be a guest on Health Care Rounds in September. We’re looking forward to that conversation, where we’ll dive deeper into Summa Health and HATCo, among other topics.

Health Care's Affordability Crisis Is Getting Worse — with Larry Levitt, CEO-Elect & EVP, KFF

Health care is the number one affordability concern for consumers, and the single biggest line item employers are trying to manage. Every major policy fight in American health care, at its core, comes down to money and who bears the cost. Larry Levitt, incoming CEO of KFF and one of the most trusted nonpartisan voices in health policy, joins John to examine why value-based care has yet to deliver on its promise, and why a deepening public distrust in science and health institutions may be the most dangerous obstacle preventing meaningful reform. Find us on Spotify, YouTube, or anywhere you get your podcasts.

What else you need to know

Supernus Pharmaceuticals and Indivior Pharmaceutical have agreed to merge. The “all-stock merger of equals transaction” will create a biopharmaceutical firm focused on developing and commercializing treatments for central nervous system diseases in the areas of psychiatry, neurology, and addiction. The combined entity will operate as Supernus, Inc., with Jack Khattar, president and CEO of Supernus Pharmaceuticals, serving in the same capacity at the new company. Tony Kingsley, a member of Indivior’s board, will chair the board at the combined company.

Rockville, Md.-based Supernus Pharmaceuticals’ portfolio includes drugs for treating attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Parkinson’s disease, and depression. The company acquired Sage Therapeutics a year ago for roughly $561 million plus contingent value rights. Richmond, Va.-based Indivior specializes in treatments for opioid use disorder.

Khattar said in the merger announcement the combined company would be well-positioned “to drive significant, durable growth across our diversified portfolio of medicines.” Indivior CEO Joe Ciaffoni said during a conference call on Aug. 3 that merging with Supernus offered Indivior the best opportunity to expand into other therapeutic areas, MedCity News reported.

Under the definitive agreement, which both companies’ boards have approved, Supernus Pharmaceuticals’ shareholders will receive 1.54 shares of Indivior for each share of Supernus Pharmaceuticals they own. Immediately before the merger closes, Indivior shareholders will receive a one-time cash dividend of $1 billion, in aggregate.

The merger is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, as well as other customary closing conditions, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Upon closing, the former Indivior shareholders will own approximately 56.5% of the new company and the former Supernus Pharmaceuticals shareholders will own about 43.5%.

Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare acquired Texas MedClinic, a network of 40 urgent care centers, in a deal involving San Antonio-based Methodist Healthcare (which HCA co-owns with Methodist Healthcare Ministries) and Austin, Texas-based St. David’s HealthCare (a partnership between HCA and two nonprofits, St. David’s Foundation and Georgetown Health Foundation). Through the transaction, Methodist Healthcare acquired 18 of the Texas MedClinic facilities and St. David’s HealthCare acquired 14. The other eight facilities are now part of HCA Houston Healthcare, according to a LinkedIn post by Tyler Laymon, HCA’s vice president of strategic growth, and all 40 locations are being rebranded under HCA’s CareNow division. Financial terms of the transaction, which was finalized on Aug. 1, were not disclosed.  

Cleveland Clinic and Siemens Healthineers launched a 10-year strategic alliance “designed to foster clinical and workflow innovation,” according to the press release. Through the alliance, which builds on a 35-year relationship between the two organizations, Siemens Healthineers will provide Cleveland Clinic with multiple diagnostic imaging and therapeutic technologies. Siemens Healthineers will also expand its dedicated Cleveland Clinic support team, with on-site technicians and training staff to support Cleveland Clinic’s development of a theranostics cancer-treatment program. Additionally, the organizations will collaborate to establish Cleveland Clinic as a center of excellence for MRI technologist education. They anticipate that the strategic alliance will lead to research, education, and workforce development opportunities, as well.

Mike Dandorph will step down as president and CEO of Tufts Medicine on Sept. 30, Becker’s Hospital Review reported, citing an internal memo from the Burlington, Mass.-based health system. Dandorph joined Tufts Medicine as president and CEO in 2020. Phil Okala, the health system’s chief operating officer, has been appointed acting president and CEO. The organization’s chief financial officer, Andrew DeVoe, will also leave on Sept. 30.

DC developments

HHS is continuing its push to implement a 340B rebate model that would allow drugmakers to provide discounts through rebates rather than upfront pricing. The Health Resources and Services Administration announced a revised pilot program, saying it would “support the long-term sustainability of the 340B Drug Pricing Program and help preserve access to care in rural and medically underserved communities.”

The original pilot was supposed to launch on Jan. 1 but was instead scrapped based on court decisions. HRSA said the revised pilot, set to take effect Jan. 1, 2027, reflects feedback from various stakeholders who responded to a Request for Information issued in February. The new rebate model includes 25 drugs that have a so-called maximum fair price in 2026 and 2027 under the Inflation Reduction Act. Multiple news outlets reported that none of these drugs are key drivers of spending in the 340B program.

Hospital groups are voicing many of the same objections they had with the original model, including reporting burdens, the additional expenses involved in complying with the program’s requirements, disruptions in cash flow, and potential harm to patients. Manufacturers interested in participating in the pilot have until Aug. 24 to submit a rebate plan. Additional details are available in the Aug. 3 Federal Register notice.

CMS is expanding the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model. Starting in January 2028, most hospitals will be required to participate in the expanded model, referred to as CJR-X, making it the first expanded mandatory test of an episode-based payment model, the agency noted in a press release. The original model ran from April 2016 through the end of 2024 and saved Medicare more than $100 million.

Under the expanded model, an episode will span the joint replacement surgery (hip, knee, or ankle), hospitalization, and the first 90 days of recovery after discharge from the hospital, including follow-up treatments such as physical therapy. Hospitals participating in the Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM) will not be required to participate in CJR-X, nor will hospitals located in Maryland. Hospitals not paid under both the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and the Outpatient Prospective Payment System may also be exempt.

More information about CJR-X is available here. The expanded model is part of a CMS final rule that also increases IPPS payment rates for fiscal year 2027 by 2.3% — less than the 2.4% increase proposed in April. Additional information is available in this fact sheet.

What we’re reading

How Insurers Are Going End-to-End in Health Care. BCG Perspectives, 8.3.26

What’s Next For Prescription Drug Affordability Boards After Amgen v. Mizner? Health Affairs, 7.23.26

How a Health System CEO Measures Success. NEJM Catalyst, 8.2.36