Four health systems form Longitude Health to address health care’s ‘most complex challenges and opportunities

Four leading nonprofit health systems are launching an organization called?Longitude Health?to “revolutionize the way health systems operate.”

Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health, Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health System, Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health, and Renton, Wash.-based Providence are Longitude Health’s founding members.?

Longitude Health said in a?press release?that it “will identify, develop, and implement key performance solutions and capabilities to deliver high-quality, affordable health care to patients and improve access and the patient experience.”?

The founding health systems will invest in initiatives over the next five years, initially focusing on key areas that can “create impact” in the first year or two.?

Longitude Health’s strategic goals are to transform business models with innovative solutions to health systems’ most complex challenges and opportunities; to improve health system performance along the dimensions of cost, quality, access, and patient experience; and to empower healthier futures by achieving sustainable change and investing back into patients and communities.

The organization is structured as a for-profit holding company based in Delaware, according to Modern Healthcare. The news outlet said Longitude Health plans to establish three operating companies that will act as startups on pharmaceutical development, care coordination, and billing.

The pharma-related startup will concentrate its efforts on developing complex drugs such as monoclonal antibodies, Modern Healthcare reported. Meanwhile, the care coordination startup will work on addressing issues such as limiting readmissions and improving care transitions, and the billing startup will focus on providing a better patient experience by consolidating medical bills into a single invoice. ?

Paul Mango, who previously served as chief of staff at CMS and deputy chief of staff for policy at the Department of Health and Human Services, will serve as CEO of Longitude Health.?

“Longitude Health aims to tackle head-on the most impactful challenges and opportunities in the health care industry,” Mango said. “With representation from the brightest minds and leading executives in health care, our efforts will accelerate the development and adoption of next-generation capabilities and foster positive change. As pioneers in health care transformation, we will prioritize investments benefitting health systems and their patients and communities.”

Mango and the CEOs of the four founding health systems will serve as board members of Longitude Health. Pete McCanna, CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health, will chair the Longitude Health board.

“Longitude Health will scale the next generation of capabilities faster and more effectively than if individual health systems attempted to do so themselves,” McCanna said. “We aim to set a new standard, demonstrating that new approaches can optimize organizations performance and quality and drive positive systemic change to benefit patients.”

Dr. David Callender, CEO of Memorial Hermann Health System, said: “Health care requires new approaches. Health systems must expand their core focus areas beyond care delivery and into new business creation and services that will drive high-value care. Through this collaborative approach, we aim to take the lead in designing solutions that drive operational transformation and translate into tangible benefits for the patients and communities we serve.”?

Carl Amato, Novant Health’s CEO, added: “As a health care transformation leader, we recognize that the best ideas and our most successful initiatives are often a product of collaboration. We’re energized by the opportunity to join other industry-leading health systems to discover new solutions and reimagine health care delivery as we know it. I’m confident we’ll create a healthier future — not only for the patients and communities we serve but also for the larger health care industry.”

Dr. Rod Hochman, Providence’s CEO, said: “Health systems must transcend traditional care delivery strategies and embrace innovative business models that serve the broader health care community. To do so, it is imperative that we work with other like-minded partners facing similar challenges to build up new capabilities. By implementing solutions that benefit multiple health systems, we can drive down costs and ensure the sustainability of health care delivery. We will lead the charge in shaping a brighter future for health care delivery.”

Longitude Health said it would seek other health system members to join the organization.?

Our Take: Civica Rx is proof that health systems can effect change through collaboration.?

When the original seven founding health systems got together in 2018 to form Civica Rx, they were frustrated by ongoing shortages of vital hospital-administered drugs and the high prices they had to pay for those drugs.

Relying on their collective strength, they took a bold step to tackle both problems head on, creating a nonprofit drug company that would provide more predictable drug pricing and better drug access.?

By late 2019, Civica Rx delivered its first drugs.

In 2020, Civica Rx partnered with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and 17 Blue companies to create a subsidiary, CivicaScript, to bring lower-cost generic drugs directly to consumers. ?

In 2022, Navitus Health Solutions, a pharmacy benefit manager owned by SSM Health and Costco Wholesale Corp., joined CivicaScript as a founding member to increase access to Civica Rx’s lower-cost drugs. That same year, Civica Rx announced plans to start manufacturing low-cost biosimilar insulins.?

By all accounts, Civica Rx has been a success.

Truveta is another example.?

The U.S. health system’s slow progress in the early days of the pandemic motivated four health systems — which quickly increased to 14 — to join forces and create the Bellevue, Wash.-based startup in early 2021. Their goal was to build a data platform that would use artificial intelligence and machine learning, along with pooled, de-identified patient data from the health systems, to “democratize care and advance health for all.” Truveta launched its clinical platform later that year.?

Today, Truveta’s member roster includes more than 30 health systems that collectively provide more than 18% of the daily clinical care across the country. The startup has formed partnerships with Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Microsoft, Pfizer, and UCB, among others, and has demonstrated how rapidly its health data and analytics solution can provide valuable insights on nearly any disease, drug, or device.?

If Longitude Health enjoys the same kind of growth and buy-in that Civica Rx and Truveta have, there’s no telling what it might accomplish.?

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?Health Care Rounds #172: Achieving Health Equity with Dr. Trudy Hall of TidalHealth?

How does a multi-state?health system deliver its promise of health equity, while operating in a challenging reimbursement environment? In this episode, we explore Maryland’s All-Payer system with Dr. Trudy Hall, Vice President of Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer at TidalHealth, discussing how this innovative approach is changing the game by streamlining health care costs while keeping patient care at the forefront. Watch the episode on YouTube?here ?or on your favorite podcast platform. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??

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What else you need to know

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Four National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers are launching?the Cancer AI Alliance (CAIA), a consortium that includes the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,?Fred Hutch Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and Whiting School of Engineering at?Johns Hopkins.?Amazon Web Services, Deloitte, Microsoft, and NVIDIA are contributing more than $40 million to establish CAIA, and tech consulting firm Slalom is mentioned as an “enabling partner.” According to Fred Hutch Cancer Center, which led the effort to form the alliance, secured the initial funding, and will serve as the coordinating center, CAIA “will apply responsible AI to the collective power of the participating cancer centers’ data to unlock insights while protecting data security, all to identify more ways to transform cancer research and care.” CAIA will provide “the computing infrastructure … to process high volumes of cancer data generated during routine cancer care, such as electronic health records, pathology images, medical imagines, and genome sequencing,” Fred Hutch Cancer Center noted. Additional members are expected to join the alliance, which aims to be operational by the end of this year and produce its first insights within a year. ?

Henry Ford Health launched a nonprofit subsidiary called?Populance?that will focus on advancing population health by providing value-based care services such as care management, patient monitoring, and digital outreach tools. In its??announcement?of the new subsidiary, Henry Ford Health said Populance combines the expertise of “dozens of successful programs” the health system has developed in conjunction with its subsidiary nonprofit health insurance company, Health Alliance Plan, to help patients and members manage a variety of chronic conditions. Robin Damschroder, Henry Ford Health’s chief financial officers, said, “Because we know this approach to population health management works —?for our patients, our members, and our physicians — we want to make these services available to other physicians, health systems, and health plans to create healthier, more equitable outcomes in all the communities we serve.” Dr. Christopher Stanley, who previously was Sutter Health’s chief population health officer, is president of Populance, which is based in Troy, Mich., and has 150 team members who serve approximately 600,000 patients. ?

Amazon Pharmacy plans to open pharmacies in 20 new cities next year, more than doubling the number of cities where customers can get same-day prescription delivery and extending the service to “nearly half” of Amazon Pharmacy’s U.S. customers, according to a?post ?on Amazon’s website. To scale up its same-day prescription delivery service so quickly, Amazon Pharmacy will embed the new “modular” pharmacies within larger Amazon same-day delivery sites. This way, Amazon’s clinical teams can manage the full prescription review and packaging process, and then use Amazon’s delivery infrastructure to support rapid delivery, the post noted.?

Kroger finalized the sale of its specialty pharmacy business?to Elevance Health earlier this month. The sale, which the two companies announced in March, did not include Kroger’s in-store retail pharmacy locations or The Little Clinics, Kroger noted in a?news release. Financial details were not disclosed.?

Dr. Rishi Sikka will become CEO of Presbyterian Healthcare Services?on Oct. 21, the Albuquerque, N.M.-based health system said in a?press release. Most recently, Dr. Sikka served as president of Village Medical. Before that, he was Sutter Health’s president of system enterprises. He succeeds Dale Maxwell, who joined Presbyterian in 2000 and served as CEO since 2016, the same year Dr. Sikka was appointed to Presbyterian’s board of directors.

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What we’re reading

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The Failing U.S. Health System . NEJM, 10.9.24 (subscription or registration required)

The VA Was an Early Adopter of Artificial Intelligence to Improve Care—Here’s What They Learned . JAMA, 10.8.24

Does Higher Spending On Primary Care Lead To Lower Total Health Care Spending ? Health Affairs, 10.8.24