Yahoo Finance Anthem exec named CEO of CityMD parent company Summit Health
Anthem (ANTM) Health Solutions and IngenioRx executive vice president Jeffrey Alter is taking over the parent company of New York's metro urgent care chain CityMD starting October 4.
Jersey-based Summit Health, which has 200 physician locations in the New Jersey-New York area, played in important role in New Jersey's access to tests early on in the COVID-19 pandemic. The urgent care centers provided symptomatic testing of COVID-19 at a time when most emergency rooms were strained for that and personal protective gear, according to current CEO Dr. Jeffrey LeBenger.
"There were some tight times. We even sent some of our PPE out to other large medical groups in the Northeast, as well as out to our practice in Oregon," LeBenger, who will transition to executive chairman of Summit Health, told Yahoo Finance.
Alter takes the helm after four years of serving on the board of the company. He was appointed executive vice president of IngenioRx last September.
Alter said he has watched the company operate throughout the pandemic and that despite the fact that "our staff hasn't had a break for a really long time...they're serving our patients and doing it with, just great service."
Alter said he sees the future of healthcare focusing on a neighborhood care model that will rely on the company's data center's insights about patient needs. This includes, he said, an emphasis on health equity. Coming from a health payer background gives Alter the insight he needs to implement better health equity strategies.
"The (health insurers) need partners like Summit Health to be able to be those eyes and ears on the street. We're the solution to the scale problem," Alter said, noting that the health group can be the bridge to patients that insurers need.
It's a model that the company hopes to take further along the East Coast.
"What we're doing now is investing to be able to scale that ability in the entire Northeast. And we see that we really are capable of doing it," LeBenger said.
Follow Anjalee on Twitter @AnjKhem
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