3 Takeaways from General Catalyst’s Health Transformation Spinoff

General Catalyst (GC), the huge venture capital firm that has been concentrating on how to help hospitals and health systems transform care delivery, is putting added muscle behind this effort. It is spinning off Health Assurance Transformation Corp. (HATCo) to be led by former Intermountain Health CEO Marc Harrison, M.D.

Harrison and General Catalyst CEO Hemant Teneja wrote a blog about their self-described plan to create an “Amazon ecosystem of health care” to help health systems achieve a more affordable, accessible and proactive care system.

As part of its goals, General Catalyst will look to acquire a health system within HATCo’s first year as a national blueprint to transform the field and to put the system on a platform where digital systems can scale across the enterprise without operating in silos.

HATCo also will work with GC’s 20-plus health system partners to help them on their transformation journey and will help to catalyze the health assurance ecosystem by building an interoperability model with tech-driven solutions from a subset of health care portfolio companies.

HATCo will operate as a for-profit, Harrison said, adding that, “We are unaware of any industry that is able to truly transform without the impetus of capitalism behind it.”

In their blog, Teneja and Harrison emphasize their focus on stakeholder alignment and that transforming health systems will require a “decades-long time horizon.” In its work, GC will emphasize this latter point to investors.

3 Takeaways from the Launch of HATCo

1 | The company will focus on platform innovation.

It sees the current private equity model in health care as having a maniacal focus on removing costs from the system. HATCo’s plan will involve giving health systems the chance to capitalize on new revenue streams, which should in turn enable them to invest more in technologies to service their communities.

2 | Radical collaboration will be the rule.

HATCo is committed to creating an open architecture platform and working closely with its health system partners by sharing best practices, new technologies and a transformation playbook.

3 | Value-based care is baked into the plan.

HATCo intends to work with the ecosystem to demonstrate that a model that is better for patients also can be good for business.