Risant Health completes Geisinger acquisition

Washington DC-based Risant Health recently announced the complete acquisition of Geisinger, a health system in Pennsylvania that serves approximately 1.2 million people. The 10-hospital system, with over 134 care sites in total, is now the first health system to join Risant.

Risant is a non-profit, charitable organization created by Kaiser Foundation Hospitals to increase access to value-based care and coverage across the country. The new organization aims to acquire up to five additional community-based health systems over the next four to five years to achieve its goals.

Kaiser Permanente tapped Geisinger as one of the first health systems to form Risant last April. Together, Risant aims to bring together Kaiser Permanente’s integrated care model with Geisinger’s experience in value-based care with various payers and a broad network of providers.

“Risant Health and Geisinger share a vision for the future of health care,” Greg A. Adams, Risant Health’s board chair, said in a statement. “Through Risant Health, we will leverage our industry-leading expertise and innovation to increase the country’s access to high-quality and evidence-based health care, which we know improves care quality and the patient and member experience.”

“We will also learn and benefit from Geisinger and the additional health systems that become part of Risant Health in the future, to help them grow in new ways, be more affordable and bring value-based care to more people,” Adams continued.

Geisinger will maintain its name and mission as it integrates with Risant Health. The health system will also continue to accept patients covered by other health plans and offer members a board network of providers in addition to Geisinger, the announcement explained.

However, Geisinger’s president and CEO Jaewon Ryu, MD, JD, will become the first CEO of Risant. Terry Gilliland, MD, will take over as president and CEO of Geisinger once Ryu has transitioned to the new Risant role.

“Geisinger is proud to formally join Risant Health as its inaugural health system, which will accelerate our vision to make better health easier, more affordable and more accessible for the communities we serve,” Ryu said in the statement. “Geisinger now can extend its vision, strategy and impact to more Pennsylvanians because of the access to an expanded set of tools, expertise and capital that joining Risant Health provides.”

Risant has a value-based care platform that leverages technology, services, and other capabilities to support health systems as they transition from fee-for-service models. The platform aims to provide systems with the toolkit to improve outcomes and lower the total cost of care across business models.

The latest announcement said the initial platform solutions will support evidence-based care for the first Risant health systems. Risant also said it will help health systems and their patients understand how to access and navigate getting the “right care at the right time and place.”