General Catalyst and Jefferson Health Announce Innovation Partnership

Leading Healthcare System Taps Venture Firm’s Network of ‘Health Assurance’ Companies to Deliver Best-in-Class Tech Solutions and Accelerate Digital Transformation

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- General Catalyst and Jefferson Health today announced the formation of a first-of-its-kind innovation partnership -- making the venture capital firm a leading innovation partner for Jefferson Health’s digital transformation initiatives. As part of this partnership, Jefferson will tap the newly formed ‘Health Assurance Network’-- a group of tech innovation companies dedicated to delivering the best offering in their respective spaces, and collectively committed to helping healthcare systems transform themselves. The partnership will help Jefferson accomplish its strategic priorities: seeking to modernize Jefferson’s technology platform; diversify revenue streams; and prepare it to lead as more care becomes digital and value-based. The partnership announced today involves a coordinated effort by General Catalyst and its network of health assurance companies, including Commure and Tendo, and may expand to include others.

“This partnership is essential for accelerating the promise of health assurance which aims to evolve the current ‘sick care’ system into a more proactive, preventative and cost-effective approach,” said Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA, president of Thomas Jefferson University and CEO of Jefferson Health. “There is real power in healthcare leaders collaborating with technology innovators. Our partnership with General Catalyst and its companies enables us all to work towards outcomes none of us could achieve on our own: better patient experiences, reduced costs, and expanded access to quality care while solving for the proliferation of siloed, disconnected technology solutions.”

The deal represents a unique reimagining of the role of a venture capital firm -- going beyond the traditional focus of just funding companies to thinking about how to build, focus and federate them. General Catalyst Managing Partner Hemant Taneja said: “This is both an amazing opportunity and a great responsibility for our health assurance network companies -- including Commure, Tendo, Transcarent and Olive. The Jefferson leadership is embracing innovation as a core strategy for how they deliver health assurance to their communities. This work will become a model for how we have impact at national scale.”

The partnership approach solves for a big challenge for leading healthcare systems like Jefferson: the proliferation of siloed, disconnected technology solutions. Each healthcare system, with its own regional footprint and unique needs, has created its own technology flows and systems. There is no one universal standard or delivery platform. In addition, there are hundreds of technology solutions who are vying for a piece of the hospital system’s growing technology budget, resulting in further fragmentation. The new deal will provide Jefferson an opportunity to minimize technical complexity and reduce fragmentation, but without sacrificing access to sophisticated, state-of-the-art technology.

Jefferson and General Catalyst have long been on the forefront of healthcare innovation. Klasko and Taneja co-authored Unhealthcare: A Health Assurance Manifesto in 2020, before the global pandemic laid bare the inadequacies and inequities of the current system. In the book, they argue for a shift away from a system of “sick care” to a more proactive, resilient and equitable Health Assurance system designed to help people stay well.

About General Catalyst
General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that invests in powerful, positive change that endures — for our entrepreneurs, our investors, our people, and society. We support founders with a long-term view who challenge the status quo, partnering with them from seed to growth stage and beyond to build companies that withstand the test of time. With offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York City, London, and Boston, the firm has helped support the growth of businesses such as: Airbnb, Deliveroo, Guild, Gusto, Hubspot, Illumio, Lemonade, Livongo, Oscar, Samsara, Snap, Stripe, and Warby Parker. General Catalyst works closely with the companies building the network of health assurance including Commure, Tendo, Transcarent and Olive. For more: www.generalcatalyst.com.

About Jefferson Health
Jefferson Health, home of Sidney Kimmel Medical College, is reimagining healthcare in the greater Philadelphia region and southern New Jersey. Jefferson’s dedicated team of doctors, nurses, health professionals and staff provides a range of primary to highly-specialized care through 18 hospitals (ten are Magnet®-designated by the ANCC for nursing excellence), more than 50 outpatient and urgent care locations, the NCI-designated Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Moss Rehabilitation Hospitals and Magee Rehabilitation and the JeffConnect® telemedicine program. For 2021-2022, Jefferson is ranked among the nation’s best hospitals in seven specialities by U.S. News & World Report. Jefferson Health’s mission is to improve the lives of patients in the communities it is privileged to serve through safe, effective, equitable, compassionate care.

Media Contacts:

Katy Dormer, General Catalyst
kdormer@generalcatalyst.com

John Brand, Jefferson
John.brand@jefferson.edu