4 Large Health Systems Form Initiative to Enhance Core Operations

Four large nonprofit health systems — Baylor Scott & White Health, Memorial Hermann Health System, Novant Health and Providence —have formed Longitude Health, an organization created to enhance core operational functions and transform health system performance.

Although the press release announcing the new organization was light on detail, it said Longitude "will address healthcare’s most complex challenges and opportunities.”

Paul Mango, former Chief of Staff at Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy for the Department of Health and Human Services and McKinsey’s U.S. Health Care Practice Leader and Global Health Care Practice Leader has been named Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of Longitude Health. 

The Longitude Health board is comprised of the chief executive officers of the founding member organizations, in addition to Mango. Pete McCanna, CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health, has been appointed as the board chair.

“Longitude Health will scale the next generation of capabilities faster and more effectively than if individual health systems attempted to do so themselves,” said McCanna, in a statement. “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.”

The founding members will collectively invest in initiatives over the next five years. In the short term, Longitude Health intends to make multiple strategic investments focused on areas that can create impact over the first 12 to 24 months of the organization’s formation. In addition, the organization will seek other health system members to join the organization over time.