Health systems taking their pitch directly to employers

Modern Healthcare – Tuesday, November 11, 2025
By Hayley DeSilva

More hospitals and health systems are rolling out benefit programs for employers, touting their expertise and ability to lower healthcare costs.

Baylor Scott & White Health earlier this month announced the public launch of Levanto, a for-profit digital health platform that has been operating in stealth mode since December.

The platform from the Dallas-based nonprofit system works with employers, payers and providers to offer healthcare programs for employees, including mental healthcare, pregnancy and postpartum care and muscle and joint care. Levanto only works with Texas-based employers, but it plans to expand outside of the state.

Baylor Scott & White CEO Pete McCanna said digital health companies spun out from providers come at patient care in a more comprehensive way.

“Levanto is very powerful over the strictly digital solution [companies] because not only do you get a digital solution, but you get the connectivity and the coordination in the event that you need more specialized care or you need in-person care,” McCanna said. “That’s not to throw shade on digital and tech disruptors and innovators. The thing they bring to the table is really understanding consumer businesses and their tech.”

Healthcare costs are expected to rise 9% next year due to increased use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, mental health services and new cancers diagnoses, according to an August report from the Business Group on Health.

More companies seek solutions to continue providing benefits to employees without breaking the bank, and are looking for partners to help them. Some providers, like Cleveland Clinic, OhioHealth in Columbus and Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health, have had programs with employers for years.

Cleveland Clinic’s Employers Solutions launched in 2010 and partners with employers to give their employees access to care at its facilities. It is working with several large employers nationwide, including retailers like Walmart and Kohl’s as well as aerospace company Boeing.

Service offerings include an option where employees can receive care for specific conditions such as cardiac procedures and a different bundle where employees can come to the nonprofit for all types of care.

Cleveland Clinic has seen the arrival of many competitors, including other health systems mounting programs and technology companies entering the space.

“There’s more fragmentation in the patient experience now because of some of these innovators coming into the market,” said Meghan Cassidy, senior director of sales and product development in its department of network and payer strategies. “But the truth is, from my opinion, they focus and specialize really deep. That has led to a lot of point solutions in the market — and now a lot of point solution fatigue. Or, as somebody told me yesterday, it’s a point solution allergy.”

Cassidy said she anticipates more employers looking to hospitals and health systems to partner on benefit offerings.

“Employers are going to partner directly with hospitals,” Cassidy said. “Either nationally recognized hospitals like Cleveland Clinic or their regional hospitals, because the layers in the middle have a harder time proving a novel return of investment, but patients are always going to need to go to the hospital, right?”

Baylor Scott’s McCanna said he thinks there’s room for both.

“Ultimately down the road, healthcare will be transformed through partnerships between legacy provider systems and some of the best technology and consumer companies,” he said.

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