Access to primary care is collapsing in the U.S., creating an opening for new models that lower costs and improve outcomes.
This week, Premise Health and Crossover Health moved to capitalize on that opportunity, announcing an agreement to merge into a single company focused on scaling primary care access. The combined organization will provide onsite, nearsite and virtual care for more than 400 employers with millions of members, operating nearly 900 wellness centers across the country.
The new entity will be led by Premise CEO Stu Clark. He framed the deal as a convergence of two companies with the same thesis: advanced primary care is the lever to disrupt U.S. healthcare. Both companies define advanced primary care as an integrated bundle of primary care, behavioral health, pharmacy services and care navigation.
“Crossover and Premise have proven that a few things happen when you deploy our advanced primary care models: access goes up, health improves and costs go down. Costs go down for the employer as well as for the family,” Clark stated.
The company’s target customers will be large self-insured employers, mainly Fortune 1000 companies, unions, Native tribes and government entities, he said.
He noted that employers are turning to advanced primary care because traditional health plans can’t control costs or improve access.
“Healthcare is now an earnings-per-share issue for American employers. It’s one of the single biggest cost risks that they have in running their business. It’s impacting their ability to deploy capital, and it’s impacting their competitiveness,” Clark remarked.
The company will be paid directly by employers on a fixed-fee basis, not using a fee-for-service model. Clark explained that higher utilization of its clinics will lead to better health outcomes, lower employer costs and greater value from the fixed fee.
This model aligns incentives around prevention and engagement rather than volume-driven billing, he pointed out.
Premise’s annual revenue is about $1.6 billion, and the combined company is expected to approach $2 billion, Clark said. While Premise is the larger organization, Crossover brings strategic assets, he noted.
Crossover’s near-site clinics fill geographic gaps in Premise’s footprint, while Premise’s national scale gives Crossover’s clients the ability to expand across multiple markets. Crossover also brings more advanced digital member engagement tools, which Premise plans to roll out across its broader client base.
The two companies have long competed, but the opportunity to scale impact is now bigger than rivalry, according to Crossover CEO Scott Shreeve.
“How can we be a part of solving healthcare’s triple aim of cost, quality experience? I don’t think we’re going to get there all on our own. I’ve appreciated that Premise feels the same way — we feel an urgency, and we feel we see the opportunity,” Shreeve declared.
He said the new company aims to scale its advanced primary care model, focused on team-based care and member engagement, across the country.
The deal is still subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions — but as employers search for alternatives to traditional health plans, the merger could be a test of whether advanced primary care can deliver true savings and access at national scale.
Photo: Richard Drury, Getty Images