Overview:
Covered by Documenter Britt Oliver (notes)
Ward 8 Council Member James Hardy made a personal plea for Summa Health leaders to rethink their recently announced proposed purchase by a for-profit company. His full speech during the regular Akron City Council meeting Monday can be seen here.
“Healthcare is a public good and not a market commodity,” he said while speaking in opposition to the pending sale to Health Assurance Transformation Corporation (HATCo), a healthcare company launched in October by venture capital company General Catalyst.
According to a General Catalyst press release at the time of the launch, “HATCo’s charter is not to disrupt healthcare systems; rather, it is to be in service of healthcare organizations everywhere to change how they deliver a fundamentally better experience for consumers.”
“I have a moral objection to the use of Summa, its staff and its patients as ‘guinea pigs’ for venture capitalists,” Hardy said. “Human beings are not a means to an end. Human beings are ends in and of themselves.”
New to council, Hardy brings healthcare expertise
Hardy, who was elected in November to replace Mayor Shammas Malik as the Ward 8 representative, has a master’s degree in public health with a concentration in health policy and management from Kent State University. He also worked at Summa Health in 2014 and early 2015 as a development officer, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“In the last decade, we have seen private equity destroy healthcare systems like Summa,” he said, “cutting critical but less profitable services and exploiting government programs meant to serve marginalized populations like Medicare and Medicaid.”
He shared his personal experiences about the impact cancer has had on his family. He said when he was a teenager, his father died from the disease. Despite having what Hardy described as good healthcare from the University of Akron, his mother went into debt taking care of his father. Later in life, lung and breast cancer claimed her at age 72.
Read more: ‘They’re looking for a test kitchen’ Summa Health acquisition Q&A
Community-based models like Summa Health are best suited to support the needs of the communities they serve, he said. Summa Health leaders care about Akron, and he said he thinks they will work to protect Akron from the negative consequences of for-profit healthcare. However, he said they won’t be around forever and expressed concern about what the future holds for Akron under a for-profit healthcare system.
He recommended consideration of other solutions, including universal healthcare and a county-owned system like MetroHealth in Cuyahoga County.
“The community has not been consulted at all,” Hardy said. “At the very least, Summa owes Greater Akron a transparent process where concerns and questions of the general public are asked and answered.”
Summa Chief Operating Officer Ben Sutton and board member Tracy Carter will speak to City Council’s Health and Social Services Committee meeting at 2:30 p.m. Monday in council chambers.
