Venture capital firm General Catalyst announced a slew of new health system partners on Tuesday, bringing its total number of collaborators in the U.S. to 14.

The 10 new partners include Banner Health, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Hackensack Meridian Health, Health First, MetroHealth, OhioHealth, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), UC Davis Health, UC Irvine Health and Universal Health Services (UHS). 

General Catalyst had previously revealed partnerships with WellSpan Health, Jefferson Health, Intermountain and HCA as well as Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in the UK. The VC aims to work with these health systems to determine areas for innovation, then co-invest in or build health tech companies.

Daryl Tol, General Catalyst's head of health assurance ecosystem, told MobiHealthNews the firm wanted to have a range of providers across the country, including academic medical centers, for-profit health systems and not-for-profit providers. 

Tol said the health systems' approach to change also affected General Catalyst's decision. 

"Do they have a really engaged and supportive executive team? Is there dissatisfaction with the way things are, and a readiness to shift? Is there good board engagement and strategy around transformation?" he said. "So we looked at both the broader diversity of systems, and we looked at the internal characteristics as well."

THE LARGER TREND

General Catalyst announced its first partnership with HCA in August 2021. Tol said the VC has been piloting partnerships with the early partners. They visit the systems, listen to strategy and concerns, and work on yearly activation plans. 

Tol, who formerly held multiple executive roles at AdventHealth in Florida, joined General Catalyst earlier this year. He said the VC has a long-term focus when it comes to these health system partnerships, and they'll consider multiple avenues to innovation, from expanding a tool they already use, to investing in or co-developing a new solution. More partners could be added as well.

"I think we'll add more over time and grow our bandwidth and capability over time," he said. "But I also think it's going to take a little time to refine our approach, to make sure it's working, to measure, to hold ourselves accountable, before we start growing for the sake of growth."