• Arkansas: Walmart recently announced plans to remove almost 30 additives, including synthetic dyes, artificial sweeteners, and certain preservatives, from its private-label food brands. Affected brands include Great Value, Freshness Guaranteed, Bettergoods, and Marketside. According to Walmart, some of the reformulated products will be available in the next few months while others will take longer. These changes have come amid HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's push to eliminate synthetic dyes and other additives from food, linking them to chronic disease and childhood illness. Other companies that have committed to removing synthetic dyes include Kraft Heinz, The Hershey Co., Nestlé, and Conagra Brands. (Najmabadi, Washington Post, 10/1)
• Maryland: Anthony Letai has been named the new director of the National Cancer Institute. Most recently, Letai was a medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. According to Becker's Hospital Review, Letai has spent decades studying cell death in cancer, helping advance cellular immunotherapy treatments and identifying predictive biomarkers. "Dr. Letai has been immersed in the relevant science for decades and has been on the cutting edge of how we think about cancer treatment," said NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya. "His drive, integrity and expertise make him the right leader to harness the resources and talent at NCI to reverse America's cancer crisis." (Taylor, Becker's Hospital Review, 9/30)
• Massachusetts/Ohio: Last week, General Catalyst's portfolio company HATCo completed its acquisition of Summa Health, making it the first health system owned by a venture capital firm. As part of the approval process for the acquisition, HATCo increased the base purchase price by $15 million, bringing it to $500 million. HATCo also set aside an additional $15 million to support an independent nonprofit foundation and other conditions. According to the organizations' leaders, the acquisition will allow Summa to use General Catalyst's partnerships and technology to stabilize its finances and improve operations. Going forward, HATCo plans to create an operating model for Summa that other health systems can implement. The model will focus on the expertise of health system and insurer partners instead of health system acquisitions. "We don't intend to be a hospital rollup company," said HATCo president Daryl Tol. "But we want to spread our impact through partnerships that move the industry away from the billions of dollars spent on consultancies and technology companies and toward finding better ways to drive efficiencies." (Kacik, Modern Healthcare, 10/1)

Host Rachel Woods invites healthcare strategy experts Colin Gelbaugh and Vidal Seegobin to discuss how current economic challenges have shifted health systems' growth strategies and how leaders can advance their growth strategy.