Dr. Jeff Le Benger has been a visionary in the health care world, seemingly keeping Summit Medical Group one step ahead while guiding it to its status as the leading medical group in New Jersey — one big enough to add urgent care provider CityMD to its portfolio in 2019.
Thursday morning, Le Benger revealed his vision for the future.
Saying it will help set the course for continued health care innovation and unified growth, Summit Medical Group and CityMD announced a new branding identity and positioning that Le Benger feels will help it grab an even greater share of the New York metropolitan market and beyond.
Beginning today, the combined organization’s corporate identity, as well as the brand name of the century-old multispecialty group, is Summit Health.
CityMD will continue to operate under its existing brand name, with an endorsement line identifying it as “a Summit Health company.”
“This major rebrand represents our vision to create a new kind of health care that builds on our strengths and provides a seamless patient experience that is connected by the collective expertise of our physicians, providers and employees,” Le Benger said.
Le Benger, the CEO, said the company has approximately 700,000 patients in northern New Jersey and sees 6 to 7 million visits a year in the greater market. The majority of the CityMD locations are in New York.
The branding, he said, is about bringing recognition of both brands to both markets.
“The population in northern New Jersey knows that we are a fully integrated, multispecialty group — one that you can use as a one-stop shop,” he said. “I think people who don’t use us don’t fully understand our model.
“That’s what the rebrand is all about.”
Le Benger said the rebranding comes at a time of great transition in the health care sector, one in which expectations are being reshaped by new forms of patient care and health management. Summit Health, he said, will bring deep clinical integration, growth in providers and locations, and an enhanced digital experience for its patients.
For Le Benger, who still practices, it’s all about improving access to care and providing better care.
“In New Jersey, that means our standalone urgent care business will act as an integrated aspect to our health care model to improve access,” he said. “Access is virtual by primary care or urgent care — however, that patient might come in for any issue.
“It’s always about care. I will never lose sight of that.”
And, while the change comes during a pandemic, it also comes at a time of great success for the organization, Le Benger said.
Like all health care facilities, Le Benger said Summit saw a dramatic drop in patients during the initial phases of the pandemic, but he said Summit was able to quickly transition to telehealth. Today, thanks to the opening of more than a dozen new CityMD locations, as well as bringing more than 150 doctors into the group, Le Benger said Summit has returned to its pre-COVID numbers.
“Our growth, resilience and progress over the first extraordinary months of our merger is remarkable,” Le Benger said.
Le Benger said people will see examples of the rebranding everywhere. There will be changings on all signage inside and out — even on the physicians’ jackets. But there also will be an advertising campaign. Le Benger said most of that will be a digital play, but he said he thought the company would do some print, television and possibly some billboards.
Matt Gove, the chief marketing officer at Summit Health, said the campaign will focus on what Summit is providing to the community.
“The emergence of the Summit Health brand is about more than just a new name or logo,” he said. “It brings unity and focus to our operations, while also delivering an enlightening, compassionate and connected experience that is orchestrated around the patient.
“The fresh, modern logo and brand identity evoke connection on many meaningful levels.”
