The current plan to sell Summa Health to venture capital-backed HATCo, and to convert it from a non-profit to a for-profit hospital, is the wrong direction for the Akron and Northeast Ohio community at this time. Summa is Summit County’s largest employer and provider of services. It is a community institution that has been built and sustained by this community over 132 years, and it belongs to all of us. It should remain a non-profit focused primarily on serving the community and the greater good. The current negotiations with HATCo should be halted to allow for greater input from the community and a discussion about potential alternatives for Summa’s future. 

The deal with HATCo presupposes that a group of investors and for-profit companies will always place people and communities above profit. Unfortunately, the for-profit hospital model does not have a track record worth believing in, no matter how aspirational the folks involved here may seem. Summa is among our community’s greatest assets, and selling it off is an action that can never be undone. Despite any short-term succession plans, no guarantees can exist over the long-term. We need a path forward that guarantees a non-profit mission, so that Summa as we know it can endure. 

This is a difficult time for hospitals and the healthcare industry, and we must acknowledge the significant financial and operational challenges faced by Summa at this time. Given rising personnel and operating costs, changes and new directions may be inevitable. But this is not a time to hastily mortgage one of our community’s greatest assets in the name of a corporate experiment. This is a time to come together as a community and work towards solutions that will guarantee the best future for Summa. 

Summa belongs to us all, and major decisions regarding its future should not be made without the input of the community. As generations of Akronites have built and sustained it over decades, all of us deserve a sense of ownership in it and a say in its future. Summa is a non-profit community institution that has served the greater good of the Akron area for the past 132 years, and our collective support and belief in its mission is crucial now more than ever.