Carrum Health’s Major Expansion Brings 90% of Americans Within 50 Miles of its Centers of Excellence Network, Built with C.A.R.E

Carrum scales its value-based COE model by tailoring it for each specialty, expanding to 1,000+ locations and managing 40% of employer medical spend 

SAN FRANCISCO – April 2, 2025 – Today, Carrum Health, the leader in value-based Centers of Excellence (COE) for specialty care, announced a major expansion of its network to over 1,000 locations which places 90% of Americans within 50 miles of a Carrum COE. In addition, Carrum has extended its specialty care offerings to new categories that all together cover 40% of employer medical spend.

With this dramatic growth, Carrum can now serve more members than ever before – but access alone will not solve the heightened needs of employers who also demand a solution with quality, integrity and transparency. By staying true to its long-established reputation as the quality leader in the COE space, Carrum’s network expansion milestone was achieved with a differentiated approach anchored in C.A.R.E.:

• Curated for top 10% quality – Carrum has the most rigorous quality standards in the COE market, applied at the facility AND physician level
• Appropriateness first – Carrum uniquely incentivizes providers to focus on the most appropriate treatment plan instead of the most profitable one
• Risk-bearing providers – Carrum is the only COE solution to incentivize providers by tying payments to outcomes across surgery, cancer care and substance use treatments
• End-to-end transparency – Carrum shares all provider network and pricing with employers upfront so there is no mystery about who is in the network or surprise charges

These developments are especially relevant as employers face relentlessly soaring healthcare costs, with another 8% increase expected this year. Specialty care now accounts for roughly half of employer healthcare spend, so in response, nearly 50% of employers are turning to Centers of Excellence in 2025 to control costs and improve outcomes, with 75% planning to adopt COEs within two years.

“Over the last two years, the employers that Business Group on Health surveyed have expressed strong concerns about the upward trajectory of healthcare costs and become increasingly discerning in seeking solutions that curb costs while improving outcomes,” said Ellen Kelsay, President and CEO of Business Group on Health. “Many have recognized Centers of Excellence as one of the optimal tools in the toolkit to deliver tangible impact. Carrum Health’s investment to significantly expand access to its COE network is a timely development that will help employers bring high-quality care to even more of their members while meaningfully decreasing spend.”

Carrum achieved the breakthrough of expanding access while maintaining its high-quality standards by thoughtfully leveraging its differentiated C.A.R.E. framework and building the right model for each type of specialty care. Carrum is the only solution in the market to offer Premium COEs for complex surgeries and cancer treatments like CAR-T cell therapy, featuring top 10% nationally ranked providers with complete bundled payments and warranties to ensure accountability for outcomes. This is augmented with high-quality Local COEs that rank in the top 10% regionally with value-based payments for more routine care close to home, like colonoscopies.

“This marks a significant milestone in our journey to transform specialty care delivery,” said Sach Jain, founder and CEO. “The legacy approach of using a broad brush to address all specialties doesn’t work. To impact the entire specialty care spend, you need to thoughtfully adjust the Centers of Excellence model for each specialty, and this is what we are pioneering. Our expanded network reaffirms our commitment to ensuring that every member, regardless of where they live, has access to the highest quality care. With this initiative, we’re not just meeting market demand—we’re setting a new standard for patient-centric specialty care.”

Carrum’s newly expanded services cover a full spectrum of specialty care, including:

• Gastroenterology: For essential screening procedures like colonoscopies and endoscopies, which an estimated 100,000 members on our platform will need annually
• General Surgery: Expanding from bariatric surgery to now include abdominal surgeries, including hernia repairs, gall bladder removal, non-emergency appendectomies
• Gynecology: Gynecological surgeries, such as hysterectomies, fertility-preserving procedures, and pelvic floor reconstruction
• Pain Management: Emphasizing preventive care and conservative treatments to minimize the need for invasive interventions
• Urology: Offering advanced care tailored to the unique needs of men and women
• Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Surgeries: Addressing issues such as deviated septum, sinus conditions, tonsillectomies, and ruptured eardrums

These new service lines round out Carrum’s established surgical offerings in musculoskeletal, bariatric and cardiovascular – and augment Carrum’s innovations in cancer care and substance use treatment. All together, they span nearly the entire spectrum of specialty care and account for 40% of employer healthcare spend.

“Employers are looking for comprehensive solutions built around their members’ needs, that offer the full spectrum of high-quality specialty care under one umbrella, be it highly complex multidisciplinary care or simple procedures,” said Christoph Dankert, Chief Network Officer. “By pioneering the COE model in novel specialties like Cancer and Substance Use Disorders, we have integrated high-quality local access with the top 10% of nationally recognized Centers of Excellence. Carrum continues to build on its success as the thought leader and definitive partner for value-based specialty care for employers in the U.S.”

About Carrum Health 

Carrum Health’s mission is to change how we pay for and deliver specialty care. We offer self-insured employers a value-based Centers of Excellence (COE) solution that connects their members with a rigorously vetted network of specialty care providers. Carrum’s upfront, all-inclusive bundled pricing, award-winning technology, and dedicated care navigation team help lower costs for both members and employers while delivering a superior member experience. Carrum is independently validated to reduce unnecessary procedures by as much as 30%, lower readmissions by 80%, and save employers up to 45% per episode of surgical care. Learn more at carrumhealth.com.

FAQs

1. What is a Centers of Excellence program for employers?

A Centers of Excellence (COE) program is a curated group of high-performing healthcare providers that employers pre-select, vet, and contract with directly. Rather than allowing employees to seek care from any provider in a broad insurance network, a best-in-class COE program steers them toward providers with demonstrated quality outcomes.

See also: Business Group on Health 2025 COE Adoption Survey

2. Which employers use Carrum Health?

Carrum Health works with leading employers and public-sector organizations including Prudential, US Foods, Peraton, Sodexo, the State of Maine, and the State of Tennessee. For deeper examples, explore these employer case studies:

Employer	Focus Area	Link
Prudential	Tackling rising cancer care costs with a value-based approach	Read the Prudential case study
US Foods	Surgery cost reduction, COE adoption, and national workforce rollout	Read the US Foods case study
Peraton	Specialty care savings, member experience, and COE implementation	Read the Peraton case study

3. What specialties does Carrum’s COE network cover?

•  Surgery: Musculoskeletal, cardiac, bariatric, spine, sports medicine, general, and more
• Cancer: Cell and infusion therapies, radiation, surgery, virtual advisory
• Substance use disorder: Alcohol, cannabis, opioids, sedatives, stimulants and more

4. How does bundled payment pricing work?

A bundled payment is a healthcare pricing model where a single, fixed price covers all the services a patient receives for a specific procedure or medical condition across an entire “episode of care under bundled payment model.” Instead of generating separate bills for the hospital stay, which is what happens in the traditional fee-for-service system, the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, and all other participating providers share one comprehensive payment. This model coordinates care and lowers costs, as providers share in the financial savings if the patient recovers smoothly under budget, but must absorb the extra expenses if avoidable complications drive costs up (with Carrum, for example, there is a 30-day warranty built into the bundle price). Carrum pre-negotiates bundle prices so employers know the cost from the beginning.

Note: Carrum offers other value-based payment models in addition to bundles.

5. How does Carrum select providers for its network?

Carrum curates its network through our proprietary and rigorous, data-driven vetting process that identifies the best providers and facilities nationwide. Rather than relying on standard industry credentialing, we evaluate specialists at the individual procedure level against strict quality benchmarks aligned with leading national health quality organizations. We screen for superior clinical outcomes, surgical appropriateness, and exceptional patient experiences, among many other factors. By maintaining these elite standards—a strategy independently validated by the RAND Corporation—we ensure members receive care exclusively from top-tier Centers of Excellence and providers.