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Summit Medical Group, the state’s largest physician group, is poised to expand beyond New Jersey, planting its flag in Arizona and the Pacific Northwest by the end of the year.Summit Medical Group, the state’s largest physician group, is poised to expand beyond New Jersey, planting its flag in Arizona and the Pacific Northwest by the end of the year.

Deals are in the works in both locations, where the medical group and its management company, Summit Health Management, are set to become the new parent company or partial shareholders in physician groups.

Whether or not the acquisitions will also carry the Summit banner is unclear at this time, but Summit is definitely going to be in at least two other states soon, according to CEO Jeffrey LeBenger.

The goal, LeBenger told NJBIZ, is to spread the successful physician-owned and -operated group style that Summit is now known for in the state.

With help from Summit Medical Group and the Summit Health Management administrative arm, LeBenger said, other large physician groups with similar cultures and goals can become stronger organizations in their local area.

“We are running a very good business model at Summit Health and running an 18 percent margin,” LeBenger said. “Me, personally, I want to do what’s right for the physician. I’m born and bred a physician. I think there is a way to create a paradigm of health care in this country and bring it down to the ambulatory centers. By doing that, we can change the model of giving high quality care at a lower cost point.”

Case in point? Summit’s partnership with cancer care giant MD Anderson in Florham Park.

LeBenger pointed to that as the epitome of how he wants to help change health care delivery.

And with payment models increasingly embracing value-based payments over traditional fee-for-service models, LeBenger believes he can help the interested physician groups in transitioning.

“There are a lot of groups out there that are stuck in fee for service … because they don’t know what to do,” LeBenger said. “They are looking at capital needs to help them grow, looking for an organization that can help them with population health.”

All things both Summit Medical and Summit Health have done.

Rather than chase venture capital or private equity dollars, find a Fortune 100 company, fold into a hospital or buy back-end products and services, LeBenger wants to offer another option.

He found the two sites from either hearing they were going out for sale, or through networking events.

“It’s a known group of large groups that are out there that are still physician-owned and physician-run. We network with them and talk with them. We reach out to them or they reach out to us,” LeBenger said. “We’d like for them to have ownership in their group, so what we do is we offer them to become shareholders in the management company while they maintain their ownership in their group. So, they have ownership in both.”