Strive Health adds three executives as it pushes deeper into value-based kidney care
Strive Health has expanded its executive leadership team with three hires designed to support a broader national footprint in value-based kidney care. The company named Susan Ray as chief operating officer, Sarah Berry, Ph.D., as chief network and engagement officer, and Dan Heslin as chief growth officer, placing operational execution, provider network performance and business development under separate leadership lanes as the organization grows.
The staffing move is more than a corporate reshuffle. In kidney disease, scale only matters if care delivery stays coordinated across primary care, nephrology, payors and local health systems. Patients with chronic kidney disease often carry a heavy burden of comorbid illness, and fragmented care can accelerate avoidable hospital use, delay referral to nephrology and complicate transitions as disease progresses toward end-stage kidney disease. A model built around risk-based reimbursement depends on close operational control and reliable partner engagement, because the clinical value has to be delivered consistently across geographies, not just in a pilot market.
Paul Marchetti, Strive’s president, framed the appointments around execution at scale, provider engagement and value delivery for patients and customers. The emphasis fits the demands of kidney care, where population health programs have to function across a long clinical horizon. Unlike a short episodic intervention, kidney care requires durable coordination, repeated outreach and the ability to connect patients with local clinicians before small problems become hospital-level events.
Operations leadership now sits at the center of delivery
As COO, Ray will lead market operations and central services, including customer relationships and the teams responsible for executing Strive’s care model at the point of delivery. Her background is rooted in value-based care, operations, client management and organizational transformation. She most recently served as COO of Rippl Care, where she helped build and scale a care model for people living with dementia. Her prior senior roles at Honest Health, naviHealth, Evolent Health and Accolade suggest experience in the kind of operational infrastructure that value-based models need: standardized workflows, cross-functional management and the ability to translate strategy into service delivery.
In kidney disease management, operational consistency is not a back-office concern. It determines whether high-risk patients are identified early, whether care plans are followed, and whether local providers receive the right support at the right time. A model that claims to improve outcomes across chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease has to work when patients move between settings, see multiple specialists and face social barriers that can derail adherence. Central services, in that sense, become part of the clinical engine.
Berry takes on a network that now includes more than 6,500 provider partners. She will oversee engagement functions that connect patients with timely local care and Strive’s clinical and social needs programs. Her previous role as senior vice president of clinical service operations at Ventricle Health involved scaling and performance management for an advanced heart failure cardiology network, another condition in which chronic disease complexity and care coordination shape outcomes over time. Earlier leadership roles at Aetna, Innovation Health and Evolent Health point to experience in aligning network relationships with operational goals.
The provider layer is central to any kidney care model because nephrology cannot operate in isolation. Patients enter the pathway through primary care, cardiology, endocrinology and other specialties long before dialysis becomes relevant. A successful network strategy has to support referral flow, local continuity and the handoff between medical management and social support. For a company managing risk across CKD and ESKD, provider engagement is not a branding exercise; it is the mechanism by which the clinical model reaches the bedside.
Strive said its goal is to strengthen how care is delivered for people with kidney disease and comorbidities as it reaches more patients nationwide. The language reflects the reality of chronic renal care: outcomes depend on upstream identification, adherence support and early intervention, not just on late-stage rescue.
Growth strategy is tied to payor and provider partnerships
Heslin will serve as chief growth officer, leading business development, strategic partnerships, marketing and market expansion. His remit includes bringing Strive’s population health solutions to payors, providers and other healthcare organizations. He joins from Elevance Health, where he held leadership roles in enterprise growth, product strategy and business development and most recently served as president of the company’s specialty business. Earlier experience at Roche Diagnostics and in technology strategy consulting adds a mix of clinical-market and commercial perspective.
For a company operating in value-based kidney care, growth depends on more than adding markets. It requires partnerships that can support risk-based programs, align incentives and create enough clinical and administrative integration to manage chronic disease across states and payer types. Strive works with commercial and Medicare Advantage payors, Medicare, health systems and physicians through flexible value-based payment arrangements. The expansion of growth leadership suggests the company is preparing for a broader set of contracting, product and market-entry decisions.
The business case for this structure is straightforward. Kidney disease progresses slowly, but its consequences are expensive and clinically disruptive. Patients often cycle through hospitalizations, medication adjustments and specialty visits while care teams attempt to slow decline and preserve function. A company that positions itself as a national leader in this space has to combine analytics, care interventions and local provider relationships in a way that can be sustained across large patient populations.
Strive describes its model as an integrated care delivery system spanning chronic kidney disease through end-stage kidney disease, supported by technology including AI, care interventions and integration with local providers. The company says it serves more than 165,000 people across all 50 states and partners with over 6,500 providers. Its case management and population health programs are accredited by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, and its technology platform, CareMultiplier™, carries HITRUST certification.
The leadership additions align with that operating model. Ray addresses execution, Berry strengthens the provider network and patient engagement layer, and Heslin is tasked with widening the commercial pipeline. Each role maps to a different friction point in scaling kidney care: service consistency, network performance and market expansion. A national footprint in chronic kidney disease depends on all three.
The remaining question is not whether the model can be described at scale, but how consistently it performs as more payors, more providers and more patients enter the system. In kidney care, growth without durable coordination can quickly expose gaps in referral timing, care navigation and local follow-through. Those are the variables that will determine how far this leadership expansion can carry the organization.