Cone Health leans on Risant for value-based care, $40M Epic rebuild
Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health is drawing on Risant Health's value-based care tools and funding support for a $40 million rebuild of its Epic platform, CEO Paul Krakovitz, MD, told Becker's Hospital Review in a piece published Sept. 18, 2026.
Krakovitz, who became CEO of the five-hospital system on March 16, said Risant — the nonprofit formed by Kaiser Permanente — is involved in Cone Health's value-based care work and is helping fund the Epic modernization, which he described as addressing years of technical debt that had limited adoption of newer capabilities. According to Becker's, Risant brings tools developed through Kaiser Permanente's experience with the model.
Krakovitz pointed to two Risant-supported tools in particular: value-based guidelines delivered through the EHR, which he said can reduce specialist consultations, and Care Without Delay, aimed at making care more efficient from emergency department arrival through discharge. He framed the work as part of a broader shift away from volume toward proactive, upstream care, with a goal of becoming what he called the model community health system in value-based care.
Cone Health joined Risant roughly 15 months before Krakovitz took the CEO role, and he previously held leadership positions at Cressey & Company, Intermountain Health and Cleveland Clinic, per Becker's.