Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey has agreed to acquire multispecialty physician group Summit Health’s New Jersey operations, including CityMD urgent care sites in the state, the insurer confirmed to Becker’s.
“We are excited by the opportunity to preserve access to high quality care for all of Summit Health’s patients, improve healthcare quality and affordability for our members, and to support the continued independence of Summit Health’s physicians and clinicians for the benefit of New Jerseyans,” a Horizon spokesperson said Oct. 21.
The deal is subject to regulatory review and financial terms were not disclosed. Summit operates more than 120 locations across New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, while CityMD operates more than 180 urgent care centers across the three states.
In 2022, New Jersey approved Horizon’s conversion from a nonprofit health service corporation to a nonprofit mutual holding company called Horizon Mutual Holdings. The restructuring allowed the insurer to create for-profit subsidiaries and pursue acquisitions of providers and pharmacy benefit managers for the first time. Last year the company acquired Minnesota-based HealthEZ to help it launch a third-party administrator business in its home market next year.
Summit was formed by the 2019 merger of Summit Medical Group and CityMD, which was acquired by Walgreens-backed VillageMD in early 2023 for $8.9 billion, while Cigna’s health services subsidiary Evernorth took a minority stake. In 2025, private equity firm Sycamore Partners took Walgreens private in a deal that separated VillageMD, Summit Health and CityMD into a standalone company.
Horizon joins a growing number of BCBS plans that have moved into care delivery in recent years in an effort to compete with national insurers like UnitedHealth and Elevance.
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