Nashville Post: Premise Health CEO Stu Clark Featured in Q&A on Nashville Healthcare Industry and How Premise is Disrupting Health Care in 2026     

In a recent Q&A with Nashville Post’s Cynthia Anderson, Premise Health CEO Stu Clark shared his thoughts on employer sponsored care in 2026, the rise of alternative health plans, and Nashville’s influence on industry leadership and innovation.  

 “The large organizations that Premise Health serves have decided to do something different,” said Stu. “They understand that, as the real payer in health care, they have the opportunity to drive meaningful change for their employees and families by providing better access to advanced primary care.” 

Remarking on the findings from the latest industry surveys, Stu explained that employers’ main focus in 2026 is more predictable healthcare costs. He shared that employers know they can’t rely on traditional cost-cutting measures like raising premiums and deductibles and are instead shifting to alternatives for traditional health plans and pharmacy benefits management.  

“We intend to disrupt the health plan industry by offering an alternative, primary care-centered model. We have two of these up and running today, with enrollment rates of between 50 percent and 75 percent,” he said. “To be clear, that means only 25 percent to 50 percent of those families are enrolled in the traditional health plans offered by the employer. If we can scale this, we are looking to disrupt a $300 billion industry.” 

In 2026, Stu’s vision for Premise’s employer partners involves three key focus areas: implementing advanced primary care models, exploring alternative health plans that prioritize primary care utilization, and investing heavily in data and analytics. According to Stu, these are the best levers employers can pull to affect meaningful change toward better access, health outcomes, and lower costs. 

To round out the Q&A, Stu reflected on Nashville’s reputation as the national healthcare hub, saying: 

“We are honored and humbled to be an important employer and health care institution here in Nashville. Premise would not exist without Nashville and its industry giants who built our healthcare industry. There is a clear reason why so many of the country’s leading health care organizations are headquartered or have a presence here: talent. It is a unique collection of talent, leadership, and innovation that makes the city the health care hub.” 

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