SIGNET DEVELOPMENT AND SUMMACARE HEALTH PLAN BREAK GROUND ON NEW SUMMACARE BUILDING

(Akron, Ohio)- At 9:30 a.m. on February 14, Signet Development and SummaCare Health Plan celebrated the groundbreaking for the new 93,000-square-foot SummaCare office building. The building is being developed by Signet Development, Ltd., for use by SummaCare Health Plan and Summa Health System.

The ceremony was held at the corner of Market and Main Streets in downtown Akron, where the new building is being constructed. Speakers during the ceremony Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic; Tony Manna, chairman, Signet Development; Thomas Strauss, president and CEO of Summa Health System; Marty Hauser, president of SummaCare Health Plan, and Marco Sommerville, president of Akron City Council.

When completed, the 5-story building will accommodate more than 450 Summa employees from the areas of SummaCare, Akron City Health System, information technology, patient accounts and finance. Summa will lease the building from Signet Development with the ability to exercise an investment option in the building after fifteen years.

"This is an exciting day in the history of Summa Health System and SummaCare Health Plan," said Strauss. "The need for a new building was due to the incredible growth SummaCare Health Plan is experiencing."

SummaCare Health Plan constitutes the retail insurance arm of Summa Health System along with Summa Insurance Company. Hauser, president of SummaCare Health Plan was equally excited about the start of construction on the new building.

"Today with more than 100,000 SummaCare members and our continued recognition by the Weatherhead School of Management as one of the fastest- growing companies in Northeast Ohio, this new building represents the hard work and dedication of the many employees who will be moving into the building in December."

SummaCare Health Plan began operations as an HMO in 1993. The SummaCare provider network expands to 13 counties throughout northeast Ohio and includes more than 5,000 physicians and 27 hospitals. SummaCare provides health plan options to employers as well as Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries.

Summa Health System is an integrated health care system, including Akron City and St. Thomas hospitals and SummaCare health plan, which is committed to the full continuum of health care services. Led by President and CEO, Thomas J. Strauss, Summa is the only Akron health organization to be accredited with commendation by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and nationally recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top 50 hospitals in the nation for cancer, ear, nose and throat, geriatrics, gynecology, heart, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopaedics, and respiratory disorders. In addition to being Akron's first level I trauma center, Summa is also a leader in maternity services providing level III perinatal care, the highest level of care available.

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