Please Clarify constructions in Grammar

Question

Below mentioned passages are from Newyork times

Somebody plz describe construction use in above paragraph  especially use of while and whether

There’s no chance that the existing companies, be they hospital or insurers,  have the right configuration of assets to be successful” at turning health care into a business where the parties are able to produce better outcomes at a lower cost, he said.

Comment on highlighted construction

ccooley · Answer

What an ugly sentence! (But you do see sentences like that one pretty often in newspapers, since articles have limited length. They sometimes try to cram as much information as possible into limited words/sentences in order to save space.)

Here's how it breaks down. The core of the sentence is this:

Delivering may prove challenging.

Then, there's a modifier that modifies 'delivering'. This is a prepositional phrase modifier. It tells you what the partnerships are delivering on.

Delivering   on that promise   may prove challenging.

The bit at the beginning, which starts with 'while', is a very long and complex opening modifier. The core of the modifier is 'While these new partnerships promise to change how people get care.'

While these new partnerships promise to change how people get care,   delivering   on that promise   may prove challenging.

After the opening modifier, there's another modifier. That modifier modifies the opening modifier itself! So, 'by marshaling better information about patients and steering them to less expensive and more convenient places' is a modifier. It doesn't modify any part of the main sentence. Instead, it gives more detail about the opening modifier, by explaining how the partnerships will change care. Let's put it in, but we'll abbreviate it so it doesn't take up so much space in the sentence.

While these new partnerships promise to change how people get care,   by marshaling info & steering patients to better places,   delivering   on that promise   may prove challenging.

Finally, the phrase 'whether an urgent-care clinic or drugstore' modifies the word  places . It tells you which places they're steering patients to.

While these new partnerships promise to change how people get care,   by marshaling info & steering patients to better places,    whether an urgent-care clinic or drugstore,   delivering   on that promise   may prove challenging.

The reason the sentence is confusing is that it has three modifiers that all modify each other.

Please Clarify constructions in Grammar

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