Value-Based Care News Digest - February 2020

February 21, 2020

Every month, Evolent Health rounds up some of the latest value-based care news from the previous month spanning policy, research, innovations, payers and providers. 

 

Top Trending Themes

  1. M&A activity hasn't relented among primary care organizations, indicating 2020 will continue to bring rapid growth for value-based primary care.
  • Humana's Partners in Primary Care announced a joint venture with private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe (WCAS) to provide value-based care to Medicare beneficiaries. The joint venture plans to operate payer-agnostic, senior-focused primary centers operated under the Partners in Primary Care brand. WCAS will have majority ownership in the new company with an initial commitment of $600 million, while Humana will own a small minority stake. Partners in Primary Care currently operates in Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Florida, and the new joint venture is expected to double its footprint over the next three years.
  • VillageMD plans to acquire Summit Medical Group of Arizona, adding nearly 50 providers and six clinics to VillageMD's Arizona footprint. The clinics are expected to transition to VillageMD's primary care brand Village Medical later this year. "After two years of building a high-quality multispecialty practice to benefit the residents of the Valley, we believe that VillageMD's high-touch and effective clinical model, coupled with its technology platform, docOS, as well as their human capital resources, will help us provide world-class care to patients," said Kent Johnson, M.D., chief physician executive of Summit Medical Group Arizona.
  • In South Florida, Cano Health acquired a portion of Primary Care Physicians of Hollywood, making Cano Health the largest primary care provider in highly saturated Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The acquisition will add 11 primary care medical centers to Cano Health's South Florida footprint. Cano Health's 73,000 patients will have access to wellness centers, arthritis and pain management and other comprehensive medical services.
  1. Digital health startups are attracting investors' attention, indicating market excitement around virtual care and value-based specialty care.
  • Hinge Health, a San Francisco digital health startup that aims to treat chronic musculoskeletal conditions such as back and joint pain, secured $90 million in Series C funding. Founded in 2015, Hinge Health partners primarily with employers and health plans to provide wearable sensors, health coaching and an app to its users. Through technology and improved data, Hinge hopes to increase treatment adherence among users with chronic pain while reducing opioid utilization. According to Hinge Health CEO and cofounder Daniel Perez, Hinge Health has helped users avoid two out of three elective surgeries and reduce pain by 69% on average.
  • Maven, a women and family health start-up that provides on-demand access for virtual care along with services such as breast milk shipping and fertility clinic referrals, raised $45 million in Series C. The round was led by Icon Ventures, with participation from existing investors Sequoia, Oak HC/FT, Spring Mountain Capital, Female Founders Fund and Harmony Partners. Individual strategic investors include actresses Reese Witherspoon, Natalie Portman and Mindy Kaling, and 23andMe cofounder and CEO Anne Wojcicki. It is one of the largest funding rounds for a female-led women's health care company. The new round brings Maven's total funding to $87 million. The company's CEO, Katherine Ryder, who is the parent of a two-year-old and a three-year-old, says that part of the funding will go toward launching Maven Pediatrics this year.
  • Cigna Ventures invested in two digital health companies this month:
    • Buoy Health uses artificial intelligence to provide personalized care recommendations based on a patient's symptoms.
    • RecoveryOne connects patients to virtual, evidence-based care programs for musculoskeletal conditions.
    • These two partnerships are preceded by several other recent value-based care announcements from Cigna, including a follow-on investment with Contessa Health, a provider of hospital-at-home services.
  1. Behavioral health startups are attracting new partnerships and funding as payers and employers continue to search for cost-effective ways to manage whole-person health.
  • Quartet, a New York City-based startup, has partnered with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina to implement a value-based payment model for mental health care. Last year, Blue Cross NC initiated its partnership with Quartet, offering its services to primary and mental health care providers at no cost. The expansion of this partnership will invite behavioral health providers to participate in Blue Premier, Blue Cross NC's current value-based payment model. Through this initiative, Blue Cross NC hopes to integrate behavioral health with primary care, improve network access and use telehealth more effectively.
  • Starting this month, Cigna announced that its 14 million customers enrolled in employer-sponsored plans can securely schedule appointments online to see behavioral health counselors or psychiatrists by video or phone through its collaboration with telemedicine provider MDLIVE. This new service is in addition to Cigna's behavioral health network of more than 18,000 virtual providers.
  • Spring Health, a mental health care platform, raised $22 million in Series A funding. The funding was led by Northzone, Equinox Ventures and Able Partners. Spring Health calls its approach "precision mental health care," in which users enter information that the software screens for several mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder. From there, Spring Health will pair the user with a mental health professional available to answer questions via text, phone or video. Spring Health was founded in 2016 and claims to work with the employees of more than 50 companies across five continents.

Industry News

Payers and Providers

Hospitals and Health Systems

Telehealth

Long-Term Support Services


Government & Regulatory

CMS


People on the Move


Evolent in the News


Survey Says/Studies Show

 

 

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