DispatchHealth Acquires Hospital-at-Home Provider Medically Home

DispatchHealth is acquiring fellow hospital-at-home provider Medically Home to give more patients access to their preferred hospital bed: the one they already have at home.

DispatchHealth delivers full-service high-acuity care to patients across the country by sending clinicians directly to the patient’s own bedside.

  • The company’s tech platform supports diagnostics and treatment, as well as care coordination with health systems and payors.
  • Since being founded in 2013, Dispatch has treated over 1.2M people in 20 states, reportedly resulting in 58% ED avoidance and a 98% patient satisfaction rating.

Medically Home has a similar value proposition, with technology, logistics, and support services that “are unmatched in making hospital-level care possible outside of a hospital’s four walls.”

  • It also boasts an impressive list of health system investors like Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, and Kaiser Permanente.
  • The financial terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed, but Medically Home appears set to be folded into DispatchHealth when the acquisition closes mid-year 2025.

The combined company – AKA DispatchHealth – will provide in-home care across 50 major metropolitan areas through partnerships with nearly 40 health systems.

  • The move brings both companies’ tech and clinical expertise under one roof, which is expected to open up over 62k bed days and reduce total cost of care by up to 30% over a 30-day period (unclear how much of that is offloading work to family members).
  • The merger also reflects a growing trend toward consolidation in this space, where scale is crucial for reaching sustainable growth, even if it means joining forces to get there.

The clock is ticking. The acquisition arrives as the future of the federal hospital-at-home program hangs in limbo. Congress extended the program just a jew weeks ago, but only for another six months.

The Takeaway

The U.S. population isn’t getting any younger, and aging patients have been vocal about preferring care from the comfort of their own homes. In that context, DispatchHealth’s acquisition of Medically Home makes a lot of sense, and a successful merger could support the case for a long-term extension when the current hospital-at-home waiver expires in September.

DispatchHealth Lands $330M for In-Home Care

It looks like 2022 isn’t finished with the megarounds quite yet, with DispatchHealth hauling in $330M in a mix of debt and equity funding to build out its suite of in-home services.

DispatchHealth launched in 2013 to bring urgent care into patient homes, but has since expanded its offerings to cover a wide range of high-acuity needs.

  • The company partners with health systems, payors, and employers to provide in-home resources that help keep patients out of the hospital, such as mobile medical teams and Advanced Care hospital-at-home solutions.
  • These services are integrated within its Last Mile Care Technology Platform, which tracks care patterns to optimize utilization, forecast equipment requirements, and triage patients to outside resources when necessary.

The latest round lifts DispatchHealth’s total funding to over $730M as it shifts its focus to building out its high-acuity ecosystem in the 50+ markets it already serves – reportedly covering 75% of Medicare Advantage members in the US.

  • It’s easy to imagine that DispatchHealth is probably high on the list of acquisition targets for companies like UnitedHealth Group or CVS that are actively looking to round out their care delivery strategies with in-home assets.
  • That makes it interesting to see that UHG subsidiary Optum Ventures led the recent funding, with Humana and Blue Shield of California also participating.

The Takeaway

Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty and a slowdown in private funding, DispatchHealth’s nine-figure raise shows that investors still have an appetite for startups with a solid track record of improving outcomes. We’ve been covering plenty of stories about hospital overcrowding and struggling margins, and DispatchHealth is making it clear that it believes the home is the right setting to tackle both issues at the same time.

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