Joe Ganley, athenahealth VP of Government and Regulatory Affairs

If your providers need easy access to real-time drug data and clinical decision support, make sure to check out Synapse Medicine’s webinar this Wednesday, March 8th at 10am CST. Synapse Medicine CEO Clement Goehrs, MD will be covering everything you need to know to select the right drug database for your organization.

Digital Health

Fertility Payvider Kindbody Raises $100M

Kindbody is looking to breathe new life into a fertility care market that’s in desperate need of a makeover, and it just secured $100M in Series D funding to help accomplish that mission.

Founded in 2018 by the femtech power duo of Joanne Schneider (now CEO of Oula) and Gina Bartasi (former CEO of Progyny), Kindbody is aiming to make fertility care more accessible in areas where a lack of competition is driving up costs.

How does Kindbody plan on achieving that? By functioning as both payer and provider to offer patients a top tier hybrid care experience while contracting directly with employers to keep costs under control.

• The payvidor model also allows Kindbody to offer bundled rates for its services, which range from fertility consults to in-vitro fertilization and pretty much everything in between.

• The company owns and operates a network of 31 clinics nationwide, placing a heavy emphasis on the patient experience that’s immediately recognizable in their design-forward “lobbies” – its term for waiting rooms where patients don’t have to wait. 

• Now for the kicker: Kindbody’s on pace to be EBITDA positive by the end of this year.

The funds were earmarked for building 10 new clinics in underserved areas while continuing to expand employer partnerships. Last year Kindbody added 42 large employer clients, including the largest employer of them all: Walmart.

• Kindbody is now the fertility benefits provider for 112 companies (covering 2.4M lives), which accounts for roughly half of its revenue. The other half is split between managed care services and D2C patients. 

• Kindbody also made it clear that strategic acquisitions are on the table. It’s already acquired Vios Fertility Institute (clinic footprint expansion), Phosphorus Labs (genetic testing), and Alternative Reproductive Resources (surrogacy agency).

The Takeaway

Kindbody’s nine figure funding round propelled it to a $1.8B valuation, making it the second fertility startup to join the unicorn club and giving it a good amount of runway to sharpen its operations ahead of next year’s IPO season. It also reaffirmed what might end up being the digital health theme of the year: no market is a bad market for investing in profitable startups that are meeting a real need.

Clinical Documentation Integrity For VBC

The growing use of risk-adjusted reimbursement in outpatient settings means clinical documentation needs to keep up, or health systems risk leaving revenue on the table. Check out Nuance’s new blog to learn how shifting reimbursement models make clinical documentation excellence more important than ever, and how AI can help you achieve it.

Medallion Unites Family Care Center’s Credentialing Process

As Family Care Center set out to expand its behavioral health services, it needed a scalable provider credentialing solution so that its staff could keep focusing on patient care. Find out how Medallion’s CAQH-integrated platform helped Family Care Center onboard its providers faster by letting them complete their applications in two days instead of two weeks.

The Wire

• Regulatory Pathways Guide: DiMe just put out must-read materials for anyone navigating the best regulatory pathway for their digital health product. Whether you’re unsure if your product is regulated or you’re looking for the quickest road to market, these resources are a great place to find an answer to any of your regulatory questions.

• Walmart Health Expansion: Walmart Health is looking to double its footprint by opening 28 new locations through 2024. The plans would see the clinic’s total footprint climb to 75 locations as it enters two new states (Missouri and Arizona) and deepens its presence in Texas with further expansion into Dallas and Houston. The move follows the retail giant’s recent 10-year agreement with UnitedHealth Group to deliver care to seniors in MA plans. 

• Wavering CEO Confidence: Healthcare CEO confidence in their teams and industry is wavering, according to a large survey of 4.4k CEOs by management consulting firm Korn Ferry. Only 42% of healthcare CEOs believe that their business will remain economically viable over the next decade unless they adjust their model (vs. 40% across all industries), and just 66% of CEOs have confidence in their executive leadership teams to make that happen (down from 74% in 2021).

• Let’s Meet at ViVE: The conference circuit’s new kid on the block – ViVE – is gearing up for its Nashville debut on March 26 – March 29, 2023. If anyone on your team is attending in person, we’d love to sit down and hear about the latest and greatest. Special shoutout to one of our readers for showing us that being trendy doesn’t happen by accident, it takes a 58-page brand guide. Respond to this email if you want to set up some time! 

• Current Health Momentum: Best Buy revealed through its Q4 earnings call that its Current Health care-at-home business closed out its best commercial booking year ever, and that it’s now partnered with 5 of the 10 largest US health systems including Geisinger, Mount Sinai Health System, and NYU Langone Health. Over the next year, Best Buy expects Current Health revenue growth to outpace its core electronics retailing operations as it leans into remote patient monitoring and chronic condition management.

• Bioimpedance Pacemaker Interference: New research published in Heart Rhythm suggests that cardiac patients with a pacemaker might want to think twice before stepping on a smart scale. The bioimpedance technology that’s gaining popularity as a way to estimate body composition in consumer products showed evidence of interference with pacing electrodes across all three devices studied – smart scales, smart watches, smart rings – leading the researchers to recommend avoiding all three for that patient population.

• Evernorth Adds Brightline: Cigna’s Evernorth benefits arm is bringing Brightline into its network to advance family behavioral health services. Brightline’s mental health platform is purpose-built for children, teens, and their families, including virtual therapy, psychiatry, and coaching. The partnership is a major victory for the teletherapy startup, expanding its reach to 60M+ lives across all 50 states between Evernorth’s employer clients and Cigna’s health plans.   

• BetterNight Scores $33M: BetterNight secured $33M in funding (total raised $52.6M) to add new partnerships with physician practices, health systems, and payors as it aims to expand access to value-based sleep care. BetterNight’s virtual platform provides a full continuum of care for patients with sleep disorders such as sleep apnea or insomnia, supporting them with everything from consultation to diagnosis and long term treatment.

• RPM Adoption Up 1,294%: The adoption of remote patient monitoring skyrocketed 1,294% from January 2019 to November 2022, according to a recent report from Definitive Healthcare. Adoption unsurprisingly appears to be led by providers managing patients with chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, with 29% of internal medicine physician procedure claims related to RPM, followed closely by cardiologists (21%) and family practice physicians (19%).

• Neuralink Human Trials Blocked: Brain-computer interfaces might have to hold off for a while after the FDA blocked Neuralink’s clinical trial application over concerns about the brain implant’s lithium battery and its ability to be removed safely. The Elon Musk-founded company is “working to address the concerns” after originally reporting in November that it would enter human trials within six months.

Innovation Starts With Listening to Nurses

Nurses are the most valuable players in the healthcare system. Their wisdom and dedication serves as a constant reminder for what’s possible in healthcare when we listen. Check out the connectRN virtual experience to hear 10 powerful stories from nurses who want to disrupt the industry.

Clear Arch Health Unlocks Turnkey Virtual Care

Clear Arch Health’s turnkey remote patient monitoring and PERS solutions are fully customizable to meet the unique needs of every organization. Discover how Clear Arch Health is helping hospitals, physicians groups, and home health agencies effectively manage patient care – whenever and wherever it’s needed.