Medicomp Systems Director of Strategy James Aita

Remote Care

Care-at-Home Enabler MedArrive Closes $8M

Care-at-home enabler MedArrive is pedal-to-the-metal after closing an $8M growth round to accelerate its expansion into new markets.

MedArrive got its start in Redesign Health’s startup studio, powering care-at-home programs for payors and providers by integrating physician-led telemedicine with in-person care from EMS professionals.

• The three-year-old company is led by CEO Dan Trigub, former Head of Uber Health, who was drawn to the company’s mission of helping vulnerable populations while simultaneously improving healthcare workforce utilization.

To accomplish that goal, MedArrive leverages a national network of over 50k EMS professionals to reach Medicaid or dual-eligible beneficiaries with complex needs.

• That’s a pretty impressive network given the age of the company, and MedArrive built it by working with local EMS agencies to access their excess capacity then drive volume through its payor partnerships. 

These field providers handle everything from health assessments to complex condition monitoring, and the in-home presence also opens the door for SDOH interventions like transportation, mobility, or nutrition assistance.

• Although EMS professionals can’t diagnose patients or do HCT coding, MedArrive connects those dots through telemedicine-enabled physician oversight, as well as its own team of social workers, case managers, and nurse practitioners.

All of those services are offered as a white-labeled platform that helps payors and providers engage their hardest-to-reach patients, frequently high utilizers that rely on the ED to fill care gaps.

• That’s extended even further through partnerships where MedArrive provides the last-mile component to companies like Brave Health (behavioral needs) and Ouma Health (maternal care).

The Takeaway

Despite a difficult funding backdrop, MedArrive now has a longer runway to keep expanding its EMS network as it pushes into new markets. MedArrive’s platform gives it a sturdy frame for adding more capabilities through partnerships, and the focus is now on demonstrating its results to differentiate its approach from competing offerings.

A Flexible Prescription for Nurses

connectRN was founded to give nurses “radical flexibility,” with schedules that are crafted around their lifestyles, priorities, and personal needs. Check out connectRN’s feature in Fast Company to see how the future of healthcare is being built together with nurses.

Connect With Synapse Medicine at HIMSS23

Synapse Medicine makes it easy to connect your providers to the drug data and prescribing support they need in their everyday practice. If you’ll be at HIMSS23 next week, make sure to swing by booth #4467 to get an in-person demo and see how Synapse’s clinical decision support solutions can help your providers and their patients optimize drug regimens along the entire care journey.

Creating an Exceptional Engagement Experience

With a surge in experience‑oriented disruptors entering the healthcare industry, patient engagement is becoming a crucial competitive differentiator. Get your copy of Nuance’s guide to  delivering intelligent interactions and a better experience at every touchpoint.

The Wire

• Google AI in Healthcare: An AI update on Google’s blog revealed that it’s opening access to its Med-PaLM 2 large language model to let a select group of Google Cloud customers explore use cases and test features. Google also announced an AI-enabled Claims Acceleration Suite designed to streamline prior authorization and claims processing. The tool leverages Google’s Claims Data Activator to convert unstructured patient data into a usable format, with Blue Shield of California already signing on as an early adopter.

• care.ai + Google Cloud: While we’re on the topic, care.ai’s Smart Care Facility Platform is now available on the Google Cloud Marketplace. The Smart Care Facility Platform uses ambient sensors spread within hospitals and nursing homes to record data such as bed exits and falls without requiring patients to wear a device, removing a big source of friction for many virtual nursing or sitting programs. Check out our coverage of care.ai’s recent $27M raise for more info on the platform.

• Digital Asthma Care: A 32-week study of 213 asthma patients in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine suggests that a digital approach to medication management could lead to significant cost reductions in asthma care. The active group (medication adjustments informed by smart inhaler data on exhale volume and usage) improved their medication adherence and was less likely to require corticosteroids, leading to an average cost reduction of over €3k per patient compared to a control group with medication adjustments informed by pharmacy refills and questionnaires.

• Spring Raises $71M: Behavioral health benefits startup Spring Health secured $71M to build out its B2B platform for employers and health plans that offers online therapy, coaching, and a guided exercise app. The new capital lifts Spring’s valuation to $2.5B just 18 months after it closed a $190M Series C round at a $2B valuation, likely indicating that the revenue multiple came down a bit considering Spring mentioned doubling its headcount and expanding its coverage to over 5M lives in 2022.

• Amazon Bedrock Launch: Not to let Google steal all the spotlight, Amazon announced new Amazon Bedrock tools for building generative AI applications on AWS. Amazon Bedrock gives users access to several different foundation models to address their needs (chatbots, summarization, image generation) without having to manage any infrastructure. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s annual investor letter also included a brief glimpse into its healthcare ambitions, which described One Medical’s patient-focused experience as “an excellent foundation upon which to build our future business.”

• Blood Pressure’s Dementia Link: A JAMA Network Open study revealed a link between early-life hypertension and later-life brain health, giving providers yet another reason to keep an eye on blood pressure. Researchers performed brain MRI exams on 427 adults older than 50, finding that those who had hypertension when they were young tended to have lower regional brain volumes and poorer white matter integrity. The findings are in line with other studies showing that modifiable risk factors early in life can lead to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

• 98point6 Locks in $32M: Just weeks after offloading its care delivery assets to Transcarent, 98point6 closed $32M to assist with its transition from care delivery to tech licensing. 98point6’s newly refined solution suite includes automated case assignment, EHR data integration, patient-provider communication, care plan automation, and clinical documentation. As for the funding, 98point6 CEO Jay Burrell told Axios that they’d rather acquire than build the missing pieces of a provider offering, such as RPM and long-term scheduling capabilities.

• Suki Assistant Gen 2: Suki just debuted a massive overhaul to its Suki Assistant that introduced ambient note generation to its flagship voice assistant. Suki Assistant Gen 2 uses generative AI to auto-generate clinical notes from physician-patient interactions before allowing clinicians to edit or approve the final note. Suki differentiates its solution by packaging ambient note generation, dictation, and command functionality within a single EHR-integrated platform.

• More Burnout Evidence: A new study of over 43k healthcare workers suggests that about half are burned out, with nurses (56%), other clinical staff (54%), and physicians (47%) posting the highest burnout rates. The researchers moved the conversation forward by proposing a more standardized approach to burnout that focuses on workload – which other studies have found to be a leading cause of work stress.

• Arcadia Strategic Financing: Data analytics company Arcadia secured $125M in strategic financing from Vista Credit Partners to help healthcare organizations aggregate and analyze their siloed data to improve patient care. Arcadia generated over $1.3B in savings through its MSSP service in 2022, and Vista is looking to continue that momentum by backing its financing with its support ecosystem for scaling enterprise software businesses.

• Implicity Targets AF Monitoring Fatigue: Remote cardiac monitoring startup Implicity launched a new algorithm designed to reduce providers’ alert fatigue when monitoring patients with atrial fibrillation – addressing a major pain point for AI-based triage and monitoring solutions. Implicity’s AF Alert Management tool reduces alerts for low-risk patients who are taking anticoagulants, while triggering and prioritizing provider alerts when more significant changes and events are detected.

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.

Better Diabetes Management With Glooko

Glooko’s diabetes management platform transforms the way patients connect with their providers, driving better engagement, adherence, and ultimately outcomes. Take a look at Glooko’s latest clinical studies to see how their platform is driving sustained improvements for people with diabetes.

Successful RPM Through End-to-End Support

From needs assessments and program deployment to security enhancements and call center monitoring, Clear Arch Health offers fully customizable support services to help you get the most from your RPM solution.