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Praia Series A | Hospital M&A Boost
September 30, 2024
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Together with
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“Health systems are basically at an inflection point – the trusted connection between the health system and health consumers is at its most vulnerable in an increasingly competitive, distributed and decentralized environment.”
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Providence SVP of Product and Technology Andy Chu
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The ink is officially dry on Providence-spinout Praia Health’s $20M Series A fundraise, and we couldn’t have asked for a better frame up of the startup’s potential impact than SignalFire’s investment memo on why it co-led the round.
Praia Health is helping hospitals avoid the commoditized care caravan by enabling the creation of consumer profiles that extend beyond the medical record, allowing them to recreate the “digital flywheels” enjoyed by other industries.
- These flywheels have been hindered by healthcare’s reliance on the legacy architectures and closed-system constraints of the EHR, which fails to incorporate the behaviors happening outside of medical encounters that drive a lion’s share of health outcomes.
Here’s how Praia enters the picture:
- The first step is a “lift and shift” to Praia’s Secure Patient Identity Service that enables a single sign-on for all of a system’s digital experiences (branded apps, portals, etc.).
- Praia’s PersonStore then marries those patient profiles with consumer data, synchronizing the EHR to connect-the-dots between outside data and outcomes.
- The SPI and PersonStore capabilities lay the groundwork to link Praia’s growing partner ecosystem into ecommerce-like experiences that emphasize patient satisfaction and loyalty – critical priorities for C-suites grappling with margin pressure and patient attrition.
SignalFire’s history on the patient engagement evolution highlights the leap in Praia’s approach:
- Gen 1: Unidirectional patient notifications primarily focused on scheduling marked the first step in delivering healthcare info through more accessible channels like SMS.
- Gen 2: Bidirectional communication transformed medical interactions by giving patients the ability to respond to provider messages.
- Gen 3: Omnichannel engagement with tech-enabled interactions and seamless integrations let patients perform tasks like rescheduling appointments with options pulled from the provider’s practice management software.
- Gen 4: Praia Health’s breakthrough – an AI-powered patient engagement suite and automated actions driven by deep EHR integration to connect all data sources and orchestrate the end-to-end patient experience.
The Takeaway
The healthcare industry is at a well-traveled crossroads, facing the same challenges as the banking sector encountered with the rise of online services. Just as fintech companies disrupted banking with fine tuned experiences and lower costs, digital health startups are going after health systems’ lowest hanging service lines with the same promises. Praia gives providers a way to fight back with the tried-and-true digital flywheels that have so-far been out of reach.
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RPM Made Easy with a User-Friendly Platform
Seamlessly integrate Withings RPM with your existing EHR system and empower your care team to focus on what matters most – patient care.
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Navigate the Future of Healthcare AI at Elevate
Join Medallion at Elevate on October 30th and experience the top minds in healthcare coming together to share bold ideas and connect in an informal, down-to-business setting. This was hands-down the best virtual conference we attended last year, and the lineup for 2024 is packed with execs from orgs like from VillageMD, Multiplan, and Community Health Systems. Take advantage of Elevate by registering here.
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Join the Nabla Team!
Nabla is expanding its team, and it’s on the lookout for an exceptional VP of Sales to bring aboard. This role will be instrumental in shaping the go-to-market efforts of a company dedicated to bringing joy back to the practice of medicine. Learn more and apply here.
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- One-Time Boost From Hospital M&A: A study in the Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics tracked post-acquisition hospital performance between 2013 and 2017, finding that independent hospitals acquired by health systems cut an average of $11.2M in annual operating costs. In contrast, no reductions were found at system-owned hospitals acquired by other systems, suggesting that “the system does a pretty good job of optimizing human resources” when first acquiring independent hospitals, but future transactions don’t have the same benefit. Good food for thought for antitrust regulators.
- Zing Raises $140M for Specialized MA Plans: Zing Health locked in $140M to expand access to its chronic special needs focused Medicare Advantage plans to more beneficiaries and continue integrating its member experience with new providers. Zing currently has about 13k members across three states, 63% of which are enrolled in C-SNP plans tailored to specific conditions. Although C-SNP plans represent a thin slice of the overall MA market, Zing’s nine-figure growth round reflects optimism for the segment following a 36% membership boom in 2024.
- Brightline Rethinks Employer Focus: Brightline is restructuring its pediatric mental health business from a virtual employer-focused model to a strategy honed in on key markets where it will open in-person clinics to drive more awareness through partnerships with local providers and schools. The decision to pivot was made despite Brightline adding over 400 employers from 2021 to 2023, highlighting the difficulty in translating top-line employer growth to actual new users and solution adoption.
- Denials on the Rise: As the struggle with claim denials continues to escalate, Experian Health’s State of Claims survey found that 3 in 4 providers believe denials have increased by ~31% over the last two years. The main culprits were pinned on missing or inaccurate data (46%), authorizations (36%), and inaccurate patient information (30%). More surprisingly, the percentage of physicians using automation and AI dropped from 62% in 2022 to 31% in 2024, a hard to believe stat that was tied to a plummeting number of physicians feeling very confident in their ability to understand AI as they got more exposure to the tech.
- Hinge Gears Up for IPO: Virtual MSK powerhouse Hinge Health is reportedly in talks with investment bankers as it gears up for its long-awaited IPO in early 2025. Business Insider got the scoop on Hinge’s plans to file its S-1 in the coming weeks, which will reveal how much Hinge will be looking to raise after being last valued at $6.2B in 2021. Since then, Hinge has streamlined its operations and crossed into positive margin territory, setting it up for what could be a blockbuster IPO that gives the green light to other companies like Sword, Lyra, and Datavant that have been eagerly eyeing their own public debuts.
- What Makes GLP-1s So Effective? If you’ve been curious how GLP-1s seem to be delivering clinical benefits for so many different health conditions, Nature has you covered with a deep dive on the mechanisms driving their effectiveness across everything from alcoholism to Parkinson’s. Although new clinical trials are kicking off to pin down the exact pathways to each benefit, the article does a great job laying out how the drugs are thought to activate areas in the brain associated with appetite, motivation, and movement.
- Patients Turn to Telehealth for Quicker Access: A KeyCare consumer survey found that 75% of patients prefer telehealth for most minor issues, citing reasons such as less travel (73%), quicker access to care (67%), and avoiding exposure to other sick people (54%). For preventive, specialty, and chronic care, over 63% still preferred telehealth unless an in-office visit was first available. That said, 73% of respondents had used virtual urgent care in the past year, compared to far fewer turning to telehealth for preventative care (33%), behavioral health (32%), and specialty care (14%).
- Suki Adds A Dozen New Systems: Suki is deploying its voice AI assistant at over a dozen new health systems on Meditech Expanse, including St. Mary’s Healthcare and Decatur County Memorial Hospital. Meditech is the third largest EHR vendor (13% market share) with a customer base of mostly smaller practices / rural systems, and has been working with Suki since late 2023 to integrate AI documentation and dictation capabilities into the latest web-based version of its EHR.
- AI Can Reduce Fraud, Waste, and Abuse: A new study in NEJM Catalyst looked into the potential of AI for combating fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA). After using Health at Scale’s AI to screen 2.6M claims, 0.1% were flagged for FWA, which was followed by a clinical review and a physician-led adjudication for appropriateness. Over half (54%) of flagged cases were adjudicated for a reduced amount, resulting in a $3,914 average reduction per claim and a 1.2% lower overall spend.
- J&J’s Cardiometabolic Shutdown: Reports from Endpoint News suggest that Johnson & Johnson is shutting down its cardiovascular and metabolic pharma unit, with layoffs hitting employees across business development, marketing, and medical affairs. Although speculative, the shutdown might be related to J&J’s blockbuster anticoagulant Xarelto’s patents expiring in mid-November. Meanwhile, J&J Medtech is clearly still looking to grow its cardiovascular footprint, after making some of the segment’s biggest acquisitions of the last few years.
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A First Principles Approach to Responsible AI
Playback Health has over 15 years of experience breaking down complicated technology problems into basic elements then reassembling new solutions from the ground up, and just published a short-and-sweet guide to help others take a “first principles approach” to responsible AI.
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High-Quality Care at Patient Fingertips
K Health is making high-quality medical care a reality for patients everywhere by turning their smartphones into the first stop along their care journey. Discover how K Health’s clinical-grade AI is reducing time-to-treatment and improving the patient experience while allowing more providers to practice at the top of their license.
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Bridging Care Gaps for Underserved Populations
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