In particular, platform-enabled ecosystems can be well-aligned to support the transition to value-based care. Here are some examples:
Memora Health is a complex care delivery platform that enables care teams to better monitor and support patients by automating clinical and administrative workflows.4 Memora Health’s platform integrates with electronic medical records, embeds into existing workflows, and provides tools such as remote patient monitoring, scheduling, virtual care, and outcomes management to improve patient and clinician experience. The platform uses natural language processing to automate follow-up communications with enrolled patients and triage care management tasks.
The intelligent, scalable platform allows clinicians to focus on serving patients throughout the entire journey of care in areas including oncology, surgical, gastrointestinal, chronic, maternal and population health. It reduces clinician fatigue by eliminating repetitive manual administrative tasks and reducing the number of patient portal messages that need to be responded to. According to Memora Health, the platform has reduced inbox messages by 40%.5 Additionally, it has led to fewer emergency department visits, increased patient education and screening rates, and improved medication adherence.6
Our assessment of the Platform Principles:
o Underutilized asset: Nurses can spend more time caring for patients.
o Ecosystem delegation: Appropriately delegate tasks to different types of clinicians and administrative departments (e.g., billing) and partner with other patient and clinician experience platforms such as remote patient monitoring systems, billing services, and telehealth tools.
o Modularized Components: Use a single platform to customize the provider experience and provide the ability to toggle care modules on/off.
o Focus on consumer experience: Reduce friction in patient interactions by using text messaging as a convenient and easy form of communication.
o Positive network effects: Enabling clinicians to spend more time with patients, deepening provider-patient relationships and building trust. This enables clinicians to drive interventions that produce better outcomes, reduce costs, and help the health system shift risk.
Transcarent aims to make healthcare simple, accessible, transparent and trustworthy.7 Users can access healthcare information and services at any time through the app. They can connect with a health guide who provides the information and services they need, or they can connect directly with a clinician via text or video. Home and in-person visits are also available, and Transcarent will direct users to vetted physicians.
Transcarent’s merger with BridgeHealth gives users access to leading surgery centers that provide high-quality procedures at contracted rates, but Transcarent also partners with other surgery centers.8 Transcarent also recently announced plans to partially acquire 98point6, an AI-powered primary care startup.9 This will give Transcarent access to 98point6’s physician group and software. Transcarent is offered through select employers and paid based on employer savings, aligning incentives and moving toward value-based care.10 Transcarent claims its platform has reduced unnecessary urgent care and emergency department visits by 40% and reduced hospital readmissions and complications by 80%.11
Our assessment of the Platform Principles:
o Underutilized Asset: Providing multi-modal (virtual, at-home, on-site), asynchronous, convenient care, trusted healthcare knowledge through Health Guide, as well as access to primary care physicians and surgical centers of excellence.
o Ecosystem Mandate: Partner with employers, clinicians, pharmacies, behavioral health, surgical centers of excellence, and chronic disease management apps.
o Modular Components: A single platform is used to triage users, help them navigate and engage with the health system, and address a range of care needs from urgent, primary to specialty care.
o Focus on consumer experience: Users will be able to quickly access care from pre-vetted sources right from their smartphones with the help of a health guide.
o Positive network effects: Understanding which interventions improve health outcomes the most will attract more employers.
Investment firm StartUp Health has funded multiple healthcare moonshots aimed at “accelerating the pace of progress in healthcare innovation.”12 One of its moonshots focuses on access to healthcare and includes startups focused on value-based healthcare, such as Cityblock.13 Cityblock focuses on community-based care for underserved patients using technology-enabled delivery models that include virtual, at-home, and on-site care. By implementing compassionate care to provide medical and behavioral health and addressing drivers of health (social determinants of health), Cityblock has reduced inpatient hospitalization rates, improved quality outcomes, reduced costs, and increased revenue.14
Our assessment of the Platform Principles:
o Underutilized Asset: Providing diverse, compassionate, and comprehensive care.
Ecosystem mandate: Focus on health drivers and behavioral health and collaborate with health plans, community-based organizations (including shelters and food pantries), local providers, and paramedics and EMTs who provide emergency care in the home.15,16
o Modularized components: Leverage a delivery model that leverages unique technologies.
o Focus on consumer experience: Put the patient first. For example, introduce additional specialties during a patient visit rather than scheduling a follow-up appointment.
o Positive network effects: Delivering compassionate care that improves outcomes and reduces costs.
Platform-enabled ecosystems can use data to automate predictions or change care pathways, or even expand beyond their initial core business and shift into disease areas or areas of focus while continuing to improve the experience and deliver value to the end user.
Leading the next step towards a platform-enabled ecosystem future
Investors we interviewed remain optimistic about the future of healthtech, even in the current economic environment. Moreover, they note that companies that survive this period are likely to come out stronger. While market trends may change, especially for individual companies, here are some considerations companies should take into account in the near term:
Macroeconomic concerns may bring even greater scrutiny to companies’ unit economics. Moving into or joining a platform-enabled ecosystem will create more favorable unit economics through a focus on data and partnerships and a continuous learning process. Many health tech companies have historically focused on selling solutions and services to employers.17 With the pressures many health systems are currently facing, startups that can demonstrate a short-term return on investment or mitigate staffing and burnout issues may find that health systems are a potential sales channel. For example, ChristianaCare has partnered with Hims & Hers Health to provide access to services such as mental health and dermatology.18 Intermountain Healthcare is offering virtual diabetes care and prevention through Omada Health to primary care patients in Utah.19 Value-based care is gaining momentum, but the transition may require significant analysis and partnerships. Platform-enabled ecosystems can help ease this transition through the use of data, forming community-based partnerships, and a focus on end users, including clinicians and consumers. Attractive pricing models, especially those that involve low risk for the buyer, can demonstrate confidence in a company’s products and services and help speed up the sales cycle.
Regardless of whether the macroeconomic environment changes in the near future, the healthtech sector is expected to continue to attract investor attention and drive healthcare innovation. However, innovators who already have their hands full bridging business growth with long fundraising cycles and proving value must decide what to focus on and what they can delegate to other stakeholders. As investors and innovators work to transform the existing healthcare system from a treatment-based, reactive care system to one focused on prevention and wellness, as outlined in Deloitte’s The Future of HealthTM vision, platform-enabled ecosystems must remain top of mind.