Enterprise health navigator Transcarent is buying 98point6’s virtual care platform and related assets. 98point6’s tech is a text-based virtual care platform that uses an AI chatbot to collect and relay health information to a provider. According to CEO Glen Tullman’s interview with Forbes, the assets picked up in addition to the tech include 98point6’s physician group, self-insured employer business, and an irrevocable software license in a deal worth potentially $100 million. This fits in Transcarent’s platform that works with large employers to steer their employees to higher quality, lower cost care settings based on actual users only in risk-based agreements, versus the more common per member per month care management model. 98point6 will continue in a leaner form, licensing its software to third parties, but out of the treatment business. Its major relationship is with MultiCare Health System in Washington state. 98point6 had raised over $260 million from 2015 through a 2020 Series E. Mobihealthnews
Best Buy Health is providing telehealth equipment and installation to North Carolina-based Atrium Health’s hospital-at-home program. In the three-year deal, Best Buy’s Geek Squad will install peripherals based on the patient’s needs, transmitted through a Current Health telehealth mobile connectivity hub and using their software. Terms were naturally not specified, but Atrium is purchasing the devices from Best Buy. The Geek Squad services serve for both installation and retrieval after care. Atrium is paid via insurance including Medicare and Medicaid. Atrium, part of Ascension Health, has 10 hospitals in the program already and is aiming for 100 patients in the program each day. CNBC
VillageMD expands again, adds Starling Physicians in Connecticut. Starling has 30 primary care and multi-specialty practices, including cardiology, ophthalmology, endocrinology, and geriatric care. VillageMD’s total is now over 700 locations. Transaction costs were not disclosed. VillageMD has been on an acquisition tear, powered by Walgreens’ and Evernorth-Cigna funding for Summit Health, Family and Internal Medicine Associates in central Kentucky, and Dallas (Texas) Internal Medicine and Geriatric Specialists. HealthcareFinance, Healthcare Dive.
WW (the former Weight Watchers) has an agreement to acquire Sequence, a subscription telehealth platform for clinical weight management. Sequence is targeted to healthcare providers specializing in clinical care, lifestyle modification, and medication management for patients being treated for overweight and obesity. It also manages the navigation of insurance approvals. Terms were not disclosed, but Sequence since going live in 2021 serves 24,000 members and has a $25 million annual revenue run-rate business. WW is building out a clinical weight management pathway and intends to tailor a nutrition program for this segment. Release
UKTelehealthcare has an upcoming digital event, TECS Innovation Showcase 2 on Wednesday 15th March 2023 (10:30-12:30 GMT). Also, there are links to the webinars given during today’s event, TECS Innovation Showcase 1, January’s Analogue to Digital Transformation Update, and several more. Register for the 15 March event and links/passwords for previous events here or click on the UKTelehealthcare advert at the right and go to the Events page. These events concentrate on the analogue-digital switchover and TECS in the UK.
Color, a population health technology company that expanded into Covid-19 testing and later telemental health during the pandemic, is now laying off 300. Their CEO Othman Laraki confirmed in a post on LinkedIn (which seems to be a corporate communications trend) that this reflects decreased demand for Covid testing and the end of the public health emergency. Their future direction will be in distributed testing and telehealth for government programs and prevention tools for employers and large healthcare companies. The CEO’s post included a spreadsheet of the laid-off individuals including links to their LinkedIn profiles and desired positions, another corporate trend in addition to those laid off posting about it almost immediately. It seemed to be heavy on software engineers, data scientists, support leads, and product managers.
The company pivoted from genomics to public health with major Series D and E raises of $167 and $100 million respectively in 2021, totaling $482 million since start in 2014, and was valued at $4.6 billion by November 2021. It bought into behavioral health services with the acquisition of Mood Lifters, an online guided group support system, in 2022. The (happy) decline of Covid is affecting testing-dependent businesses across the board. Lucira Health, which had received a EUA for its combination Covid/flu testing, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in February. Beckers, Mobihealthnews 3 Mar, 27 Feb
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