CHICAGO, Illinois — Rise Health Inc. has raised $1.5 million in equity for its primary care physician support services, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Seeking to help ease the burdens of the U.S. primary care shortage, Rise contracts with physicians to provide operational and clinical support services, such as assisting with patient care and data management. “Working under the direction of its client practices’ physicians, Rise assumes primary responsibility for routine, lower-level administrative and clinical activities, freeing physicians to ‘practice at the top of their licenses,'” the company says.
A company representative didn’t return a call.
Behavioral Health, Interoperability and eConsent: Meeting the Demands of CMS Final Rule Compliance
In a webinar on April 16 at 1pm ET, Aneesh Chopra will moderate a discussion with executives from DocuSign, Velatura, and behavioral health providers on eConsent, health information exchange and compliance with the CMS Final Rule on interoperability.
Rise boasts an impressive array of executives, including President Forrest Claypool, former chief of staff to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and chief executive of the Chicago Parks District. Claypool also founded a media consulting firm with David Axelrod, a key adviser to President Obama. Rise Chairman Eric Langshur founded CarePages Inc., a social networking site for people coping with illness.
It’s unclear from whom Rise pulled in the $1.5 million investment, though the company’s Web site says it “enjoys a close relationship with its primary financial supporter Sante Ventures,” an Austin, Texas-based early stage health investor. Sante’s Web site doesn’t list Rise as a portfolio company, however. Sante’s past investments include CarePages, Wisconsin-based radiation therapy company, TomoTherapy Inc. and Birmingham, Ala.-based imaging company, Emageon Inc.
A Sante spokeswoman declined comment.
Rise was formerly known as Optizend Inc. and has not previously filed any documents with the SEC. The company has no revenue, according to the filing.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
