Forward Health Group, a population health IT company based in Madison, Wisconsin, has raised $5 million in in its first major financing round since its start in 2009. In a phone interview with MedCity News, founder and CEO Michael Barbouche said it received institutional funding from healthcare focused venture firm Triple Tree Capital Partners in Minnesota, along with angel investors and a not-for-profit foundation.
Barbouche said the funding would be used to support growth and eventually a planned expansion into analytics tools. Currently, its software aggregates disparate clinical and administrative data to help hospitals, associations, clinics visualize their data through a flagship product called PopulationManager.
He notes that because the company was revenue positive right away and takes a lean approach, it didn’t require venture funding that his heavily funded competitors have used.
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Barbouche likens the effect of its software to helping hospitals take a long hard look in the mirror so they can clearly spot gaps in their care. It allows institutions to zoom in on patients and zoom out and compare physician performance and also address things like supply, strategy and revenue.
In addition to hospital and health systems, Forward Health collaborates with the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society and American Diabetes Association through a program called Guideline Advantage. Its technology powers the program, which provides a service for physician practices by giving them snapshopts of their patient population by condition and shows physicians how they score. The idea is support healthcare groups with the momentous challenge of moving from a fee-for-service care model to payment based on performance and patient outcomes.
Barbouche said the first major test of its technology was the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality, a public institution that tracks performance measures for health systems in the state for chronic conditions and preventive care and dates back to 2004. He was the director of strategic initiatives for the group.
