Health IT, Startups

These digital health deals in 2015 illustrate how the patient experience is evolving

These digital health deals reflect how the view of the patient experience is changing to give patients more convenience and more options.

It was a banner year for digital health startups for the patient experience. An end-of-year roundup report from StartUp Health counted 111 deals in this digital health subsector. They collectively raised $1.3 billion and had an average size of more than $12 million. Here are some of the most interesting deals that reflect the evolution of this digital health segment.

Practo, an India-based company, offers a booking service for healthcare appointments. It raised $90 million in a Series C round in August to support its services not only for physician scheduling but also clinical management. Tencent led the round but other investors include SofinaGoogle Capital, Sequoia India, Altimeter Capital, Matrix Partners, Sequoia Capital Global Equities and Yuri Milner. Practo said it plans to use the funding to increase the number of cities where it has a presence from 35 to 65. It also formed a collaboration with Uber this year. The deal will let users booking an appointment in India, Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia be able to see the closest Uber available when they get a reminder alert for their appointments. The app will inform users how much the estimated fare is, how long it will take Uber to arrive and will also include the destination address at the start of the trip.

Omada Health has garnered a lot of attention for its approach, particularly because of the priority it has put on clinical validation. It raised $48 million in a Series C round this year this year to support its platform to prevent type 2 diabetes, through Web, mobile engagement and counseling efforts based on guidelines from the CMS-run National Diabetes Prevention Program. It added new investors this year including Norwest Venture Partners as well as GE Ventures and dRx Capital. This year it also added patients at risk for cardiovascular disease to its programming efforts. It will also pursue solutions for Medicaid patients.

ZocDoc raised one of the largest funding rounds this year at $130 million. The move is to support an expansion beyond its flagship appointment booking services and will focus on improving the patient experience. Making appointment booking easier has been the kind of low hanging fruit has spurred he development of several companies, both in the US and in BRIC countries such as India and China. Some of the tools companies like these produce have been widely adopted by payers and physician practices. Similar to price comparison tools that was the basis for Castlight Health’s business, ZocDoc has recognized that it needs to add more services to grow its customer base and set it apart from other companies. Another factor that makes this company particularly interesting is there’s been a good deal of speculation about the likelihood of ZocDoc becoming the next digital health IPO. Given that this year saw Fitbit, Teladoc, and Evolent Health it will be interesting to see what happens with this company in 2016.

Doctor on Demand has spent the year aligning its telemedicine business more closely with retailers such as Wegmans and CVS. It raised $50 million and plans to use some of that funding to add non physician staff across technology, operations and marketing support role. CEO Adam Jackson also said that it was interested in expanding the scope of services for chronic conditions and was eyeing med tech companies producing otoscopes, wireless thermometers, blood glucose meters, and blood pressure monitors.

Pager is one of a handful of concierge care companies impacting the patient experience by changing the perception of it and influencing the debate of how to improve it. The business raised $10 million earlier this year. It also solved one of the biggest challenges of concierge care services — how to build a business with a national presence — through a collaboration with staffing agency Evolution Health.

The Medical Memory developed a way for specialist physicians to record appointments with digital video to ensure that patients can call up an entire appointment as well as MRI images, X-rays and other relevant information. Its platform is designed to help patients share these interactions and data with family members. It is symbolic of what several companies in this segment are seeking to do: provide a reference tool to capture an appointment to help patients use that information to make important medical decisions, raise further questions and try to figure out what to do next. It also acknowledges the stress and emotional impact of a serious diagnosis and the challenge of retaining that information for an individual and families when it is delivered. It raised $2.1 million this year for product development and to support a national sales drive.

Photo: Flickr

 

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