Health IT, Patient Engagement

Zillion CEO: Engagement is the most over-used and under-delivered word in healthcare (Updated)

Zillion has raised a $28 million Series C round led by TwinFocus Capital Partners.

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This post has been updated with additional quotes from Zillion CEO and Chairman Jim Boyle. 

Zillion, a health IT company that has positioned itself in the increasingly crowded patient engagement market as a company that can change the structure of patient engagement platforms, has raised a $28 million Series C round, according to a news release. The priorities are product development and customer base expansion.

TwinFocus Capital Partners led the round, marking the company’s first institutional capital. To date, the company has raised $35 million, including funding from angel investors, Zillion CEO and Chairman Jim Boyle said in response to emailed questions.

In the release, referencing the increasingly crowded patient engagement market, Boyle shared the observation that many companies still use outmoded communication tools for an area that required a more sophisticated approach.

“Engagement is the most over-used and under-delivered word in healthcare. Despite widespread interest in digital health programs, telephonic outreach is still the norm – resulting in vast inefficiencies across the continuum of care. Zillion’s solution is all about providing a better way of communicating live and a more efficient vehicle to increase engagement, create social networks and virtualize content to deliver optimal patient care and achieve desired outcomes.”

Its target customers, which include self-insured employers, payers, medical device companies and others, can harness its platform to provide live video presentations or tutorials to support healthcare goals on a one-on-basis or for a group. Zillion can also aggregate members’ data from the fitness trackers and smartphone apps and analyze it so that participants can track their progress towards healthcare goals. The company also provides analysis to customers so they can track the effectiveness of these programs.

The funding will be used to boost sales, business development and the addition of more customer-facing resources as it continues to add new customers to its platform.

“We also plan to use the funds to explore new strategic partnerships with participants across the healthcare spectrum,” Boyle said.

Earlier this year, the company added UnitedHealth and Apollo Endosurgery as partners.

More hires are planned as well, with a goal of growing its employee ranks by 20 percent to 30 percent. It currently has 50 staff split between its Norwalk, Connecticut and Boston offices. Boyle said it plans to hire across sales, marketing, business development and other customer-facing roles principally.

“We are always looking to add outstanding technology expertise,” he added.

In an interview earlier this year, Zillion Founder and Chief Innovation Officer Bill Van Wyck said some of the areas its programs cover include orthopedic and bariatric surgery and prenatal care, with programs changing as care needs evolve from pre-surgery prep to the procedure to recovery.

The patient engagement market was valued at more than $6.6 billion last year and is expected to grow to $16.4 billion by 2020.

Photo: Bigstock Photo

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