Providing a network where payers, pharmaceutical companies and health systems can interact with physicians is an increasingly valuable asset as Quantia is finding. The company’s social learning and networking platform for physicians, QuantiaMD, which reaches about 200,000 doctors in the U.S., has raised fresh capital. It will help the business diversify and deliver more complex learning and marketing tools to conform with the demands of the Affordable Care Act
Quantia has raised $10 million in a Series B round led by Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE: SFE). Fuse Capital and other investors contributed $2.5 million, according to a company statement. Its $7.5 million investment gives Safeguard two seats on the board which Gary Kurtzman, the managing director for healthcare and Jim O’Connell, a principal for healthcare, will fill.
It’s been a little more than a year since Mike Coyne took over as CEO of Quantia. He has helped nearly double the size of the network and recently signed its first contract with a health system. He said the funds will go towards supporting a sales and marketing campaign to attract more health systems and diversify its product offer. “The technology platform is very scalable and could grow quickly,” said Coyne.
The newest offering by the company is a platform in which health systems use scenarios to illustrate how physicians can initiate conversations to encourage patients to change their behavior and improve outcomes. One health system, for example, is working with Quantia on a version of this program for smoking cessation. It’s designed to address the frustrating dilemma that physicians are faced with: how to have a meaningful conversation with the patient when a behavior change is needed, given the relatively short amount of time they have with them. Other variations of this program include colorectal screening and diabetes care.
It’s a challenge for health systems and payers to effectively communicate policy changes, program changes and best practices to their networks of physicians. But as provisions of the Affordable Care Act are implemented, health systems and payers are under pressure to align physicians around new payment and care models.
“Regardless of the contentious relationship health plans have had with doctors, they have a lot of information that could lead to more positive outcomes,” Coyne said. “To the extent that they can get that information to doctors in a way that they historically have not, we really think we can influence positive changes in behavior.”
Pharmaceutical companies have been a key source of revenue for Quantia since its start in 2006, as they want to ensure they reach their target market with the roughly $30 billion they shell out on marketing to physicians each year.
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.
“Pharma is certainly our core market and we have not even scratched the surface of it,” said Coyne. “That said… we could see the health systems becoming a fairly important part of our revenue stack.”
In a phone conversation Kurtzman explained why it made the investment.”This company is growing, self-sustaining and profitable. In the healthcare IT world, there’s a lot of stuff out there that has a questionable ability to gain traction in the marketplace. Quantia has the traction.”
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
