Grand Rounds a care coordination business that counts employers and hospitals among its customers, has raised a $55 million Series C round to add new staff and virtual care tools to improve hospitals’ contact with patients between visits. Co-founder and CEO Owen Tripp explained its approach in a phone interview with MedCity News.
A global mutual fund investor made its first investment in the company. Returning investors included Greylock, Venrock, Harrison Metal and David Ebersman. To date the company has raised $106 million, according to a company statement.
Grand Rounds connects patients to a pool of physicians from 115 institutions based on patients’ needs. It helps employers evaluate physicians based on their adherence to best practice and performance measures. The idea is that by being choosier about the physicians they use, employers can better control their considerable healthcare costs. Castlight Health is one of its partners.
This fall, Tripp said it plans to add virtual care across three areas:
- Patients considering a medical intervention but want to have their case reviewed by a center for medical excellence;
- Improving contact between patients who have recently undergone a procedure and their physician;
- Providing telemedicine for patients with serious conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease who live in rural areas.
In an indication of what the third program might look like, Tripp noted that Dr Ray Dorsey has a seat on its medical advisory board. The co-director of the Center for Human Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center has said that telehealth can improve access to specialists for Parkinson’s disease patients. Tripp added that the hospitals it works with have indicated they would be supportive of these programs. It plans to announce its first set of partners this fall. It will also work with payers.
