Top Story, Health IT, Startups

Picwell raises $3M as interest in health insurance decision support picks up steam

The company's venture backers for a previous funding round include include MassMutual Ventures and Osage University Partners.

By Stephanie Baum on December 29, 2015

Picwell, a healthcare startup that seeks to guide customers to the most appropriate health insurance options using predictive analytics, has raised $3 million, according to a Form D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It marks its second fundraise this year, having raised $4 million in July, according to Technically Philly.

The company provides its plan decision support products through collaborations with retail pharmacies, payers, self-insured employers, exchanges and brokers. For individuals picking a health plan, it uses predictive analytics to come up with options based on answers to questions covering projected costs, risk tolerance, lifestyle preferences and behavioral patterns. Another tool geared to Human Resources professionals seeks to optimize subsidies that companies provide employees using specific goals such as minimizing costs or improving employee welfare. It also provides consulting services to its clients.

It claims that its decision support tools can help save customers 20 percent on their total healthcare spending by helping them make better choices.

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Although Picwell has been around since 2012, many companies have moved into this space. With the Affordable Care Act requiring individuals to buy insurance or face fines, entrepreneurs see an opportunity to provide a way to guide people who are unaccustomed to navigating health insurance plans or making tough choices about the advantages and disadvantages of one plan over another.

Among its venture investors are MassMutual Ventures, which led a financing round in July, and Osage University Partners. Some of its angel investors come from Tenet Healthcare and Humana, specifically:

  • Trevor Fetter, the chairman and CEO of Tenet Healthcare;
  • Paul Kusserow, CEO of Amedisys, and former chief strategy officer of Humana and senior vice president of corporate strategy and ventures of Tenet Healthcare; and
  • Bruce Perkins, Humana’s former president of health and well-being services.

Some of the other startups seeking to carve a niche in the area of health insurance literacy and steering consumers to make smarter insurance decisions include Stride Health, Sherpaa, Lumity, and HoneyInsured.

Photo: Big Stock Photo