Patient Engagement

Solera Health raises $4M as it prepares to expand diabetes prevention program marketplace

Solera added social impact fund SJF Ventures to its investors. BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners and Sandbox Industries also took part in the round.

Brenda SchmidtSolera Health, a digital health business that has built a marketplace of diabetes prevention programs, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid recently agreed to reimburse, has raised a $4 million Series A1 round led by a new investor. The fundraise comes as the company plans to expand its marketplace into other chronic conditions such as hypertension and depression next year

Investors for the round included one new to Solera — SJF Ventures, a social impact fund. BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners and Sandbox Industries also took part. Last fall, Solera closed a $3 million Series A round. Its total capital raise amounts to $7 million.

In a phone interview, CEO Brenda Schmidt said it planned to use the latest capital raise to drive up engagement and participation in preventive diabetes programs.
“Nobody has engaged patients at this scale,” she said. It will also go towards adding account management staff. It has added 20 jobs since November and expects to add another 20 more. They will support a network of DPP providers to make sure they are delivering that program in the most effective way.

“We are launching program for large national employers and federal employers
within 10 miles of 90 percent of the U.S. population.”

Schmidt emphasized the need for digital and non digital options to fit the varied base of members and ensure they are matched with programs that will help them succeed.

“If I am a 40 year-old female whose primary goal is weight loss and would like to go to a community organization that allows for a flexible schedule, I would go to Weight Watchers. If I am a 30 year-old man and I don’t like group interaction but prefer one-on-one support, I would send them to Lark digital. Maybe I need a clinical chaperone, etc. Those things all come into play. Member choice is critical. So is patient access”

As Schmidt notes, there are nearly 1,000 diabetes prevention program providers. “It’s not an efficient marketplace and that is really where we saw opportunities, reducing the barrier to scale for patients to find the program best suited to them.

So how does it go about vetting these programs? The program needs to be financially stable and have evidence of efficacy, said Schmidt. They need to be able to differentiate themselves from the other diabetes prevention programs  and demonstrate they can be a good partner.
“Then we send a small cohort of patients to them and monitor their outcomes. If they meet our standards for fidelity and engagement and outcomes, then they become a full participant.”

Looking ahead, Schmidt said the addition of SJF Ventures is a significant milestone because it will add a different perspective as it extends its marketplace into other chronic conditions. It plans to move into hypertension in the first quarter of 2017.Behavioral health, particularly stress and depression are the kind of conditions that can have a decisive factor in patient adherence.

Photo: Flickr/Martin Abegglin

Shares0
Shares0