Health IT

Iora Health raises $100M with plans to double number of Medicare patients it serves

The funding comes as competition for the Medicare population by startup and growth-stage companies intensifies, not only from other technology-led healthcare organizations like Iora but also from the likes of CVS Health and more established companies like CareMore.

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Iora Health, a company that seeks to reduce the number of emergency room admissions and hospital readmissions for Medicare patients by changing the way primary care is delivered to its customers, has closed a $100 million Series E round. The funding comes as competition between startup and growth-stage companies targeting the Medicare patient population intensifies. The competition is not only coming from other technology-led healthcare organizations like Iora but also from national retailers such as CVS Health moving more aggressively into healthcare and from more mature companies like CareMore.

Case in point: Earlier this year, former Iora Chief Medical Officer Marc-David Munk moved over to CVS Health to take on a similar role as the head of its Minute Clinics. The national chain is seeking to transform itself through its pending acquisition of Aetna and taking on the challenge of helping people with chronic conditions manage their health better.

Among the investors in the Series E round are .406 Ventures, Devonshire Investors, F-Prime Capital, Flare Capital Partners, GE Ventures, Humana, Khosla Ventures, Polaris Partners and Temasek.

The new funding will go towards the company’s expansion but it will also be invested in Iora’s Chirp care coordination software. Chirp helps Iora assess the needs of individuals and the collective needs of its patient population, according to a spokeswoman in response to emailed questions. Since the program’s rollout, it has been refined to include natural language processing for risk adjustment improvements, gaining HITRUST Certification, and enhancing care gap management at the point of care, the spokeswoman said.

On the expansion front, Iora currently has 24 practices in seven states and last year the business doubled the number of patients it serves.

“We expect to do the same in 2018 and will also be adding practices in some of our existing markets as well as new markets,” the spokeswoman said. She added that the healthcare organization will be more specific about expansion plans this summer.

Iora previously raised a $75 million Series D round in 2016 in part to support a westward expansion that saw the Boston-based business add practices in Arizona, Colorado, and Washington State through an agreement with Humana.

Photo: StockFinland, Getty Images

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