Telemedicine

Cigna, HCSC and others invest $50M in telehealth company MDLive

The two health insurance giants and firm Health Velocity Capital led the round for the Sunrise, Florida organization. Novo Holdings A/S and Industry Ventures also participated.

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Telemedicine company MDLive has secured a $50 million growth investment led by Cigna, Health Care Service Corporation and Health Velocity Capital. Novo Holdings A/S and Industry Ventures also participated.

Via email, MDLive CEO Rich Berner said the funding will enable the company to “both continue our focus on providing a world-class consumer and clinician experience and accelerate the development growth of our existing health service offerings, which include behavioral, dermatological and medical consultations as well as launch new offerings to help manage chronic conditions more proactively and predictably.”

Patients can use the Sunrise, Florida-based company’s service to get virtual visits with physicians, counselors, psychiatrists and dermatologists.

Berner noted that MDLive is also scaling its business by adding solutions like Sophie, an artificial intelligence-powered health assistant, which it unveiled last year.

The fact that this investment comes partially from two health insurance giants is “a testament to their belief in MDLive as well as their belief that more and more of the care provided in the future is going virtual,” Berner said. He added that Health Velocity Capital, a firm with offices in San Francisco and Brentwood, Tennessee, brings a broad network and telemedicine expertise to the table.

As far as what’s next for the Florida company, Berner pointed to building the team and adding more virtual care offerings to its platform. Additionally, the organization plans to work on Sophie’s abilities in the realms of predictive health management and intelligent routing.

Though MDLive’s funding news is a win for telemedicine, a recent Deloitte survey found telehealth adoption is lagging among physicians. The survey, which included responses from 624 primary care and specialty care doctors, revealed only 14 percent said they have video visit capabilities. Only 18 percent of the rest of doctors plan to add such tools within the next year or two. When asked about their low interest in virtual care technologies, physicians cited worries about potential medical errors and concerns about maintaining patients’ private information.

Photo: anilakkus, Getty Images

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