After Cardinal Health sold its majority stake in the startup two years ago, naviHealth is trading hands again. The Brentwood, Tennessee-based startup sold to OptumHealth for an undisclosed amount.
Founded in 2012 by former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Tom Scully, naviHealth developed a platform to help health plans and health systems ensure patients are receiving appropriate care after they are discharged from the hospital. The company also acquired a decision-support tool to flag patients at risk of readmission.
NaviHealth currently manages post-acute services for 4.5 million Medicare Advantage members and nine of the top 10 health systems.
Optum confirmed the deal after it was first reported by the Nashville Business Journal on Monday. NaviHealth will remain a standalone entity under OptumHealth and will keep its current leadership team, including CEO Clay Richards.
“Bringing together naviHealth’s post-acute clinical model and data-driven insights with Optum’s community-based health care and clinical capabilities will help meet the growing demand for highly personalized, value-based care coordination for patients with complex health conditions across the entire care spectrum,” Optum wrote in an emailed statement. “Working together, Optum and naviHealth are strongly positioned to help patients get the highest possible quality of care so they can get and stay healthy.”
Early in the company’s history, Cardinal Health purchased a majority stake in naviHealth. In 2018, Cardinal Health sold a 55% stake to private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice for $650 million, retaining a 45% interest in naviHealth.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
OptumHealth and naviHealth did not disclose the terms of the acquisition.
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