New benefit flexibilities combined with the healthcare industry’s rapid digital evolution puts Medicare Advantage plans in an exciting position to create meaningful rewards and incentives programs that empower members to take action. In a recent presentation at the Strategic Solutions Network Medicare Market Innovations Forum, Melissa Smith, EVP of Consulting and Professional Services at HealthMine, shared how her team of experts has helped plans incentivize healthy behaviors backed by digital engagement to reach their quality and membership goals.
To watch a replay of the session, click here.
WELL Health Technologies has formed WELL Ventures, a subsidiary of WELL, with a mandate to invest in leaders, entrepreneurs and businesses supporting the digital health ecosystem, with an emphasis on advancing innovative digital health initiatives in Canada. The latest investment from the new fund is $250,000 investment in Bright, a business to business technology service business specializing in delivering corporate virtual wellness programs.
Other companies in its portfolio include:
- Circle Medical Technologies, virtual and physical primary care provider and UCSF affiliate;
- Insig, a Canadian telemedicine business;
- Phelix, an ?AI?powered virtual assistant for healthcare workflows
- Twig, a fertility care startup
- Pillway, a virtual pharmacy that provides a way for patients to keep track of their medication consumption, upcoming medication schedule and communicate with Pillway pharmacists.
To read more, click here.
Turquoise Health has closed a $5 million seed funding round led by Julie Yoo at a16z. Also taking part in the round are Bessemer Venture Partners, Box Group, and individual investors Henry Ward, Megan Callahan, Jonathan Bush, co-founder of athenahealth and Zus Health, and Klay Thompson of the NBA team Golden State Warriors. The company supports price transparency for medical procedures .
Providers’ services and costs are listed by individual insurers and some of their plans, based on zip code. Prices are given for a range of services such as different forms of physical therapy to surgical procedures and more.
“We’re embarking on a journey hell bent on making it normal to know the price of healthcare in advance, just like Americans do daily while shopping in every other industry,” notes Turquoise Health Co-founder Chris Severn in a company blog post on the seed funding.
To read more, click here.
Cariloop, which works with employers to helps staff find caregivers for loved ones, has raised $15 million in a Series B funding round. Atlanta-based Noro-Moseley Partners led the oversubscribed round with participation from the KCRise Fund, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Patterson Thoma Family Office, MPK Equity Partners and 1843 Capital, as well as other existing investors and partners.
“The last 18 months have revealed to employers and policymakers around the world the realities that caregivers have been facing all along: It’s extremely challenging to remain present at work when the care and well-being of a loved one is on the line,” said Michael Walsh, Cariloop’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer.
The company currently employs 75 staff, half of them in Dallas, and plans to triple the size of its business over the next two years.
To read more, click here.
Picture: akindo, Getty Images
