Just a year after launching as a company, Bluebird Kids Health is already announcing plans to double its number of pediatric clinics from three to six.
The company — which for now, operates only in Florida — seeks to improve pediatric care access in underserved areas by building practices in these neighborhoods and accepting all insurance types. Nearly half of all children in the U.S. are covered by Medicaid, yet many of their families have a difficult time finding pediatricians who will accept their insurance — creating troubling pediatric care deserts in lower-income communities.
This problem means that families in these communities are often forced to use emergency rooms for their routine care needs, which often leaves them saddled with thousands of dollars of debt, said Chris Johnson, Bluebird’s founder and CEO.
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“Children on Medicaid often have emergency department and hospitalization rates that resemble Medicare patients — which is shocking when you consider these are generally healthy kids. This isn’t just a healthcare issue; it affects education when children miss school, economic mobility when families can’t work due to a child’s health needs, and overall community wellbeing,” he explained.
Bluebird aims to provide a uniform, quality experience for all families — no matter the type of coverage they have, Johnson noted. The startup’s business model is built around value-based care arrangements with both Medicaid and commercial payers.
The company’s model also integrates behavioral health into primary care in order to address a major gap in pediatric services, particularly for Medicaid patients, Johnson added.
Since launching three clinics in Palm Beach County last year, Bluebird has grown to serve more than 20,000 patients.
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Over the course of the summer, the company will be opening three new de novo locations — two in Jacksonville and one in Broward County. These clinics are intentionally sited in pediatric care deserts where access to pediatricians is limited for lower-income families, Johnson stated.
“As we looked for the optimal spot to site these new practices, we essentially looked at a metro area and understood where there just aren’t enough pediatricians to serve all the children that live in that community. Those tend to be lower-income communities. There’s just a natural evolution that’s happened in the healthcare system, where a lot of healthcare access points tend to be in higher-income communities — and that’s happened over the last 30 to 40 years. We’re trying to counter that by bringing access to these families and these children that have struggled to get access — our doors are open to everyone,” he declared.
The new clinics are also located in high-traffic retail areas, near public transit and community amenities, to make them easy to reach. They offer extended evening and weekend hours, online and phone appointment booking, walk-in availability, and virtual and telephonic care options — all choices that were made to boost accessibility, Johnson explained.
In the year that Bluebird’s original three clinics have been operating, the company is already experiencing a high demand for its services, he added.
“We’re seeing great demand and traction because we’re locating our clinics in these areas of high unmet need. We’re also seeing that we’re having a really great consumer experience — our parent kind of Net Promoter Score is consistently north of 90%. We’re also having really high employee satisfaction, so we’re able to attract and retain high quality staff,” Johnson remarked.
Children’s healthcare outcomes are improving as well, he pointed out.
He said that Bluebird’s care model has reduced emergency department visits by more than 50% and inpatient admissions by nearly 70% among its patients. These results stem mainly from proactive management of common pediatric conditions like asthma and anxiety, Johnson said.
Earlier this year, the startup raised $31.5 million in Series A funding. In the next couple of years, Bluebird will likely expand into new states — such as Georgia, Texas, Virginia and the Carolinas — in response to payer interest in its value-based care model, Johnson stated.
Photo: Steve Debenport, Getty Images