It is widely known that health care is expensive in the United States and that patients seek better quality care that is more cost-effective.
That type of care, called “values-based,” has been mentioned a lot in recent years. Just this week I just wrote about Carrum Health's $45 million Series B investment to deliver value-based cancer care.
When it comes to your kidneys, Strive Health is working to provide value-based care specifically to the 37 million adults living with chronic kidney disease. Chris Riopelle, co-founder and CEO of Strive Health, said health care used to be primarily fee-for-service, where the incentive was that if you did more work, more reimbursement would follow.
"While that is necessary, important and valuable, it doesn't take into account the rate for value, which is if you do a lot of good work, you should create a lot of value and get very high quality results." Riopelle said. “My definition of 'value-based care' is making sure the organizations responsible for patient care are truly focused on the outcomes and quality they drive. Over time, that will create more value in the system than simply seeing a patient many, many, many times.”
Strive Health brings value through technology-enabled care interventions and seamless integration with local providers to form an integrated care delivery system that follows a patient from chronic kidney disease to end-stage renal disease.
Simply put, the company takes patient data and puts it through testing programs. automatic learning to identify what stage of kidney disease a patient is in and then be able to predict the likelihood of disease progression. In this way, Strive Health can provide what Riopelle called a “super-targeted intervention.”
That's important because of the 37 million Americans who have kidney disease, only 10% are diagnosed and more than $400 billion a year is spent on kidney care, he explained.
The company launched in April 2020 with 700 patients in St. Louis, and since then, its value-based care approach has led to a more than 20% reduction in the total cost of kidney care and a reduction in 42% in hospitalizations.
Overall, Strive Health now manages more than $2500 billion in annual medical expenses and has grown to 550 employees serving 80 patients in 000 states. It also partners with more than 30 nephrology providers in 600 states.
Strive Health has now secured $166 million in funding from the Serie C in a round led by NEA and five new investors, including strategic investor CVS Health Ventures. Joining them in the round were existing investors CapitalG (Alphabet), Echo Ventures, Town Hall Ventures, Ascension Ventures and Redpoint.
Riopelle said Strive Health heard from investors that it had the right approach for the market. Some competitors only look for health insurance companies as their main client, while others look for kidney specialists. Strive Health is the only company that does both, he added.
Mohamad Makhzoumi, co-president of NEA, agreed with that, saying in a written statement that among value-based care providers, "Strive stood out with its proven performance that improves clinical outcomes and simultaneously reduces the total cost of care." attention".
Riopelle, meanwhile, declined to be specific about the company's revenue growth beyond saying that "the company has been growing very fast." He also said the company's valuation is "strong and healthy for a round of this size." He hopes to accumulate 100,000 lives by the end of the year.
With this financing, the company intends to invest in technology development and expand its existing partnerships with the payer, health system, nephrologists and medical group. It will also expand into new markets and invest in scaling in the 30 states where it already has a presence.
"So our employees are called 'Strivers' and our caregivers are called 'Kidney Heroes,' and this funding will allow us to continue to bring in new Strivers and Kidney Heroes," Riopelle said. “There are no major acquisition plans, however we have a strong portfolio and will continue to scale the business and execute on that portfolio.”
