Medicaid covers one in 5 People, and lots of of these have advanced well being wants and infrequently battle to entry care. Pair Crew, a value-based major care firm, is attempting to assist this inhabitants by partnering with native community-based organizations. It plans to scale its efforts after securing $9 million in Sequence A funding, it introduced final week.
San Francisco-based Pair Crew works with Medicaid plans and companions with native well being facilities and community-based organizations — corresponding to meals pantries, shelters and sobering facilities — and trains their employees to change into group well being staff. These staff can then present care navigation providers, well being advocacy assist and different providers. Sufferers are additionally linked to Pair Crew’s digital telemedicine care staff, which features a registered nurse, nurse practitioner and behavioral well being specialist. In addition to addressing medical and psychological well being wants, the care staff additionally addresses social wants corresponding to housing, meals and transportation.
Working with community-based organizations is significant for bettering entry to care and engagement in well being providers as a result of “they have already got the belief of the group,” stated Neil Batlivala, CEO of Pair Crew, in an interview. “The shelter, the meals pantry, they’ve been there for many years locally. They’re cornerstone organizations for lots of those communities.”
The $9 million Sequence A funding spherical was led by Subsequent Ventures and included participation from PTX Capital, Create Well being Ventures, OCA Ventures, CHCF Innovation Fund, Kapor Capital and different buyers. In whole, Pair Crew has raised about $20 million, based on Batlivala.
With the financing, the corporate plans to increase its attain. It’s presently working in California, because the state has the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative, which is targeted on leveraging community-based organizations within the care supply system. Pair Crew hopes to increase to extra states sooner or later, Batlivala stated. It additionally goals to develop its community of security internet organizations.
As a value-based group, the corporate is targeted on driving outcomes in areas like blood strain management, diabetes management, affected person engagement and different areas, based on Batlivala. A few of Pair Crew’s Medicaid companions are L.A. Care Well being Plan and Well being Internet.
Different value-based firms that serve Medicaid sufferers embody Aledade and ApolloMed. However Batlivala stated he hopes to see extra startups within the Medicaid house. Nonetheless, there are sometimes challenges in elevating funds for Medicaid-focused startups.
“There aren’t sufficient opponents, in my view,” he stated.
Finally, Pair Crew goals to enhance take care of the sufferers who’ve traditionally been underserved within the healthcare system, Batlivala said.
“Our urgency is that there are such a lot of individuals who simply have nobody to lean on of their counties and of their group,” he stated. “We are able to’t be shifting quick sufficient to get them the assist they want.”
Picture: Abscent84, Getty Photos
