Dive Brief:
- Former National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Dr. Farzad Mostashari on Tuesday launched Aledade, a startup that partners with independent primary care physicians to help them form and join accountable care organizations.
- Aledade has raised $4.5 million from Venrock. The company is currently testing its platform with physicians in New York, Delaware, Arkansas and Maryland.
- According to Mostashari, underinvestment in infrastructure is a recipe for ACO failure. Aledade, per Mostashari, will be a "turnkey solution."
Dive Insight:
Aledade has chosen to focus exclusively on independent physicians; Given the ongoing trend towards hospital consolidation, does this auto-imposed limitation cut Aledade out of a large and vital part of the ACO marketplace? Mostashari doesn't seem to think so, estimating that half of primary care is currently provided by independent physicians.
Other key members of the Aldedade team include Mat Kendall and Edwin Miller. Kendall stepped down from his position as ONC's director of the Office of Provider Adoption Support in March. His department was responsible for the creation of the nationwide network of regional health IT extension centers (RECs) under the Affordable Care Act. Miller is a former VP of product management for CareCloud.