Dive Brief:
- On-demand healthcare concierge Accolade Health raised $70 million, in a Series E round led by Menlo Park, CA-based Adreessen Horowitz and Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group.
- Accolade will use the money to expand its technology platform, R&D and sales and marketing efforts.
- The company’s app, which can be used on a tablet or smartphone, ushers users through the healthcare system via a multi-modal approach that begins with a call to an Accolade health assistant who personally guides the user through their options.
Dive Insight:
As demand for customer-driven healthcare grows, more startups are offering online assistance with basic medical services, such as scheduling appointments and medical advice. Prices typically range from about $50 a month to $149 a year. But earlier this year, Massachusetts General Hospital announced plans for a concierge practice that will charge patients $6,000 a year for its exclusive services — causing some critics to argue it creates a tiered system that favors the rich.
Accolade says its model gets strong consumer satisfaction scores and cost savings of 5% to 15%.
“To bend the cost curve in healthcare while significantly raising consumer satisfaction, you need a deeply personalized model for the consumer that blends human touch with clinical expertise and state of the art engagement technology,” Accolade CEO Rajeev Singh said in a statement.
Accolade recently forged collaborations with AmeriHealth New Jersey and Mercer, a benefits consulting firm, to provide their customers with concierge services, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports.
Other backers in the Series E funding round included Independence Health Group, the parent company of Independence Blue Cross, and McKesson Ventures.