Bundled payments health IT start-up secures funding
Contessa Health, a health IT start-up has raised $3.5m in a Series A round of funding. The money will help the company expand its home hospitalisation programmes for acute care patients, offering administrative services and analytics tools to optimise home care delivery. The trend from bundled to outcomes-based payment models continues with several IT companies focusing on predictive analytics from home recovery to physical therapy solutions, although IT start-ups like Contessa have carved out a niche from bundled payment programmes for Medicare patients.

Health IT startup Contessa Health has raised $3.5 million from a mix of corporate and venture investors as part of a Series A round, according to a company statement. The first part of the bundled payment program for Medicare patients set to start in January next year will focus on hip and knee replacement surgery. Health IT startups have been staking a niche in areas that support the shift to bundled payments such as revenue cycle management, remote recovery support and predictive analytics to identify patients at a high risk of readmission.

The funding will go towards expanding Contessa’s home hospitalization programs for acute care patients, which are built around bundled payment programs, according to The Nashville Post. The company combines administrative services and analytics tools to optimize care delivery in a home setting.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Venture Partners, Sandbox Advantage Fund and Martin Ventures participated in the round.

Several health IT companies have emerged in the past few years with technology designed to support the shift to outcomes-based payment models. Some have focused on predictive analytics to identify patients at risk for readmission such as Forecast Health, RightCare Solutions, and Medalogix. Other companies have focused on helping patients recover from surgery at home through physical therapy solutions such as Reflexion Health, which recently received FDA approval, as well as Biogaming — an Israeli tech company that is seeking FDA approval.

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