Deacon Health, Inc., which provides care management solutions, launched its specialty care management platform for people with multiple chronic health conditions. The company also announced a seed funding round with $7 million in closed and committed capital from Herb Fritch, founder and former CEO of HealthSpring; Larry Cash, former president and CFO of Community Health…

Solace, a digital health platform that connects consumers with health advocates, raised $60 million. The round was led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from existing investors Craft Ventures, Inspired Capital and Torch Capital, as well as new investor SignalFire. Solace plans to use the funding to scale its national network of health care advocates, and…

CenterWell Senior Primary Care, a Humana business segment, agreed to acquire The Villages Health (TVH), a provider organization in north central Florida that serves 55,000 residents of The Villages retirement community and the surrounding communities. TVH has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to restructure debt due to overbilling Medicare. Most TVH consumers are Medicare beneficiaries.…

Within one year of its launch, the Integral Health Network of Southern Arizona (IHNSA), a clinically integrated network (CIN), reduced the medical loss ratio (MLR) by 12.1 points for a cohort of high-cost members attributed by the Medicaid managed care organization (MCO) Banner–University Family Care (BUFC). The MLR for the cohort dropped from 151.3% in…

Lucet, which provides tech-enabled behavioral health services to payers and provider organizations, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Emcara Health, a value-based medical group that provides home-based care to high-risk populations. Financial terms were not disclosed. According to the announcement, the acquisition will address the growing need for integrated care models that are aligned with…

Approximately 75% of surveyed U.S. health care provider organizations and payer organizations increased their spending on information technology (IT) in 2024. For both provider organizations and payers, the need for IT investment in cybersecurity was amplified by the February 2024 cyberattack on Change Healthcare, which affected 70% of the organizations participating in the survey. This…

Integrating all or some of the key elements of the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) into primary care practice decreased suicide risk levels, attempts, and deaths, with reductions ranging from 25% to 56%, according to three “real-world” studies. The CoCM is a specific method for integrating treatment for many mental health and addiction disorders into primary…

Paytient, which provides health care payment solutions for consumers, secured a $40 million growth capital investment from Trinity Capital. The funding will support Paytient’s expansion into large group employer-sponsored plans, alternative health plans, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace, and Medicare. The Paytient solution offers health plan-embedded out-of-pocket affordability and cost-smoothing solutions as part of…

Three California health plans are partnering on a statewide shared value-based payment (VBP) model that will include 10 provider organizations representing over 100 sites of care. The health plans—Aetna, Blue Shield of California, and Health Net—are participating in the California Advanced Primary Care Initiative’s Payment Model Demonstration Project, which is led by the California Quality…

Medicare payment models tested by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) cost the federal government $7.7 billion, which included $6.4 billion in model net expenses and $1.3 billion in model-specific implementation and evaluation costs. Of the 18 CMMI models analyzed by health care consulting firm Avalere Health Advisory, six yielded net savings of…