Inbound Health has locked down $30 million in a Series B funding round.
The investment was led by HealthQuest Capital. Existing investors – Flare Capital Partners and McKesson Ventures – also participated in this latest round of funding.
Inbound Health is an enablement platform that helps health systems and health plans develop hospital-at-home and SNF-at-home programs.
The company was originally part of the health system Allina Health. In 2022, the company spun off and became a separate entity. It launched with $20 million in funding from Flare Capital Partners.
Inbound Health CEO Dave Kerwar told Home Health Care News that there are three areas the new funds will be allocated toward. One of these areas is the company’s expansion into new markets.
“Some of the funding will capitalize us so that we can expand to those new markets and achieve the goals and the commitments we’ve made to those health system customers,” he said.
Over the course of the next six months, Inbound Health hopes to expand into two new markets, followed by a handful of additional markets throughout 2024.
The funds will also be earmarked for the continued development of Inbound Health’s clinical program.
“We’ve built a pretty impressive care model, to date, but there’s always opportunities to continue to be able to advance that by integrating new types of therapy, supply chains, care processes and people,” Kerwar said. “We’re going to be spending some time on the care model redesign, or care model advancement.”
The third area the new funds will go toward is the evolution of the company’s technology platform.
“We have deep analytics that are essentially learning models,” Kerwar said. “These analytics assist in the decisions that need to be made. They can assist a clinical liaison, for instance, or a nurse practitioner, when he or she is looking at a patient to identify opportunities, where they may be a good candidate for our care model, or not. We are continuing to invest on the analytic side, so that our staff can be operating as efficiently and as effectively as possible.”
Kerwar noted that while analytics is an additional tool that Inbound Health leverages to improve care, it’s not a substitute for actual clinicians.
“Those decisions are always 100% made by a licensed clinician, both on our side and the health system side,” he said. “We don’t look to analytics to replace any kind of a person, but they can help in the decision making.”
Garheng Kong, managing partner at HealthQuest Capital, believes that Inbound Health has carved out an indispensable role in the overall health care system.
“Inbound Health’s innovative solution addresses a pressing need within our health care system by enabling patients to receive high-quality care in the comfort of their homes, thereby enhancing the overall patient experience, and creating a solution that benefits all stakeholders,” he said in a statement. “This is especially vital in light of the growing capacity challenges faced by hospitals. We believe in the team’s ability to replicate and expand in future markets, making a substantial impact on health care delivery.”
Looking ahead, Kerwar sees limited barriers to growth for Inbound Health.
“We’re pleased with the amount of interest that I think all constituents — health systems, health plans, family members, regulators — have in this care model,” he said.
That said, the company is keeping an eye on the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) decision on the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver.
“We’re looking forward to this type of the benefit, where advanced care can be delivered in the home, being part of a more permanent benefit structure that’s offered to Americans that are on fee-for-service Medicare,” Kerwar said.
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