Connected care without walls is the future of healthcare

2020 has brought to light the importance of health and the need for health care services anywhere, anytime. The rapid acceptance of virtual care platforms is near the top of the list. While the technology has been available for years, it has yet to really take off in this country, in part due to restrictions around licensing and reimbursement.

When New York became overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients last March, however, things changed. The state began to allow practitioners holding out-of-state licenses to conduct virtual appointments over video, relieving some of the burden on local health care providers.

That was seven months ago. (It feels like seven years.)

Now 44 state medical boards have waived requirements around in-state licensing, pre-existing patient-provider relationships, or audio-only restrictions for telemedicine. Medical practitioners can serve patients in need regardless of where they are geographically located — more quickly and efficiently, at much lower cost. Even better, they can get reimbursed for their services.

Our investment in Curve Health

This is a key reason why Lightspeed is proud to lead a $6 million seed round into Curve Health. Curve Health, a company that delivers connected senior care without walls. Their care platform incorporates telemedicine service, smart billing, revenue cycle management, health information exchange and predictive data analytics into a unified interface. This allows seniors and providers to connect beyond the four walls of a healthcare facility.

Curve’s platform — which combines telemedicine, a health information exchange, predictive analytics, and smart billing — is exactly the right solution at exactly the right time. It helps patients avoid unnecessary trips to the hospital, decreasing their potential exposure to COVID-19. Its integrated billing system allows healthcare providers to reduce costs and improve their bottom line, while its HIPAA-compliant health information exchange makes it easier for them to share sensitive information. Curve also applies predictive analytics to its usage data, allowing providers to do better resource planning and streamline their operations.

Curve Health is founded by Timothy Peck, MD, former founder and CEO of Call9. The Curve Health platform is developed on and continues to build out the Call9 platform, which delivered more than 150,000 telemedicine encounters, managed more than 5,000 patients daily and reduced patient transfers from Skilled Nursing Facilities to hospitals by greater than 50%. When Call9 first emerged in 2015, the medicare payment mechanisms that would allow the company to scale were not in place. Now, as a result of COVID-19, they are. That makes Curve’s growth potential virtually unlimited. Ling was an investor in Call9 and has worked with Tim Peck over the past several years.

Of course, we’re not just investing in Curve’s technology; we’re also investing in its people. In conjunction with our seed round, Curve has also hired a new CEO: Rob MacNaughton. He’s a nationally recognized healthcare technology executive with a long track record of success at startups like NurseGrid and Cambia Health Solutions. Tim will continue to offer guidance and leadership in his new role as Executive Chairman and President.

Health care anytime, anywhere

At Lightspeed, we firmly believe that health intervention can and should happen anywhere it is needed, not just at medical facilities. While the pandemic has accelerated this trend, it’s really the fundamental basis for the future of medical care.

It’s often not the initial product that ensures startup success; it’s a company’s ability to create a platform for launching new products that have an industry-wide impact. With its deep expertise in data analytics, Curve is well positioned to be this kind of company.

As our population ages and senior care management becomes more critical, Curve’s position at the intersection of SNFs and hospitals gives it a unique advantage as we move into a new era of health care delivery.

— Ling Wong, Will Kohler, and Arsham Memarzadeh