Allina Health and investment firm Flare Capital Partners have launched a company that enables health systems and health plans to offer hospital-at-home and skilled nursing-at-home programs.
Minneapolis-based Allina said the new company, Inbound Health, provides the full stack of capabilities that are required to scale at-home care models including home-based care pathways, virtual care teams, engagement and workflow technology, analytics, supply chain partnerships, operational oversight and payment models. It added that the company offers a flexible partnership structure, enabling customers to leverage their existing assets and capabilities while relying on Inbound Health to fill the gaps required to scale these programs across their service area.
To date, more than 4,200 patients across 185 primary diagnoses have been cared for through the Inbound Health platform, which has been operational in Allina Health’s service area since May 2020. Allina said the program has allowed it to manage a wider swath of the continuum of care for its patients, thereby ensuring that care is delivered in a safe, coordinated and patient-centric manner. The company combines biometric monitoring, digital surveillance, in-home nursing and therapy, virtual visits with hospitalists and geriatricians, and a comprehensive supply chain to deliver a safe and high-quality care program.
Allina said the program lowers total-cost-of-care by 30 to 40 percent on a risk-adjusted basis while achieving similar or improved clinical outcomes when compared to traditional facility-based care. These outcomes have enabled Inbound Health and Allina to develop unique episodic-based payer contracts with multiple commercial and Medicare Advantage payers in Minnesota. Inbound plans to replicate those contracts with partners in other markets.
Inbound Health will be led by CEO Dave Kerwar, who previously served as chief product officer at Mount Sinai Health System, where he built technology-enabled operations to scale direct-to-consumer, direct-to-employer, and population health programs. Prior to Mount Sinai, Kerwar led business development for Aetna’s Joint Ventures.
“We are proud to be backed by one of the most prestigious health systems and one of the largest dedicated healthcare technology venture capital firms in the country in our pursuit to revolutionize this new level of care,” said Kerwar, in a statement. “Inbound Health will leverage the clinical, operational, and technology assets that we’ve developed alongside Allina Health to enable our customers nationwide to safely offer facility-level care in the home, at a lower cost and with an elevated patient and caregiver experience.”
Inbound Health will use the new financing to continue to advance its proprietary technology platform, which the company says allows it to perform key functions on behalf of its partners, including:
● Integrated Virtual and In-Home Care Delivery: A coordinated operating model that enables Inbound and other partners to fit into (not disrupt) the health system’s operation
● Predictive Patient Identification: AI learning models that identify patients who require hospital and skilled-nursing level care, but who can safely receive high-acuity care in their home
● Personalized Care Planning: A proprietary workflow management platform that scales care plans tailored to a patients’ clinical and care management needs and coordinates the interdisciplinary team throughout the care episode
● High Touch Engagement: Health system branded digital engagement assets that proactively and passively identify patient needs and ensure high-touch, easy interactions between the patient and the care team
● Patient Step-Down: Coordinated discharge processes that ensure a safe and measured transition from high-acuity home-based care and delivers the patient back into the health system’s network.
