Solera Health, a Phoenix, Arizona-based company that connects customers with evidence-based, non-medical wellness programs, today announced that it has raised $42 million in a series C round led by HCSC Ventures, with participation from BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners/Sandbox Advantage Fund, Adams Street Partners, and SJF Ventures. The round, which follows an $18.3 million series B in July 2017 and brings the startup’s total raised to $72 million, will fuel the growth of its marketplace and payment model, according to CEO Brenda Schmidt. She says that it will also enable Solera to address behavioral and social determinants (SDOH) of health, such as food insecurity, medically tailored meals, transportation, fall prevention, and social isolation.
“There is no greater vote of confidence for the impact Solera Health is making than a substantial investment from our health plan clients,” added Schmidt. “We’ve proven our model’s success in driving results in chronic disease prevention and look forward to expanding our relationships with our health plan partners to help their members holistically manage their health.”
Solera, which was founded in 2015, initially targeted only patients with diabetes, but it soon expanded its scope to include other chronic illnesses. Here’s how the platform works: Solera maintains a frontend web portal and backend algorithms that match payers, doctors, patients, and physicians with community organizations and digital therapeutics companies offering treatments for hypertension, stress, inadequate sleep, tobacco usage, obesity, and more. Patients are referred to programs based on their personal health goals, needs, and preferences, and as they achieve each of four total activity and outcomes-based milestones, Solera submits claims to payers and manages payments to network partners.
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Solera integrates with employers’ health plans and third-party administrators, and it uses electronic medical records or online questionnaires to identify employees who are at the highest risk for chronic disease. These employees can then choose among dozens of online or in-person programs, and if they don’t engage by the second milestone, Solera recommends a different option. As for the company’s customers, they get online dashboards and regular reports at the individual, group, physician practice, and payer level.
The company currently has over 60 million people under contract, up from 40 million in July 2017.
Solera’s provider partners include HealthSlate, Answers in the Aisles, Betr, U.S. Preventative Plan, Blue Mesa Health’s Transformemos, PlateJoy, Yes Health, and Habitnu. It handles the bulk of regulatory requirements for these partners and submits claims on their behalf at each milestone, but it requires that providers obtain recognition from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or an equivalent agency and meet certain data and security privacy policies. Moreover, Solera-approved providers must have documented evidence of their programs’ efficacy and demonstrate the capacity to continually enroll participants.
“HCSC Ventures supports growth in transformational companies that share our goals of fostering innovation and increasing the accessibility and affordability of care,” said HCSC’s Sahil Choudhry, who will join the company’s board of directors as part of the raise. “Solera Health’s mission of improving people’s health by connecting them with a network of health care solutions is something that truly resonates with us. The company’s innovative network model has already helped millions of individuals change their habits and reduce their risk of developing chronic disease.”
Solera has its eyes set on expansion. To that end, it recently entered into a strategic partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield Institute to launch a nationwide program aimed at addressing SDOH “at the community level.”
