Denver-based DispatchHealth has landed $135.8 million in a new round of funding, the company announced Tuesday.
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The Series C round brings DispatchHealth’s total funding to $216.8 million. Optum Ventures led the round, which included participation from existing investors Questa Capital, Alta Partners and Echo Health Ventures, and new investors Oak HC/FT and Humana Inc.
DispatchHealth describes its model as taking the skills found in emergency rooms and hospitals to patients’ homes. For patients requesting medical care, within two hours DispatchHealth will send a team to perform services like repairing a laceration or helping a dehydrated patient receive IV fluids.
“Approximately a third of the cost of the U.S. health care system is devoted to facility-based care delivery, such as emergency rooms, hospitals, and post-acute facilities,” CEO Dr. Mark Prather said in a statement. “For seven years, our care model and technology platform have demonstrated lower costs and improved outcomes by delivering care safely in the home.”
DispatchHealth’s services are available in 19 cities across the country, including Phoenix, Seattle, Houston, Atlanta and Las Vegas. Its services are available every day of the year, including holidays, and the company partners with most major insurance companies.
The new funding will be used to expand into new markets and expand its service line, according to Prather. In terms of service line expansions, DispatchHealth will be able to provide advanced care for patients who need more than just one visit. Patients can be treated over a couple of weeks, and Dispatch Health will arrange for physician and nursing care, meal prep, pharmacy services, etc. to substitute for a hospital stay.
The COVID-19 pandemic has only highlighted the need for at-home care. While DispatchHealth treats all sorts of patients, its target patient base are people with high medical and high social needs, Prather said in an interview with Crunchbase News. Those patients tend to be the most vulnerable to COVID-19.
“Being able to service them in their home where they have less risk has been very valuable, so we’ve seen a lot of demand for that population,” Prather said.
The company, which was founded in 2013, received 15,210 requests for care last month, according to its website. Since March 1, DispatchHealth has seen nearly 4,000 patients with COVID-19 like symptoms.
DispatchHealth last raised $33 million with its Series B, which was led by Echo Health Ventures, in May 2019, according to Crunchbase.
Editor’s Note: The total amount of funding has been updated.
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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