EasyHealth, a startup that connects people to Medicare coverage and fills gaps in data for improved care, has raised $135 million in equity and debt funding.
The company’s agents can link members with Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare supplements and prescription drug plans with Medicare contracts.
Its platform also sifts through medical records using deep learning to produce insights for plans and providers, enabling them to give personalized care and identify health risks that might otherwise go unnoticed.
The Los Angeles-based startup, founded in 2020, has enrolled around 40,000 people in Medicare plans, according to TechCrunch.
“EasyHealth’s mission is to harness technology to deliver better health outcomes. We use our position at the front door of Medicare to drive meaningful change for members, brokers and health plans,” said David Duel, co-founder and CEO of EasyHealth, in a statement. “We have assembled a proven executive team with deep insurance, Medicare and medical experience in order to deliver a disruptive end-to-end experience that improves member health outcomes and health plan retention.”
Anthemis Group and QED Investors led the series A round, with participation from Victory Park Capital, Nationwide Ventures and Health Ventures, among other investors.
The total funding breaks down to a $100 million credit facility and $35 million in equity financing, an EasyHealth spokesperson confirmed with Fierce Healthcare.
More than 26 million people are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan in 2021, making up about 42% of everyone on Medicare, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
But poor communication and weak relationships between plans, providers and members, along with outdated technologies, have increased healthcare costs and worsened patient care broadly, EasyHealth said.
RELATED: Nearly 60% of health systems aim to become ‘payviders’ in 2022, survey finds
In a recent survey by the Healthcare Financial Management Association, nearly 60% of the healthcare executives polled said their health systems planned to get into risk-based Medicare Advantage payment models in 2022.
Yet 50% of the executives named strategic partnerships with payers as the biggest external challenge to pursuing these “payvider” models.
EasyHealth represents about 30% to 40% of Medicare Advantage plans, the company confirmed, and attempts to minimize those challenges for smoother collaboration.
“More Americans are enrolling in Medicare plans than ever before given the plans’ unique advantages, yet a communication breakdown between members, carriers, providers and brokers is leading to suboptimal outcomes,” said Laura Bock, partner at QED Investors, in a statement. “Technology can break down these silos and enable a much better experience for all involved. Over the past year, EasyHealth has made incredible progress in removing friction from the Medicare experience.”