Morgan Health, the healthcare investment arm of JPMorgan Chase, announced on Thursday that it invested $50 million into Seattle-based Vera Whole Health. This is a significant investment for the healthtech company, and comes over a year after it raised $10 million from investors in 2020.
More recently, Vera Whole Health sold a majority stake in the company to CD&R, which valued Vera Whole Health at $400 million.
What makes Vera Whole Health so valuable is its “advanced primary care” approach to healthcare. Traditionally, healthcare facilities take a fee-for-service approach — where a patient will come in if they are feeling unwell or need immediate medical attention. But recently, the industry has experienced a shift toward more value-based care. This new model ties a healthcare provider’s profits and success to patient outcomes, so providers benefit if their patients stay healthy and out of the doctor’s office or emergency room.
Vera Whole Health has designed a system that is geared towards this value-based model. It has developed a network of primary care physicians, nurses, health coaches and clinics that is supported by its tech platform. The platform allows patients to communicate with the Vera Whole Health network and stay healthy even when they aren’t being seen by a doctor.
Vera Whole Health says that by taking this approach, it’s able to both reduce costs for patients and employers, as well as provide better health outcomes.
“Our goal with this first investment is to build a strong coordinated healthcare model – with outstanding primary care and new ways to help employees navigate a healthcare system that is often very disconnected,” Morgan Health CEO Dan Mendelson said in a statement. “Vera is proactively helping patients achieve ideal physical, mental and social health. And because they actively coordinate with other high-value health providers, they’re able to create a much better overall patient experience.”
With the investment, Mendelson will also join the Vera Whole Health board of directors.
Vera Whole Health plans to use this investment to grow its reach, in order to bring value-based care to more people. Vera Whole Health currently operates in Arizona, Washington, California, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Nevada. It’s also working with Central Ohio Primary Care, which is the country’s largest independent physician-owned primary care group.
“We are in complete alignment with Morgan Health in addressing health disparities,” Vera Whole Health CEO and co-founder Ryan Schmid said in a statement. “Years ago we built an advanced primary care model that addresses people’s whole health – physical, social and mental. This unique partnership will not only give us the opportunity to transform the way healthcare is delivered and paid for, but also address the role that social determinants of health, including racial bias, plays in our system.”
