Ribbon Health raises $10.25M to provide more accurate and useful healthcare data
The company added a16z General Partner Julie Yoo to its board of directors
There's more data being generated right now than ever before in history; in healthcare, for example, there’s 2.5 quintillion bytes of data being created daily. But just creating data isn't enough; there's no point if it's not reliable and accurate, and if it can't be put to good use.
Neither of those things is happening in healthcare right now, according to Nate Maslak, which is why he co-founded Ribbon Health, a health data platform that works to give health plans, providers systems and digital health companies data that is both up to date and easy to access.
"Our platform provides the critical infrastructure to power accurate provider directories, reliable referral management, and efficient care navigation. Ribbon is the only solution to offer all of these capabilities in one platform, and delivers the most comprehensive data on doctors, insurance plans, and the cost and quality of care," said Maslak.
On Wednesday, the company revealed that it raised a $10.25 million Series A funding round, bringing its total raised to $11.8 million. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Ribbon becoming the first investment by a16z’s Bio Fund III, which it announced earlier this month. Y Combinator and BoxGroup, Flatiron Health CEO Nat Turner, Clover Health co-founder and CEO Vivek Garipalli, and DataLogix CEO Eric Roza also participated in the round.
Ribbon will use the funding it raised to expand its customer base, as well as to build out its team at its New York headquarters, specifically in its software engineering, business development, and product roles.
Along with the funding, it was also announced that Julie Yoo, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, has joined the Board of Directors at Ribbon Health.
"Julie Yoo will bring more than 15 years of expertise in delivering on the promise of health care technology innovation. Julie is a digital health care entrepreneur and her experience developing Kyruus, a business designed to transform data collection and delivery for hospitals, will be invaluable to Ribbon going forward. We’re honored to be her first investment as a General Partner at a16z," Maslak said.
Ribbon Health provides its customers, which currently include Oak Street Health and Well, with an API layer that can be integrated into any healthcare organization’s workflow and UX. That API layer then continuously improves the accuracy of the platform’s data. Ribbon provides it customers to access to data via a single platform.
"For health plans, Ribbon delivers comprehensive data that enables them to design up-to-date insurance networks and provider directories. And for providers, Ribbon can deliver the insights needed to ensure they refer patients to high-quality, cost-effective providers," explained Maslak.
"Finally, all of our customers can use Ribbon’s data to offer patients care navigation or comparison tools that help them find the right high-quality doctor, in the right location, who accepts their insurance."
On top of the new funding, Ribbon also announced that it launched a new solution centered around cost and quality data for providers.
"Traditionally, provider cost and quality has been among the most difficult to access and least accurate data in our health care system. We collect this data from thousands of sources, then continuously update and validate its accuracy through our API layer," Maslak explained.
For Ribbon's customers, providing this data will give them access to care quality and outcomes indicators, as well as up to date cost information, he said. For health plans, they can use cost and quality data to provide their members with better care navigation tools, while at-risk providers and payers can use Ribbon's new solution to gain insights into patients’ total costs of care.
"Our ultimate goal is to empower all users of the health care system to make decisions that are more high-quality, cost-effective, and convenient. This funding will help us bring our platform to more stakeholders, allowing them to breakthrough the information barriers in health care," said Maslak.
"We are a mission-driven company determined to make every health care decision high-quality, cost-effective, and convenient. We look forward to partnering with health plans, providers, and patient solutions to help as many people as possible get the care they need."
(Image source: ribbonhealth.com)
