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Signals Brief: How M&A is reshaping SDoH and Value-Based Cardiology Care
How Groundgame, SameSky, Heartbeat, and Karoo might move the needle (or light the fuse) in kidney care
Friends and fellow explorers,
In this news brief, we have two deals to put on your radars with tangible up- and down-stream impacts on kidney health. GroundGame, SameSky, Heartbeat, and Karoo are in focus today. Some might describe these four companies and markets as “kidney-adjacent,” but we all know the reality. Kidney disease does not exist in isolation, nor is it treated that way. Polychronic care is not merely a nice-to-have, it’s necessary. Metabolic and heart health, environmental and social factors are all part of this complex web of realities that make up a kidney patient’s history and everyday life. So, who’s looking out for them beyond the “four walls” of nephrology, and what might that look like in the years ahead?
What’s inside this brief:
Deal 1: GroundGame-SameSky
Deal 2: Karoo-Heartbeat
Lessons for Kidney Care
Have tips or feedback? Hit reply or join the conversation here.
Reading time: 7 minutes
GroundGame merges with SameSky
GroundGame Health is a proven social impact solution that fulfills unmet social and care needs. SameSky Health is a cultural experience company that builds trust and deepens engagement with members. The combined company will accelerate a shared mission to improve health and advance health equity by closing the loop around health-related social needs and gaps in care at scale (see slide).
The team at Groundgame has met over 180,000 social impact needs and have powered the flow of over $26 million from managed care organizations (MCOs) to community-based organizations (CBOs). SameSky Health engages 2.8 million+ members across 50 states and 3 US territories, in 25+ different languages.
GroundGame also closed a $17 million funding round led by 7wireVentures after the companies joined. Together, their coverage spans 50 states. 7Wire’s Alyssa Jaffee co-wrote an article on the growing urgency for alternative solutions that support consumers where they are. Increasingly, that means at-home using their smartphone.
“As the number of polychronic Americans rises, the era of a fragmented, point solution digital health ecosystem will fall in favor of a more interconnected and integrated landscape. Consumers, across all aspects of their life, desire solutions that address all their needs.”
Karoo teams up with Heartbeat
Karoo Health and Heartbeat Health are teaming up to create the first national, scalable, end-to-end cardiac value-based care (VBC) solution for payers, at-risk entities, and provider networks. The first-of-its-kind VBE combines Karoo's VBC-enabling AI-powered technology and wraparound model of care with Heartbeat's leading virtual cardiac clinical services to expand access, improve outcomes, and lower cost of care for cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients, and the entities responsible for their care, in any given geography throughout the country.1
In December, Karoo released results from its first proof of concept (POC) study with participating cardiac providers that showed high conversion to its VBC model (70% of eligible patients — and increased to 83% in December), high engagement (95% among enrolled patients), and diversion of unnecessary ED visits (20% of patient panel) leading to significant cost savings. The POC kicked off last June, the same month they announced the close of their oversubscribed $3.4 million seed round.
Last month I had a chance to listen in on a great conversation with Heartbeat Health CEO Dr. Jeffrey Wessler and DaVita Venture Group's Jane Rho around business building in this space and some of the key hurdles and proving grounds for companies this/next year. DVG participated in Heartbeat's $20M Series B in May, 2021.
Why it matters: Heart disease is currently the leading cause of death in the United States, with one person dying every 33 seconds due to cardiovascular illness. People with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) than the general population. Half of all patients with CKD Stage 4/5 have heart disease. Further, CVD is the most common cause of death for people with CKD, accounting for more than 50% of deaths. Sadly, and what many people may not realize, is patients with kidney disease are more likely to die from heart disease than to progress to kidney failure.2
A 2021 paper published in Circulation points out that for 25- to 34-year-old patients with kidney failure, annual mortality is increased 500- to 1000-fold and corresponds to that of the ≈85-year-old general population (image below).
Closing thoughts
You might remember the image below from the HMA-Leavitt VBC report that came out earlier this year. It illustrates the broad segments by business model and provider focus and includes a sampling of entity logos to illustrate the types of organizations that currently fall into each category. Heartbeat isn't shown, but I'd wager it's in the lower-third of specialty care providers.3
So, if these sorts of tie-ups are happening with early stage companies across specialty care and social services, what would it look like in kidney care? What gaps and opportunities in kidney care could be better addressed by seeing companies team up to tackle them together?
Thank you for being here. I’d love to hear from you below if you have thoughts on these headlines, teams or trends.
Keep exploring,
— Tim
Discussion
What’s your take on these deals and broader trends? How do you think the landscape of point solutions, care delivery and enablement companies will look next year?
Leave a comment below or join the kidney chat and let us know what’s on your mind.
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