Accolade Inc. has raised $70 million in new funding that it will use to market itself to big companies looking to add more personalized, web-based health benefits programs for employees, says CEO Rajeev Singh.

Accolade provides digital healthcare concierge programs and services for employers, health plans and health systems. The company was founded in 2007 and is based in Seattle.

Navigating healthcare benefits can be a complex and frustrating experience for consumers, Singh says. A recent Harris Poll commissioned by Accolade reveals that 80% of respondents say they would find it valuable to have a single trusted person or resource help with all of their healthcare needs. Those needs include selecting and using benefits, understanding treatment options, finding providers and coordinating care.

Accolades approach of combining personal service and technology is drawing attentionand moneyfrom investors. On Aug. 11 the company secured more than $70 million in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz and Madrona Venture Group, bringing its total funding to more than $90 million. The latest round of funding began in July 2015 with $22.5 million invested by a subsidiary of Independence Health Group and McKesson Ventures.

For the digital healthcare personalization services market, Accolade has developed a business model that marries personalized customer service with analytics, data mining, mobile apps and web portals to provide employers, employees and their dependents personalized support to manage their health plan, the company says.

advertisement

Each consumer interacting with Accolade through the companys mobile app, web portal or call center is assigned a permanent concierge to handle such tasks as explaining benefits, care options and finding a physician that is part of each employers provider network. Accolade makes its mobile app and web portal free to employees and operates the health plans call center.

Each time a patient logs into Accolades platform or contacts the call center she requests to be connected to her personal concierge. Working with one individual spares the patient from having to bring a new concierge up to speed on her reason for calling, Singh says. The concierge also has a complete record of the consumers prior interactions. Employers and insurance companies making use of Accolades service pay a monthly fee based on such factors as the number of employees using the service, although the company declined to disclose specifics.

Accolade intends to use its latest capital infusion to expand sales and marketing, attract more self-insured employers and health plans and add new features to its technology platform such as tools that facilitate self-service access to information and reports for customers and better data science and analytics capabilities. The company developed the technology in-house.

Were leading a movement to reinvent healthcare to better serve and support employers, health plans, health systems and the hundreds of millions of people in their networks, Singh says. To bend the cost curve in healthcare while significantly raising consumer satisfaction, you need a deeply personalized model for the consumer that blends human touch with clinical expertise and engagement technology.

advertisement

Another benefit of Accolades service is that its concierges can help control consumer health costs by explaining available benefits options, Singh says. A consumer without a primary care physician that has a child with a fever, for example, can contact an Accolade concierge to ask about treatment options. If the employers plan covers telemedicine, the concierge can bring that to the attention of the customer as an alternative to going to the emergency room and explain how to get access to a telemedicine system, Singh says. A telemedicine visit is far less expensive than an emergency room visit.

Accolade serves more than 800,000 consumers in 50 states through employer and health insurance clients, the company says. Clients include big employers such as AmeriGas, Comcast Corp. and Lowes Cos. Inc. Health insurance companies and health systems using Accolade include Independence Blue Cross of Philadelphia, Prominence Health Plan of Nevada, and AmeriHealth of New Jersey. Accolade has offices in Philadelphia, Scottsdale and Seattle.

Accolade declines to disclose many financial details. but Inc.com reports Accolade had revenue of about $74.7 million, up 133.4% from revenue of $32.0 million in 2014.

While traditional concierge services have been around in various forms for years, they are growing in popularity because consumers are shouldering a larger portion of their health costs and seeking help to find lower-cost care online options within their health plans, says Sukanya Soderland, a partner in the Health & Life Sciences practice for Oliver Wyman, a business consulting firm that is unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc.

advertisement

Many payers are increasingly focused on offering some type of personal advocate or health assistant functionality to help manage medical costs, improve quality, and build consumer trust and loyalty, Soderland says. Concierge services can improve employee productivity and satisfaction and reduce the burden on the human resources team by dealing with questions surrounding benefits, coverage and access.

Favorite