Former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist will lead a new Nashville health technology company designed to improve care for an increasing number of elderly and disabled Americans who receive medical or support services in their homes.
CareBridge, announced in a news release on Monday, is headquartered in East Nashville and backed by more than $40 million of investments from Google and venture capitalists.
CareBridge was formed in part by the recent purchase of HealthStar, a similarly-focused technology company in Knoxville.
Frist, who will be chairman of the CareBridge board, said in an interview the company will used predictive modeling and data aggregation to modernize care for people who receive long-term support services in their homes. Frist described the existing administrative systems for this care – a state-by-state hodgepodge of Medicare, Medicaid and insurance companies – as “highly fragmented and dysfunctional.”
CareBridge will also offer round-the-clock support of high-risk patients by deploying tablets into their homes.
“What we bring is an experienced team of people — and a proprietary technology with analytics we believe are the best in class — that are specifically focused on these vulnerable populations,” Frist said.
Long-term support services provide medical care and routine assistance to people with chronic illnesses or physical limitations who need help with daily activities like bathing, dressing, preparing meals and taking medication. Historically, this assistance was provided in nursing homes but in recent years services have shifted towards in-home care designed to allow patients to live as independently as possible. Millions of Americans already depend on this kind of care, and that population is all but guaranteed to grow as the baby boomer generation continues to age.
Anthem and United Healthcare are CareBridge customers
In a news release, CareBridge said it can streamline the administration of long-term support services through “electronic visit verification” and “real-time sharing of clinical information between members, caregivers, health plans and state officials.” The company also said it offers the nation’s first predictive model for determining the amount of services needed by someone who gets care in their home.
“Some of this is in place out there … but nobody else has the whole platform and nobody has it integrated,” said Mike Tudeen, the new CEO of CareBridge, who previously led Nashville-area health care companies PopHealthcare and Inspiris.
“We are excited to do our part to uplift how this is done in our country,” he added.
Tudeen said CareBridge launches with three customers: Anthem and United Healthcare in Tennessee and Horizon Health Care in New Jersey. In the news release announcing the new company, leaders of both Anthem and United praised CareBridge as uniquely prepared to improve long-term support services.
“No other company in the country is developing such a broad array of services for LTSS members,” said United CEO Keith Payet. “By providing such comprehensive services, CareBridge has the opportunity to meaningfully increase the quality of care for LTSS members across the United States.”
CareBridge was launched with a $40 million of investments from multiple sources: Oak HC/FT, a venture capitalist firm focused on health care; GV, the investment arm of Google; and CEOs of several other health care companies, including Nashville-area companies myNexus and Psychiatric Medical Care. Frist and Tudeen declined to reveal how much money had come from individual investors.
