A Columbus-based tech startup that’s building a more modern health plan for small businesses has made its product debut — and Cincinnati is serving as its inaugural market.
Poppins Health, formerly UnifiHealth, a health tech startup that offers a modern, digital-first, scalable and more affordable health plan for small business, launched locally March 1.
Ross Klosterman, the company’s co-founder and CEO, cited the city’s concentration of health systems and organizations as key factors in the decision, including the Health Collaborative, a coalition that includes the region’s hospitals; Horan Group, a local health and wellness benefits firm; and the Goering Center at University of Cincinnati, which works with family and private businesses.
Klosterman declined to discuss how many members and partners Poppins Health has in place locally, but said the company’s counts are growing.
He said Poppins Health plans to expand into the Columbus and Dayton markets next.
“Cincinnati is a little farther along in the health care ecosystem side of things,” he told me. “And two-thirds of the companies in the Cincinnati metro area are small businesses. I think people often forget that the heart engine of the U.S. is the small business. Walk down any street and you’ll pass by a bunch of them.”
Klosterman and fellow Poppins co-founders, Brodie Stone and Olivia Cameron, said they were inspired to start the company because their parents owned small businesses, but struggled to find to affordable health care.
The company is targeting employers with 200-250 workers or less. Poppins Health puts advanced primary care at its core (advanced primary care practitioners are traditionally not associated with any hospital systems and offer a wide assortment of other services).
Its health plan has no deductibles or coinsurance; patients pay a copay based on the doctor they see and where they have a service or surgery, but the amount in disclosed in advance.
Poppins Health so far has paired with Marathon Health, an advanced primary care provider with four employee-sponsored health care centers in the region. It's one of two new "strategic partnerships" Poppins announced this week, along with Watertown, Mass.-based Firefly Health.
Marathon's footprint in the region is another reason Poppins picked Cincinnati for its launch, Klosterman said. Marathon, formerly OurHealth, offers advanced primary care, behavioral health, physical therapy and lab and pharmacy services with same-day or next-day appointments.
Locally, Marathon Health serves around 20,000 patients. Its largest employer clients include First Financial Bank, Rumpke, Hamilton County and Advics, a Lebanon-based automotive parts manufacturer.
Poppins Health said Marathon and Firefly share a similar vision.
"We believe employers are the key to transforming health care in the U.S. Partnering with them to reestablish primary care as the foundation of our system is a proven way to deliver better outcomes and lower costs,” Dr. Jeff Wells, co-founder and CEO of Marathon Health, told Cincy Inno via email. “The opportunity to work with Poppins Health and bring our platform to even more small businesses is really exciting,”
Poppins Health, founded in 2019, has raised nearly $7 million in seed funding to date, including a round in September led by New York City-based Anthemis with participation from Echelon Capital, Flare Capital, Digitalis Ventures and Great Oaks VC.
The funds were earmarked to help the company expand operations and grow its team and business reach.
Poppins Heath currently employs 12 and plans to hire around 20 more this year. Klosterman said the goal is grow to 100 employees by the end of 2023.
