A Columbus telehealth startup with a growing clientele of orthopedic practices has added former Cardinal Health Inc. CEO Mike Kaufmann as a director in conjunction with an oversubscribed $4 million seed round.
Prescribe Fit Inc. over the course of 2022 expanded to several new states, according to a release, and increased by 20 times the number of physicians prescribing its platform for remote monitoring and lifestyle coaching for weight loss and fitness.
Tamarind Hill, a Dublin VC firm that recently closed a $50 million second fund, led the round that exceeded its target. Several individual investors joined, including Kaufmann and returning investors from the Grote family, owners of Donatos Pizza.
"We’re strongly positioned to realize our plans for growth and further establish ourselves as the leading platform," founder and CEO Brock Leonti said in the release.
Kaufmann left Cardinal in September after 32 years with the Dublin healthcare giant, the last five as CEO after three years as CFO. His tenure brought record revenue while navigating multiple crises including opioid litigation and ongoing struggles in its medical supply division.
"I evaluated dozens of opportunities for what’s next,” Kaufmann said. “Prescribe Fit was among the most exciting companies I met with. Their team, culture and mission immediately impressed me.”
The startup also is adding to its separate expert advisory board: Dr. Howard Luks, orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist who wrote the guidebook Longevity ... Simplified.
One of Columbus Inno's "Startups to Watch" for 2022, Prescribe Fit has grown to about 50 employees and expects to triple over the coming year. It has an expanded dedicated office inside the 401 W. Town St. coworking space in Franklinton.
Prescribe Fit first launched in early 2020 before the pandemic shut down non-emergency outpatient care. That pause allowed it to refine its product through focus on the single patient who had been signed up – while cementing the value of telehealth in the minds of once-skeptical physicians.
In 2022 the startup narrowed focus solely to orthopedic practices instead of a wider array of primary care and specialties. Doctors sign patients up for remote monitoring, which is billed to insurance, with a management fee to the startup.
Prescribe Fit nurses lead teams of care coordinators who meet remotely with patients and "edit" their daily routines with simple changes so the behavior changes stick. Patients snap photos of their dinner plates, for example, and coaches suggest easy changes. They recommend increased exercise through activities the patient already enjoys.
Patients of orthopedic practices are disproportionately diagnosed with obesity compared with the general population, according to the release. Prescribe Fit patients on average lose 5% of body weight in 16 weeks, and 82% reported reduction in severe pain after 30 days.
