Seeing friends and family pass away exposed dysfunctions in the U.S. health care system for local entrepreneur Chris Gay and his fellow co-founders, leading to the launch of their new Dallas-based venture.
Last week, Evry Health, a business-to-business health insurance tech startup emerged from stealth with plans for rapid growth as it looks to provide higher quality care at a lower price.
“We believe the U.S. health care system is broken. We spend twice as much per capita on health care as other Western, excellent medical systems,” said Gay, who serves as CEO. “We decided we could do something about that.”
Targeting companies with headcounts between 100 and 2,000 in North Texas, Evry Health’s technology automates the administrative side – from care coordination to claims handling – of employee health insurance plans, while the company works with a network of hospitals and care providers with fees tied to patient outcomes, rather than on a fee-for-service model. The company also provides built-in wellness plans, where rewards can be earned and deposited on a card. Gay said Evry Health’s plans have no deductibles or copays for in-network care, adding that the company is able to lower premiums by up to 20%.
“The end result for a policyholder or an employee is that they get a mobile-first experience. Everything that they need is in their control, in the palm of their hand,” Gay said. “The pandemic has helped a lot of people realize that they are overpaying for the health care that they're receiving. They're getting less than they should, they're paying too much for it and it's not very accessible.”
Evry Health was formed in 2017. Gay has a background in fintech and insurance, having previously launched auto insurance startup MileMeter and working as a managing director for early-stage VC firm MDB Capital Group. His co-founders bring experience in health care. Mark Jamilkowski, who serves as CFO, is the founder and managing partner of health care consulting service G.O. Strategic Advisors. Jay Startz, a former startup founder and financial analyst for VMG Health, serves as COO. Evry Health’s leadership also includes Chief Medical Officer Mamata Majmundar, a former medical director for Aetna.
The company picked up traction, joining the Y Combinator accelerator program. The organization would become one of Evry Health’s backers on the more than $7.3 million funding round that it reported raising in June. Gay said other investors include Peak State Ventures, SineWave Ventures and Western Technology Investment.
The funding, in addition to helping with things like staffing and marketing, helped propel it toward what Gay called one of Evry Health’s biggest milestones so far: capitalizing on an insurance carrier and becoming a fully-licensed life and health insurance carrier with the state of Texas, which happened about a month ago.
“There are major shifts in telehealth, there are major shifts in wellness,” Gay said. “You've got to use technology in parts, you've got to use what we call value-based contracts, where we're aligning everyone's incentives towards patient quality outcomes.”
Gay said Evry Health is set to start serving its first customers at the beginning of 2022. From there it will look to add more clients, focusing on the DFW area. The company will also be looking to add to its team. Currently with a team of 10, Gay said Evry Health will be looking to bring on between 30 and 50 new employees in positions ranging from software engineering to claim administration and customer support.
“This is the best place to launch for two reasons. Number one, we have over 1,200 businesses in just the core North Texas area that are perfect candidates to work with Evry Health. It's a great large market with a lot of growing businesses,” Gay said. “The second reason is we're from here… so we'd like to see the change start here.”
