A Tempe-based health care technology company has raised a new infusion of capital to fuel its commercial growth.
TruLite Health closed on a $7 million series A round led by Philadelphia-based Osage Venture Partners, with participation by Xcellerant Ventures, Ensemble Innovation Ventures and several existing seed investors.
TruLite Health will use the investment for client support services and expansion of its Truity product, which it describes as the "first comprehensive health equity platform committed to breaking the chain of systemic inequality in healthcare and rebuilding client trust."
“Systemic clinical bias must be addressed if we are to provide equitable care and improve outcomes, quality, and cost,” Alan Roga, co-founder and CEO of TruLite Health, said in a Aug. 29 statement. “We are excited by the positive industry-wide reception for our solution and to partner with leading healthcare organizations in addressing systemic clinical bias as a necessary complement to existing Social Determinants of Health initiatives.”
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The company, which introduced Truity to the commercial market in January, saw significant early interest from health systems. That accelerated a need to expand its sales, support and services staff.
“We’ve been very well-received because it’s a top five priority for health systems to address health equity,” Roga told AZ Inno. “The Joint Commission has made health equity a national patient safety goal as of July 1 for health systems and we align well with that.”
The Truity platform — which can be embedded within health providers’ electronic records systems — draws information from a proprietary clinical knowledge base of health equity insights and combines it with patients’ health records to provide personalized information and recommendations for care to clinicians.
“The team at TruLite Health is providing a novel and critically important solution to address health equity. Their unique and compelling approach to remediating clinical bias at the point of care can dramatically improve outcomes for diverse patient populations and is deeply aligned with our interest in investing in the futures of work and education,” Robert Adelson, managing director of Osage Venture Partners, said in a statement. “We are excited to support such an exceptional team, which brings deep domain expertise and a successful track record having previously built one of the largest telehealth companies in the market.”
Closing the health care equity gap
Roga, a seasoned health care technology entrepreneur and emergency medicine physician, co-founded TruLite Health with Shaung Liu in 2021 to close the health care equity gap, resulting in better patient outcomes, improved provider performance and lower care costs, he said.
Prior to launching TruLite Health, Roga held several roles at Teledoc Health Inc., including chief clinical operations officer and president of hospital and health systems.
While president of hospital and health systems at Teledoc Health, Roga grew revenue of its internal health system division from $100,000 to $130 million within three years. He was also a key member of the management team that oversaw 12 acquisitions and took the company public in 2015.
TruLite Health, which has 22 employees, was selected for the Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University MedTech accelerator program in March.
The yearlong accelerator, a flagship program of the Mayo Clinic and the ASU Alliance for Health Care, provides emerging companies with entrepreneurial curriculum and business development plans to accelerate investments and product commercialization.
In addition, TruLite Health forged a partnership with the Morehouse School of Medicine to offer a health equity coach certificate program, Roga said.
TruLite Health has been in discussions with nearly half of the health systems nationwide regarding its Truity platform, which is also generating interest from life sciences organizations, he said.
“We will continue reaching populations of need through health systems and payers, primarily so that we can ensure the care delivery teams and patients have the right tools to optimize for equitable care,” Roga said.
