Less than six months after announcing its Series A, Homeward Health has raised another $50 million to build out its rural healthcare service.
The San Francisco company provides mobile and in-home primary care services for seniors covered by Medicare who live in rural communities, where there may be few nearby primary care providers that they can easily access.
ARCH Venture Partners and Human Capital led the Series B round, which also included General Catalyst among other investors. And it brings the company's total funding to $70 million.
On Wednesday, the startup also announced it was partnering with Priority Health, a Michigan-based health insurance and benefits provider, to deliver its services in the Midwestern state. It expects to reach at least 30,000 Medicare Advantage patients through the partnership.
“Despite the fact that nearly one in five Americans live in rural communities, our current healthcare system is ill-equipped to support these individuals with consistent access to high-quality care,” Homeward co-founder and CEO Jennifer Schneider said in a statement. "Our target market is tightly distributed among a small handful of health plans. In fact, approximately 90 percent of Medicare-eligible beneficiaries who live in rural markets are covered by seven payers. This funding enables us to reach rural populations even faster in partnership with health plans and local physicians.”
In May, Homeward also partnered with RiteAid to deliver its primary care services at the drug store's locations in rural areas of Michigan.
That partnership will allow Homeward to set up mobile care units in RiteAid's parking lots. The goal is to meet patients where they are and in convenient locations, whether it's at home or while they're already out shopping or picking up a prescription.
The new funding will allow Homeward to build out its services and care teams as it expands into more states this year, the company said in a press release.
More than 52 million people were 65 years or older in 2020, according to the U.S. Census, and that number is expected to exceed 80 million by 2040. And nearly one-quarter of seniors lived in rural areas as of 2016.
