St. Louis digital health startup Readout Health said Tuesday it has rebranded and bolstered its technology after a merger with a Florida firm.
Readout said it has merged with a Tampa, Florida-based company called "Well-Being, a Tribe Planted with Purpose," and rebranded as Journeys Metabolic. Journeys Metabolic has combined the products developed by Readout and Well-Being to offer a health program the startup said is designed to help patients prevent and reverse metabolic diseases, including Type 2 diabetes and obesity. Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed.
Journeys Metabolics on Tuesday unveiled its technology that includes a four-month, digital health program for patients and “drives long-term behavior modification to support the reversal and prevention of metabolic disease.”
Journeys Metabolic’s digital health program pairs together products that were developed by Well-Being and Readout. That includes a wellness plan developed by Well-Being designed for patients with metabolic disease. Well-Being was co-founded by Allison Hull, a physician at Florida Medical Clinic who has joined Journeys Metabolic as a co-founder, and Kelly Matthew, who is the firm's head of clinical program development. Journeys Metabolics said its digital health program includes a hand-held metabolism-tracking device developed by Readout that provides users with fat burn data through the use of breath samples.
Journeys Metabolic CEO Jim Howard said it was always Readout’s ambition to combine its device with a health program that could drive positive clinical outcomes for patients. He said the health protocol developed by Well-Being has “been in use and proven.” Journeys Metabolics said Tuesday the health program has been used by more 3,000 patients and delivered results that have included an average of 8% body weight loss and an average 17% decrease in A1c levels in diabetes patients. Journeys Metabolics said its digital health program used by patients at home includes artificial intelligence technology that allows it to be personalized to each patient and help them with their nutrition.
Howard said Journeys Metabolic is targeting its technology to be used by health systems and health care organizations, in particular those that provide value-based care, which typically means organizations paid based on the health outcomes of patients.The company said its health program would allow them to “standardize metabolic care” across their patient base and has the potential to “improve clinical and financial outcomes” for patients and health systems.
Howard contended Journeys Metabolic is the first to offer its type of program for metabolic diseases and projects its customer base will grow as more health systems turn to value-based care models.
“We anticipate pretty rapid adoption because we don’t have any direct competition at this time,” he said.
As it seeks to sign on customers, Journeys Metabolic has expanded its leadership team, with a focus on adding executives with previous experience in management roles at health systems. It has hired Steve Edwards, the former CEO of Springfield, Missouri-based health system CoxHealth, as chief strategy officer and Greg Robinson as chief technology officer. Robinson formerly was chief data analytics officer at Marshfield Clinic, a health system in Wisconsin.
Journeys, with its headquarters at 2940 Locust St. in Midtown, has 12 employees and is currently hiring for clinical and patient support roles. Howard said Journeys Metabolics is currently raising seed funding. He said the company recently had a first close on a funding round and expects to fully close the financing in the fourth quarter of 2023.
