UpStream Care
Industry: Health management services
Founded: 2017
Top executive: Sanjay Doddamani, CEO
Address: 1100 Revolution Mill Drive, Suite 10, Greensboro
Phone: 336-285-7985
Within a few months, UpStream Care accomplished every startup’s dream – doubling, growing both its employees and the patients it cares for. It also raised $45 million late last fall and is now already in the midst of a Series B capital raise, according to CEO Sanjay Doddamani.
Doddamani declined to disclose an amount, but said he hopes to have the fundraise completed in the next month or so.
Founded in 2017, UpStream embeds nurses and pharmacists in doctors’ offices, allowing primary care doctors to maximize the value-based care they provide, particularly to vulnerable groups like seniors. Value-based care emphasizes outcomes and incentivizes doctors to provide higher-quality care rather than more care; UpStream assumes the financial risk that comes with value-based care.
The startup also has its own technology platform built upon data analytics to understand which patients have a certain condition, how severe it might be, what gaps exist in care and how to close those gaps. This allows UpStream to take action through medication optimization, disease management and care coordination programs.
UpStream has embedded its employees in 72 practices, 66 of which are in a four-county region in the Triad. It directly engages with about 30,000 patients and oversees the care of about 100,000 seniors through its clinical partnerships, Doddamani said.
The company employs just under 300 people and is partnered with about 280 primary care doctors. Doddamani expects that in 2023, more than 1,200 primary care doctors will partner with UpStream. He also hopes to employ 1,000 people by early next year.
The tremendous growth that UpStream has experienced is in large part due to a $45 million Series A investment from Dragoneer Investment Group and strategic partnerships across the state.
At the beginning of the year, UpStream began a partnership with Cone Health.
The organization has embedded its pharmacists and nurses in many of the primary care practices in Cone’s Triad HealthCare Network, an accountable care organization comprised of Cone and non-Cone doctors. The network includes almost 2,400 providers across Alamance, Guilford, Forsyth, Randolph and Rockingham counties.
It also has a partnership with the Community Care Physician Network of North Carolina, which has allowed UpStream to expand into other areas of the state such as Raleigh and Charlotte. Doddamani said UpStream will be expanding into South Carolina, Virginia and New York, with clinical partnerships underway.
Doddamani plans to keep UpStream’s headquarters in Greensboro, saying the company leases 70,000 square feet of space in Revolution Mill, some of which is being renovated.
