Home wasn’t built in a day

Big health at home news of late, as Amedisys Inc. and Option Care Health—two providers of home health for higher-acuity patients—announced plans to merge in a deal valued at $3.6B. The announcement comes at a time of rising demand for home healthcare models, as well as widespread consumer familiarity with virtual care, pushing big-name brands like Best Buy and Salesforce to stake their ground within the at-home care market.

But home health innovation carries its own set of headwinds. The slowing down of COVID-19 assistance for home health operators—plus the squeeze on operating margin due to rising supply and labor expenses—is driving consolidation among players. Not to mention, market dynamics are shifting as health systems and virtual providers stand up their own home health initiatives, starting with lower-acuity care. We’ll be watching to see how consolidation, partnerships, and middle children activity change what type of care shows up at our doorsteps.

A couple of upcoming Rock Health happenings for our founder friends: 

+ Rock Health Capital and LRVHealth are co-hosting a happy hour for digital health entrepreneurs in Boston on Monday, June 5. Learn more and register here

+ Rock Health Advisory's startup business model and financials benchmark survey is closing soon! Take the survey by Friday, May 26 to receive an exclusive report with the findings. 

Headlines

To Become An Amazon Clinic Patient, First You Sign Away Some Privacy
Amazon’s new clinic offers tech giant more control over your health data The Washington Post

Digital Health Companies Making A Long-term Play To Tackle Metabolic Health
The hype over the $100B weight loss drug market continues Fierce Healthcare

Sixteen Healthcare Companies That Already Integrated ChatGPT
GPT-4 is already being baked into operations The Medical Futurist

FDA Calls For ‘Nimble’ Regulation of ChatGPT-like Models
Regulation could help calm a too-quick takeover by new tech Healthcare Dive

AI Is The Hot Topic On Earnings Calls This Quarter
1000+ mentions of AI on company calls—AI is truly everywhere these days Bloomberg

Recent Funding

  • Rock Health port co Amino Health nabs $80M for its matching platform for benefits programs
  • Care navigation and caregiver support solution Wellthy finds $25.5M
  • Optain launches with $12M for its AI-driven, imaging based diagnostic device for eye conditions
  • Sensydia discovers $8M for its noninvasive cardiac assessment solution
  • Lucem Health grabs $7.7M for its AI-powered clinical workflow and data management solutions