LRVHealth

LRVHealth’s mission-driven approach to investing is guided by our commitment to creating health and social impact with every investment. We measure the impact of every portfolio company based on three pillars:    -Creating Healthier Communities  -Expanding Access to Care  -Building Sustainable Systems    As we enter 2025 – LRVHealth's 25th anniversary! – our commitment to our mission is stronger than it’s ever been. And to showcase the remarkable work our portfolio companies are doing to drive positive change in the healthcare system, we have published our first LRVHealth Impact Report.    We are incredibly grateful to all our portfolio companies, SLPs, and executive advisors for their partnerships over the past 25 years. Here’s to another year of creating healthier communities, and a more accessible and sustainable healthcare system!  https://lnkd.in/dj-2xrrn

The 340B drug pricing program has become very complex, leading some to speculate that it could be dismantled. In our view, that’s unlikely, but it’s an ideal environment for innovation and investment. Specifically, opportunities exist in:    -Specialty Pharmacy Enablement  -Program Optimization  -Reporting & Compliance  -Discount Reporting    If you’re a safety-net provider, drug manufacturer, payer or policy maker looking for ways to drive more efficiency into 340B, read on. Josh Flum, Lise Courtney D'Amico, MBA, and Karen Au Yeung break everything down in the article below. If you’re an entrepreneur who’s innovating in the space, we’d love to hear from you. https://lnkd.in/eYC5Mbkq

Elements of the new Trump administration are coming into focus as announcements of key healthcare appointments and nominations provide indications for what the market can expect starting in January. To dissect the impact these changes might have, Wall Street Analyst Jeff Garro, CFA from Stephens joined Keith J. Figlioli to wrap up a four-part series of episodes on election implications. Some of the topics they discussed include: ·     Balance in management teams. When discussing elements he looks for in a good investment, Jeff talked about the lessons he’s learned evaluating management teams. He says companies need leaders that are great storytellers who can convey their vision and bring more investors under the tent. But cautions to stay vigilant for executives who might believe in their own narrative a little too much and in turn, don’t implement the right sets of checks and balances within their organization. ·     Predictions by payer type. One way Jeff is assessing the market in light of pending regulatory and policy changes is by breaking it down by payer type. For example, he expects minimal change in employer-sponsored coverage and a more favorable environment for Medicare Advantage, when comparing the first Trump term to the last few years of the Biden administration. He says Medicaid markets will be harder to predict because potential for decreased federal funding could create market pressures, but could also create opportunities where technology can help. Lastly, he’s considering the individual market and the potential for ACA subsidies to not be renewed. ·     Public vs. private markets. While Jeff’s primary role is analyzing public markets, he talked about how essential it is to understand innovation and activity occurring in private markets so he can ask the right questions and avoid being blindsided as new companies and technologies evolve. He also discussed the different mentalities of public versus private investors, and how those in private markets generally have the ability to be more patient – an advantage as we’re waiting for the new administration’s nominees to be appointed and confirmed. ·     The post-COVID reset. There are a lot of problems to solve in healthcare – as there always have been – but Jeff also believes there are a lot of good companies, both public and private, positioned to solve them. He sees a favorable backdrop for healthcare investors following the challenging environment from the global pandemic, and is hopeful that the market has hit a reset from a performance perspective. He sees a shift from “growth at all costs” to a more reasonable approach to sustainable growth and healthy profit margins. Catch the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/dJEX9WPG

Congratulations to our portfolio company, Cleerly, for raising a $106 million Series C extension round led by Insight Partners and joined by Battery Ventures! This funding will accelerate future growth and multi-site clinical trials. With heart disease being the leading cause of death in the United States, Cleerly’s AI software aims to identify early-stage coronary artery disease and other heart conditions in people without disease symptoms more accurately than other routine non-invasive methods such as measuring blood pressure and cholesterol levels. We are proud to be a part of Cleerly’s journey as they work to transform the way we treat heart disease. Read more about the funding announcement here:

$53.7 billion of drugs were purchased under the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program in 2022 alone, and over the past decade the program has grown at an average annual rate of 22.3%. 340B has been very successful helping providers that serve low-income and uninsured patients buy prescription drugs at discount rates directly from manufacturers. But with that much money flying around, controversy has followed, from all stakeholders involved, and the program has faced increased scrutiny and criticism.   There’s a lot of room for innovation in the 340B space to help it operate more efficiently. But in order to get there, the first step is understanding the history, intent, and mechanics of this complex program. It’s an area where our team – including Josh Flum, Lise Courtney D'Amico, MBA, and Karen Au Yeung – has spent a lot of time working to understand the intricacies.   We partnered with Blake Madden at Hospitalogy to break it all down and share our thoughts about where this critical program is headed.   https://lnkd.in/eMYsg2Xa

Congratulations to Neil Hattangadi, MD, MSc and the team at Cortica on their most recent funding – an $80 million round led by Morgan Health and Nexus NeuroTech Ventures!    We’re proud to support Cortica’s vision for offering whole-child care through a fully dedicated, physician-led care team covering a broad range of pediatric expertise, including neurologists, behavior analysts, speech pathologists, physical occupational therapists and more.    As Ellen Herlacher said at the recent Behavioral Health Business INVEST conference, “What [Cortica is] able to do is understand the multiple factors that are at play when you’re talking about a particular child and then specialize around what the right mix of care is.” This model is making significant strides in helping children with autism get the care they need and deserve.    https://lnkd.in/eDYXvAgf 

Healthcare was not a major focus during the 2024 election where other key issues drove most of the discussion. This left a vacuum around specific healthcare policies and what to expect from a second Trump Administration. With few details available and political capital to spend from the ‘red sweep’ this election, healthcare stakeholders are pondering how much of the incoming administration’s preference for disrupting the status quo will extend to the healthcare industry. For the third episode in a four part series on election implications – and the first one since votes were counted and winners declared – J.P. Morgan analyst Lisa Gill joined Keith J. Figlioli on the Healthcare is Hard podcast to analyze the outcome. Lisa has more than three decades of healthcare industry experience and has spent most of her career at J.P. Morgan where she has been covering the healthcare services industry for the last 27 years. Keith talked to Lisa about the lessons she’s learned covering healthcare for several decades, and asked her to share her outlook for what to expect in the months and years ahead. https://lnkd.in/e_DmpBd6

Yesterday, Keith J. Figlioli spoke on a panel exploring the impact of venture capital and private equity in healthcare at the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL) 2024 Executive Forum alongside David Ertel, Keith Pitts, Cathy Jacobson and Amy Christensen.       NCHL, thank you for gathering leaders for a great event this week & Anthony Stanowski, thank you for the photo! 

“If I had to characterize the first chapter of behavioral health investment, it was really around thinking about how you can use digital health to expand access. There was a real problem with supply and demand, and behavioral health is one of the best use cases for telehealth.”     Ellen Herlacher sat down with David Raths at Healthcare Innovation to discuss what came out of the first chapter of behavioral health investment, where there was success, and where things went wrong.     Read the full Q&A to learn where LRVHealth is focusing our energy today in behavioral health: https://lnkd.in/eb2hyn8u

Thanks to Fierce Healthcare for a great event this week at the Fierce Health Payer Summit in Austin, TX. Their team pulled together and drove discussions on a lot of important topics, with panels that included LRVHealth, our portfolio companies and other industry leaders.     Josh Flum joined a discussion about PBMs and the challenging realities of rising drug costs as amazing new therapies come to market. He offered perspective about how innovators and incumbents can work together.     Humata Health’s Jeremy Friese, MD was on a panel about prior authorization where he talked about the ability for AI to help remove friction for payers, providers and patients. He said AI should only be allowed to “say yes” and can do so quickly, narrowing the scope of cases that require human intervention, as Fierce explained in their Day 1 recap: https://lnkd.in/gdzJjZWY Socially Determined’s James Beem brought perspective to a session on Medicare Advantage about using data to better understand and address social risk, and making sure individuals are accessing the benefits that can address their specific needs.     Thank you Chris Hayden, Paige Minemyer, Heather Landi, Anastassia Gliadkovskaya and the rest of the Fierce team for bringing this all together!     #FierceHealthPayerSummit