MultiCare’s Indigo Health, the urgent care division of the health system, announced a collaboration with on-demand virtual primary care company 98point6.
The partnership marks 98point6’s first venture as a third-party software provider, an endeavor supported by the $20 million raised to scale the offering from existing investors including L Catterton and Activant Capital. The text-based digital primary care service will now offer its platform to Indigo Health’s hybrid ambulatory care program. Since its founding in 2015, Indigo Health has expanded to 35 urgent care clinics across Washington state along with a virtual care component and primary care services. 98point6 was founded in 2015 with the goal of providing text-based primary care.
“We started with a simple idea: to make a visit to the doctor as convenient and satisfying as going to your favorite coffee shop,” said Ryan Fix, president of retail health at MultiCare, in a statement. “Our strategic partnership with 98point6 will help us scale our digital capabilities to meet community demand and bring a new level of meaningful engagement to our customers. The health care landscape is changing quickly, with big players in the technology and healthcare sectors making significant investments in this direction. We know customers are eager to see the healthcare industry evolve and enhance digital capabilities for better care.”
MultiCare Health is the largest health system in Washington state. The Tacoma-based company was founded in 1882 and now encompasses 11 hospitals, comprehensive specialty care and the urgent care division, Indigo Health. The health system has continued to grow with recent small milestones including the acquisition of a family health center previously run by the University of Washington Medicine’s Valley Medical Center and breaking ground on a community emergency room.
"Indigo Health’s strategic partnership is a major milestone toward our vision to make achieving optimal health a reality for everyone," said Jay Burrell, president of 98point6, in a statement. "Labor shortages, lagging technologies and a dynamic market have placed tremendous pressure on health systems to innovate across their customer journey, technology infrastructure and operating models."
Through primary care in all 50 states, 98point6 connects users with clinicians and AI-powered chatbots, texts and digital images. In 2021, the platform expanded into behavioral health and collaborated with Quest Diagnostics to incorporate patient labs into its platform. The Seattle company saw membership rocket 274% in 2020 due to a pandemic-era move to virtual healthcare.
The platform provides virtual primary care and integrated behavioral care with a belief that its text-based model circumvents barriers to care, reaching new patients who might not otherwise seek assistance. Aug. 17, the company announced the expansion of its behavioral health care to adolescents.
Nearly 1 in 5 children and teens in the U.S. have a mental, emotional or behavioral disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Only 20% of children with such diagnoses receive care from a specialized mental health care provider. The CDC cited a lack of physical proximity to care as a reason for a shortage of treatment. For these reasons, the department is promoting the expansion of digital health programs.
“Healthcare is in a period of radical transformation—the previous growth and cost reduction strategies of healthcare organizations, particularly health systems, will no longer serve them,” Burrell said. “Our team has learned a tremendous amount in the past seven years as a standalone virtual clinic. I’m tremendously excited about this next stage of our business, as health systems leverage the 98point6 platform to deliver value to their patients and their organizations in new ways.”
98point6 raised $118 million in series E funding in 2020 and had raised $250 million total as of July 2022. While the company told GeekWire it is still in a growth phase, it laid off 10% of its workforce in July amidst a slew of similar cutbacks across the tech industry.
MultiCare has seen its own recent challenges including a June data breach originating at Avamere Health Services LLC, a third-party entity. The breach is estimated to have compromised the health information of over 18,000 patients.
Tuesday, Moody's Investors Service downgraded MultiCare’s revenue bonds to A1 from Aa3 with no mention of the data breach but a focus on $2 billion in outstanding debt. The outlook of the health system’s bonds has been revised from stable to negative. Moody’s foresees operational improvement in the second half of 2022 with faith placed in MultiCare’s robust ambulatory program.