Medical billing startup Cedar cuts 24% of workforce as market constricts

As health tech companies try to navigate a market downturn, Cedar joins other digital health startups in cutting its workforce with an eye on its bottom line.

The healthcare payments company cut 24% of its workers, the company confirmed to Fierce Healthcare Thursday.

"While several factors contributed to this difficult decision, including the current macroeconomic climate, this is not about achieving short-term cost cuts. Going forward, we are focused on creating a long-term strategic path to profitability that supports Cedar’s business and product goals, while continuing to exceed the expectations of our customers and their patients," a company spokesperson said in a statement.

"It is still our mission to empower individuals to easily and affordably pursue the care they need," the spokesperson said. "Everyone at Cedar, including those leaving us, has made valuable contributions to this mission, and we sincerely thank our colleagues for all of their hard work."

A year ago, Cedar landed $200 million in series D financing led by Tiger Global Management, bringing the company’s valuation to $3.2 billion.

The company has raised $350 million in total funding to date.

Florian Otto, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder of Cedar, launched the startup in 2016 to modernize the medical billing process and remove pain points for patients around confusing, difficult billing and administrative processes. 

The New York-based company offers patient-personalized medical billing and pre-visit technology that includes appointment reminders, digital registration forms and the ability to collect insurance information. 

Last year, Cedar picked up OODA Health in a $425 million deal for a mix of cash and equity. The healthcare technology company offers a software billing platform for providers, payers, patients and insurers.

"Yesterday was an extremely tough day at Cedar," Otto said in a LinkedIn post. "We made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce, in order to adapt to current market realities, and re-organize ourselves for what we want to achieve following last year's acquisition of OODA Health. This move will help ensure we forge ahead sustainably on our mission."

A month ago, the company announced it was moving headquarters to the iconic 32 Avenue of the Americas building in New York City, following "significant growth in 2021."

Cedar interacts with more than 12 million patients a year and currently partners with health systems across the U.S., including Yale-New Haven Health, Summit Health, Novant Health and ChristianaCare, executives said last year.

Every day, more than 300,000 patients across 36 health systems use Cedar to pay an outstanding bill after a doctor visit or check their co-pay before a visit, according to the company.

Digital health companies enjoyed a pandemic-fueled boom in the past two years, but changing market conditions have forced some startups to scale back their workforces.

Ro, which offers pharmacy services, telehealth and in-home care, recently confirmed that it cut 18% of its workforce amid a market downturn. Carbon Health, a hybrid primary care company that banked a hefty $350 million funding round a year ago, reduced its global workforce by about 250 employees, the company announced in June.

Beleaguered mental health startup Cerebral also announced layoffs as it restructures its operations. The company is mired in a federal investigation of its prescribing practices.

Health tech companies cutting staff this year included Mfine, a Bengaluru, India-based platform company (600 employees laid off); Stockholm-based digital health company Kry (100 employees); Thirty Madison, which recently merged with Nurx (24); divvyDOSE (62); Noom (495); Ahead (44); Chinese healthcare company WeDoctor (500); and Truepill, according to Layoffs.fyi, which keeps a database of reported layoffs.

At-home diagnostics company Cue Health also is slimming down its business, cutting 170 people from its manufacturing workforce, Fierce Biotech reported.

Irish tech unicorn LetsGetChecked has laid off a number of employees over the past week, including staff working in Dublin, the Business Post reported.