PurpleLab Inc. snagged $40 million in series B funding to fuel the startup's growth and build out its platform that analyzes real-world data to assess the effectiveness of health interventions.
The funding round, announced back in September, was led by Primus Capital, which joined existing investor Edison Partners and will enable the healthcare data analytics company to invest in new data assets, product development and new hires. Companies that can collect and organize clinical and claims data are attracting major investments as big players in healthcare leverage the data insights for research.
The startup also recently inked a collaboration with custom audience solutions company Dstillery to help the company leverage real-world data for custom patient targeting solutions. Through the partnership, Dstillery’s data scientists can seed a brand’s custom model with ICD-10 codes from claims data specific to a condition, in addition to search terms proven to reach the right patients.
PurpleLab boasts triple-digit growth for four consecutive years as healthcare organizations utilize the company's tools to improve cost-effectiveness, according to executives. The company has raised $43 million to date, according to Crunchbase.
PurpleLab organizes real-world data (RWD) through its HealthNexus platform into provider-specific, risk-adjusted cost and quality scores.
“We’re laser-focused on creating infrastructure and tools to assist our clients in converting real-world data into real-world evidence and this investment will accelerate the rate of adoption, conversion and ultimate return on their investment,” said Mark Brosso, CEO and founder of PurpleLab in a press release. “Understanding comparative performance of various treatments for every condition is becoming easier through technologies such as de-identification via tokenization and is being further driven by legislative mandates such as the 21st Century Cures Act. In a world with increased access to RWD, the biggest challenge lies in the ability to readily interpret the data. PurpleLab’s HealthNexus platform was designed to solve this problem and we are thrilled that Primus shares our vision.”
HealthNexus is used by life sciences companies, health plans and healthcare providers to help develop novel therapeutics or clinical strategies that lead to cost savings. Relevant data points that can inform treatment include patient and provider social determinants of health, risk adjustment factors, hierarchical condition categories and quality scores.
PurpleLab has passed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Qualified Entity (QE) application process, also known as the Medicare Data Sharing for Performance Measurement Program. This approval allows for full access to Medicare claims data under parts A, B and D for evaluating provider success.
The CMS program has come under scrutiny in previous years due to concerns that qualified entities may not meet certain cybersecurity standards.
“The QE data will support ongoing programs at PurpleLab, combining information from our commercial, Medicaid and Social Determinants of Health data sets along with the Medicare data to reveal how provider practices are similar or vary across different product lines,” said chief medical information officer, Russell Robbins, M.D., in a press release. “In addition, PurpleLab has developed a proprietary provider scoring methodology which was evaluated by independent reviewers and was accepted as a part of our QE application. This newly endorsed CMS methodology will benefit both consumers and healthcare providers in understanding quality, effectiveness and innovations in healthcare.”
For providers, the company says their tool provides insights into care that allow for increased revenue, reducing complications and improving outcomes. HealthNexus also functions as a medical terminology management platform to unite disparate silos within health systems.
PurpleLab has developed tools to integrate patients into the decision-making process regarding their own treatment, according to Brosso. For complex care, the company works to provide information on where to go and who to go to through the company’s platform and connected APIs. Providers and patients can use risk-adjusted cost and quality scores to understand each potential service provider’s variation in cost and outcomes, according to Brosso.
“Approximately 36 months ago, I found myself in an ER bed with a morphine drip in my right arm,” Brosso wrote in an email to Fierce Healthcare. “My gallbladder was ‘tapping out’ and I needed an emergency cholecystectomy. I ran a report from my smartphone while in the ER bed and ultimately decided to get discharged to select a surgeon with better outcomes. Eight days later I had a successful laparoscopic cholecystectomy and was discharged 15 hours later.”
Axios reported in April that the health tech company was exploring a sale and had attracted "significant inbound interest." Sources told Axios that the company's estimated GAAP revenue for 2022 is in the $20 million range, more than double the $10 million generated in 2021.