Habitat Health, an organization founded last year to provide care support to older adults at home, secured $50 million in capital from investors Town Hall Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and Kaiser Permanente.
Two of those organizations—Kaiser Permanente and Town Hall Ventures—teamed up to launch Habitat Health as an integrated health care payer and provider to help older, low-income adults remain independent in their homes and communities. It operates as a Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), a model in which providers receive capitated payments from Medicare and Medicaid with which to provide comprehensive medical and social services.
About 78,000 adults aged 55 years or older participate in 177 PACE programs nationwide, according to data from the National PACE Association. The average PACE participant is 76 years of age and has multiple complex medical conditions, but 94% of those participating live in their communities. Ninety percent are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.
Habitat Health also announced a new senior management team with diverse leadership talent from industry players like Oak Street Health, Landmark Health, Evernorth and Interwell Health.
Matthew Bennett was tapped to serve as co-founder and CEO. Most recently, Bennett served as senior vice president of Cigna Evernorth's national portfolio of care delivery businesses, which deliver primary, specialty, behavioral, and post-acute care services to more than 26 million patients within clinics, at the home and virtually. Prior to that, he served as president of Evernorth Care Group, a value-based primary and specialty care provider in Arizona.
"Habitat Health has a special opportunity to offer better alternatives for aging Americans who wish to maintain independence in their homes and communities," Bennett said in a statement. "I'm thrilled to lead the company as we build a talented team, operations, and culture to deliver on this vision."
Robert Fuentes also was named co-founder and chief strategy officer. He is on secondment from Town Hall Ventures, where he is a vice president.
Carmen Peralta, M.D, is Habitat Health's new chief medical officer. She was previously chief clinical officer at Interwell Health and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. "Dr. Peralta's experience developing and deploying multidisciplinary models of care for individuals with complex needs, and her unwavering focus on health equity, will be instrumental as we bring innovative PACE solutions to diverse communities across the country," Bennett said in a statement.
Geoff Price, previously a co-founder and chief operating officer at Oak Street Health, was named executive chairman of the board.
In addition, Vinay Mascarenhas, previously co-founder and chief strategy officer at Landmark Health, is now acting chief operating officer and senior partner at Habitat Health. And, Mandira Singh is acting chief platform officer and senior partner. She was previously chief operating officer at Collective Medical.
All appointments are effective immediately.
Habitat Health will invest the $50 million in fresh capital to bring new access points for high-quality care to communities that have been historically underserved and under-supported, executives said.
The company is planning to open its first PACE center with Kaiser Permanente in California in 2025, while preparing for expansion with Kaiser Permanente across California, and nationally alongside other like-minded groups.
"This founding leadership team sets up Habitat Health for delivering high quality care to Kaiser Permanente members and other eligible patients throughout California and the rest of the country for many years to come," said Bechara Choucair, M.D., executive vice president and chief health officer at Kaiser Permanente and a member of Habitat Health's board of directors.