A Silicon Valley digital health incubator is getting another round of funding from the nation’s largest physician organization and beefing up its leadership team with former executives from Apple, IBM and Johnson & Johnson.
The American Medical Association (AMA) announced a $27.2 million investment in Health2047, a self-described "innovation enterprise" launched by the association in 2016 with a $15 million investment. Since then, the company has spun off Akiri, formerly known as SwitchCo Inc., a platform designed to securely share data across the industry.
The additional funding will “ramp up the development and commercialization of promising new technology-based solutions,” according to the release. Development will focus specifically on chronic disease reduction, productivity and value-based healthcare.
“This new investment will help us create much-needed changes in the U.S. healthcare system,” Health2047 CEO Lawrence K. Cohen said in a statement. “Our growing team collaborates closely with both the physician community and technology leaders to tackle key problem areas. We will deploy this new investment to broaden our network of strategic partners and accelerate the pace at which we are able to develop and spin out new businesses in our four areas of focus.”
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To do that, Health2047 has added a handful of new leaders from prominent tech companies. Daphne Li, former director of strategy at Apple, will join as a new managing director, along with Piers Nash, former IBM global solutions consultant in genomics and healthcare, and Lúcia Soares, former vice president of health technology program strategy and delivery at Johnson & Johnson.
Gary Cookhorn, the former managing director of Fortress Investment Group has signed on as the group’s chief financial officer.
AMA CEO James Madara said Health2047’s work can “improve both care delivery and health outcomes to benefit the nation’s physicians and their patients.”
Madara has previously said the association’s long-term goal is to help physicians “confront oceans of data" that offer just "puddles of clinical meaning." Broadly, the AMA has made several significant moves into the health IT space, including the launch of an Integrated Health Model Initiative with Intermountain Healthcare, Cerner and IBM.