Allina Health partners with VC to scale hospital-at-home model 

MINNEAPOLIS – Allina Health has partnered with venture capital firm Flare Capital Partners to launch Inbound Health, a new company that enables health systems and health plans to offer hospital-at-home and skilled nursing-at-home programs. 

Allina Health and Flare Capital are leading a $20 million fundraising round for Inbound Health to scale successful acute care-at-home programs nationally through their unique partnership model, they say. 

“The home hospital programs that we’ve scaled to thousands of patients here in Minnesota are rooted in our Population Health drivers of delivering safe, high quality, affordable care that’s timely and convenient to access,” said Lisa Shannon, president and CEO of Allina Health, which has more than 90 clinics, 12 hospitals and 14 retail pharmacies. “We are excited for Inbound Health to leverage the capabilities and know-how that power these programs to scale similar at-home programs across the nation.” 

To date, more than 4,200 patients across 185 primary diagnoses have been cared for through Inbound Health, which has been operational in Allina Health’s service area since May 2020. The program combines biometric monitoring, digital surveillance, in-home nursing and therapy, virtual visits with hospitalists and geriatricians, and a comprehensive supply chain. 

Inbound Health, which will be led by CEO Dave Kerwar, formerly of Mount Sinai Health System, says it lowers total-cost-of-care by 30% to 40% on a risk-adjusted basis, while achieving similar or improved clinical outcomes when compared to traditional facility-based care. These outcomes have enabled Inbound Health and Allina to develop unique episodic-based payer contracts with multiple commercial and Medicare Advantage payers in Minnesota, a model that the company plans on replicating with partners in other markets. 

“We are proud to be backed by one of the most prestigious health systems and one of the largest dedicated health care technology venture capital firms in the country in our pursuit to revolutionize this new level of care,” said Kerwar. “Inbound Health will leverage the clinical, operational and technology assets that we’ve developed alongside Allina Health to enable our customers nationwide to safely offer facility-level care in the home, at a lower cost and with an elevated patient and caregiver experience.”