Curve Health raises $6m seed round, hires healthcare technology CEO, Rob MacNaughton

Curve Health raises $6m seed round, hires healthcare technology CEO, Rob MacNaughton

Published: 30-10-2020 13:35:00 | By: Pie Kamau | hits: 4325 | Tags:

Curve Health, a company that delivers connected senior care via a platform that combines telemedicine, smart billing, health information exchange, and predictive analytics, announced a $6 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with Dr. Ling Wong, Senior Advisor at Lightspeed, joining Curve Health's Board as an Observer.

Curve's latest funding round is accompanied by the announcement of Rob MacNaughton, nationally recognized top 50 healthcare technology executive (The Healthcare Technology Report) as the company's CEO. MacNaughton adds payor and healthcare system experience to a seasoned post-acute team. Timothy Peck, MD, the company's founding CEO, assumes the role of President and Executive Chair.

MacNaughton most recently led NurseGrid, the most recognized brand in the nurse scheduling sector -- to exit, and prior to that was the Chief Product Officer at Cambia Health Solutions, leading product strategy, development, and commercialization for its health insurance and consumer solutions divisions. Previously, MacNaughton was Vice President of Hospital Operations with Banfield Pet Hospital, and founder and CEO of Columbia Care LLC, a regional home health and hospice supportive care provider.

MacNaughton said: "I'm thrilled to be joining this team and am excited about the journey ahead. Curve Health has a mature product and a leadership team with domain expertise a rare combination for an early-stage company with Timothy Peck and the team's experience in post-acute care, and my experience on the payor and healthcare system side, we're equipped to quickly scale this solution and improve care to our most vulnerable patients. We are well-positioned to thrive and deliver a critically needed solution at this time."

Peck is the former founder and CEO of Call9 a trailblazing telemedicine company that cared for nursing home patients in place, avoiding unnecessary trips to the hospital. The platform delivered more than 150,000 telemedicine encounters, managed more than 5,000 patients daily and reduced patient transfers from Skilled Nursing Facilities to hospitals by greater than 50%.

Timothy Peck,  who lived in a nursing home for three months to optimize a telemedicine solution for people in nursing homes said: "At Call9 we proved out the solution that Curve Health builds upon (CNBC article)  Covid-19 has heightened the urgency of delivering virtual care to this vulnerable patient population. Additionally, the Medicare payment mechanisms that were not in place when Call9 existed and that we advocated for, are now in place, so we see unlimited potential to deliver the Curve solution, scale to nursing homes and ambulance companies across the country, improve patient care and avoid unnecessary hospitalizations."

Curve Health has also partnered with the global design and innovation firm, IDEO, to build out its solution and ensure an unmatched patient and provider experience. Tim Brown, Chair of IDEO, joins Curve Health's Board as an Observer, in addition, Ben Jealous, former President of the NAACP, investor, politician and civic leader joins the Curve Board as a Board Member. Additional investor participation includes Vituity, Westway Capital, Correlation Ventures, Kapor Capital, Rosecliff Venture Partners, and The Fund, as well as angel investments from Kal Vepuri, Arun Gupta and Kristin Baker Spohn.

MacNaughton will helm an aggressive market expansion plan that includes working with leading skilled nursing facilities, hospitals, ambulance companies and physician groups to ensure rapid growth.

"The combination of insights from the nursing home ecosystem along with working with Rob," Peck said, "who has extensive experience partnering with hospitals and healthcare systems, will ensure that we scale Curve's connected senior care platform as quickly as possible to create a transformative experience for people in their moment of need and foster systemic change in the American healthcare system."

www.curvehealth.com