WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ventricle Health, a national virtual cardiology care network, today announced $8 million in seed funding led by RA Capital Management alongside Waterline Ventures and other investors. This investment round will finance the expansion of Ventricle Health’s heart failure management therapeutic model in collaboration with value-based care provider groups and payers. The Company’s care model is anchored around well-established guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) pathways. They provide patients access to cardiology care appointments from their home in as little as three days. Ventricle Health’s home-based and virtually enabled care model can reduce the overall average annual cost of heart failure care by at least 30-50%.
Ventricle Health: Solving for Critical Cardiovascular Care Issues
- Heart failure spending in the U.S. Medicare population alone is on pace to exceed $70B by 2030, making it the second largest category spend after renal failure. Employer health costs are similarly rising related to increasing heart failure diagnoses in their aging employee populations.
- Despite these rising costs, currently only 1% of the eligible heart failure population is on optimal titrated dosages for the guideline-directed medical therapies.
- Access challenges to get to a cardiologist in a timely manner after hospital discharges only exacerbates the problem of heart failure related re-admissions. Today, the average wait time to secure a cardiology appointment in the U.S. is 26 days - time that can make all the difference in the outcomes and ultimate costs of caring for a heart failure patient.
Ventricle is led by a veteran team of heart failure clinicians, value-based care operators and digital health innovators, many of whom have a personal story of family heart failure that fuels their passion. The Company is operational and delivering high-impact virtual and home-based clinical services in support of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), primary care practices and their payer partners in the Mid-Atlantic, Texas, Ohio and Florida, with more markets to be announced in the near future.
“Our foundational service lines offer a rapid path for either payers or value-based provider groups to connect heart failure patients to high quality cardiology services and provides a model for cardiologists to effectively manage more patients,” said Ventricle Health founder Dr. Daniel Bensimhon. “Study after study has shown that getting heart failure patients on appropriate guideline-directed medical therapy can dramatically improve health outcomes and lead to marked reductions in costs and improvements in quality of life in just weeks – yet typically less than 20% of our patients are on these medications even when they come out of the hospital. Ventricle is here to change that.”
Chief Executive Officer, Sean O’Donnell, added, “It is incredibly exciting to have partners like RA Capital and Waterline make this investment in our mission. Each team brings tremendous clinical and value payment-policy depth from their existing portfolio partner collaborations. Along with our existing investor partners and an amazing team of seasoned value-based clinical operators, their investment will help us accelerate and expand access to a care model that is so urgently needed in the US beyond the markets we are currently serving.”
“Not unlike what we’ve seen in the kidney disease category, heart failure today is often first diagnosed only after a patient has been hospitalized. This makes heart failure an area poised for significant value-based disruption,” said Anurag Kondapalli, Principal at RA Capital Management. “We spent considerable time looking across companies operating in the cardiovascular care space. Rather than purely focusing on a technology-based solution, Ventricle Health stood out to our team as the unique clinical leader poised to offer ACOs and payers a rapidly deployable, full turn-key solution that can deliver outsized value for their partners. This marks RA’s fifth value-based care investment in the past two years as we’ve scoured the market for what we consider to be best-model companies to unlock value in healthcare.”
To learn more about Ventricle Health, visit https://www.ventriclehealth.com/
About Ventricle Health
Ventricle Health is a national, virtual cardiology clinic on a mission to reimagine the way cardiac care is delivered. Data shows fully 50% of cardiovascular patients lack timely access to a cardiologist. By meeting members where they are with virtual, evidence-based therapy, remote patient monitoring and patient education and advocacy, Ventricle Health enables them to lead healthier and longer lives. This can lower healthcare costs by 30-50% in the process. Founded in 2021 by top heart failure cardiologist, Dr. Dan Bensimhon, Ventricle Health’s team of veteran heart failure clinicians, value-based care operators and digital health innovators are driven by a focused vision to build the most proactive, engaging and impactful provider network for cardiac care in the U.S. The company is backed by RA Capital Management, Waterline Ventures and other investors. Visit www.ventriclehealth.com to learn more.
About RA Capital Management
RA Capital Management is a multi-stage investment manager dedicated to company formation and evidence-based investing in healthcare and life science companies developing drugs, medical devices, diagnostics, services, and research tools. The firm’s portfolio of private and public companies spans the globe and most therapeutic areas across all stages from discovery through commercialization. We are committed to fostering diversity at RA, in our portfolio companies, and in the broader biotech community.
About Waterline Ventures
Waterline Ventures invests in the early stage healthcare technology and services companies that are improving the way care is delivered. Increasing costs, inconsistent quality, and inadequate access to healthcare create the need for innovation. There is a massive and growing opportunity for technological transformation in healthcare. Their entrepreneurs are leading the change within healthcare.
Media Contact:
Abi Blanchard For Ventricle Health
ablanchard@wearetierone.com
