San Francisco-based Amino, which offers an online healthcare marketplace platform, has raised $25 million in Series C funding. Highland Capital Management led the round, and Accel, Aspect Ventures, CRV, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, Pilot Wall Group and others contributed. Previously, the company raised a little over $19 million, and this new investment brings Amino’s total funding to date to nearly $45 million.
The company uses big data to match consumers with the best doctor for them. This is achieved with Amino’s massive trove of deidentified data from patient experiences as described in the services billed and paid for in 9 billion commercial and Medicare insurance claims. That data represents 951,000 practicing doctors and their facilities, and accounts for $1.8 trillion in American healthcare spending analyzed, the company says.
“What we try to do is meet people where they are,” Amino CEO and cofounder David Vivero told MobiHealthNews. “We’re allowing providers and payers to plug in, meaning each individual’s own healthcare community plugs in, so they get personalized information, they have access to a near-real time deductible quote and the network is actually filtering what they see so it’s more tailored to their specific need.”
With the latest funding, Amino will continue on its quest to becoming “the single source of truth for American healthcare,” as the company says, meaning pulling together enough data from insurance claims to create a comprehensive and trusted source of information about healthcare access, cost and quality. Since launching in 2015, the company has continually expanded its database and also partners with providers, hospitals, imaging centers and other healthcare services to add more insights and connect patients, who are able to book appointments within the platform.
“When you are looking for the right doctor, in order to get a real sense, you need to get data. Not just opinions or reputations, but real behavior,” Vivero said. “So how does someone normally do this? When we are sick, we go out to search engines and multiple browsers, but the results are never really going to ring true for an individual. The core idea is there needs to be visibility, in near-real time, about what is happening in American healthcare.”
To offer that, Vivero said, the company has been slow and careful with its approach, and didn’t shy away from tackling the biggest, most complex organizations and their data to build up their platform.
“Right away, we knew we would work with Medicare,” said Vivero. “Seventy-eight percent of physicians are reimbursed by Medicare. You literally cannot have an opinion about the experience of patients in a doctors office without the perspective from the largest payer in the country. Even if you use the largest employers’ data, it’s not going to be the same in regards to getting the whole picture.”
The service is free to consumers, but employers and healthcare industry stakeholders pay for the platform through a subscription. In addition to the funding, Amino is also announcing extra services for employers – on an invite-only basis – called Amino Plus, which allows them to sponsor their employees’ experiences by connecting them with in-network care. The company is also partnering with providers to improve search and booking within their networks. In the coming months, Amino is looking to add more stakeholder partners, including patient advocacy groups and nonprofits.
“Rising healthcare costs coupled with a shifting policy landscape bring both uncertainty and opportunities for private sector innovation and growth in a $3 trillion industry. Chief among these opportunities is the ability to deliver true transparency across the ecosystem,” Highland Capital Management’s Michael Gregory said in a statement. “Amino, with its unprecedented database and highly engaging consumer products, is well-positioned to lead the next generation of transparency efforts.”
