Business-to-business telehealth provider SteadyMD announced it has acquired BlocHealth, a clinician licensing and credentialing platform.  

Under the deal, BlocHealth will continue to operate under its own name. It will offer services including license registration across states, payer enrollment, license renewal and consulting services for SteadyMD's in-house providers as well as clinicians working for partner organizations. 

"SteadyMD's nationwide, tech-enabled and board-certified clinician workforce is core to our business, as is our ability to quickly recruit, train and deploy these clinicians in a manner that maintains compliance across all 50 states,” SteadyMD cofounder and CEO Guy Friedman said in a statement. 

"The licensing and credentialing platform developed by BlocHealth will play a key role in helping us scale our clinician workforce even more efficiently to better serve patients and our partners."

THE LARGER TREND

Launched in 2016 as a virtual primary care concierge service, SteadyMD currently offers telehealth technology infrastructure, staffing and operations support for digital health companies, employers, pharmacies, health systems and other healthcare organizations.

In March 2021, the startup announced it had raised $25 million in Series B funding, about a year after it closed a $6 million Series A. 

Telehealth use surged at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic as patients and doctors tried to limit in-person interaction. Although telehealth use declined month-to-month for six of the 12 months of 2021, a report by FAIR Health found virtual care use is still elevated. In December 2021, telehealth claim lines made up 4.9% of medical claim lines nationally, compared with 0.2% in December 2019. 

Other companies in the space include eVisit, which raised $45 million in Series B funding last year; Truepill, which offers telehealth and digital pharmacy infrastructure; and staffing and services vendor Wheel, which announced a $150 million Series C raise earlier this year. 

ON THE RECORD

"We’re excited about joining the SteadyMD team," BlockHealth founder Jared S. Taylor said in a statement. "Together, we will have an end-to-end solution for healthcare administration. Our customers can effortlessly store and use their credentialing data in one place."