Last week Avia, a digital health insights and consulting service, announced that it raked in $22 million in new funding. First Trust Capital Partners led the round with participation from Sumitomo Corporation of Americas and Ziegler. 

As part of the news, Avia has also named Jon Phillips, the managing director and head of private equity at First Trust Capital Partners, and Darren Dworkin, the SVP of enterprise information services and chief information officer at Cedars-Sinai, as new board members. 

WHAT THEY DO 

The company works with healthcare providers and other stakeholders to help organizations analyze digital tools and understand how those tools will impact finances and clinical care. The service works with its clients to get an overview of the market, set up goals, evaluate solutions and drive adoption. 

The service aims to help its clients figure out what wearables, apps, chatbots and other digital tools make sense for its needs. 

“Digital technologies have transformed nearly every other industry, resulting in massive value creation, increased competitive intensity, and greater disparity between winners and losers. The installation of electronic medical record systems over the last decade represents just the first step in digital’s impact on healthcare. As the digital disruption of healthcare accelerates over the coming decade, we see big opportunities but equally big risks for incumbent healthcare providers,” Eric Langshur, cofounder and CEO of Avia, said in a statement. 

WHAT IT’S FOR 

The latest funds will be put towards expanding its services into new digital areas. In particular the new money will go towards its efforts in understanding consumer health and how digital can be used in Medicaid, virtual health and automated tools. 

MARKET SNAPSHOT 

The company was founded in 2013 and early on teamed up with MobiHealthNews parent company HIMSS. However, this is far from the only digital health insights and consulting firm. HealthBox, a Chicago-based innovation consulting and fund management service, was acquired by HIMSS in 2018.