Blue Shield of California invests in Cricket Health expansion aimed at treating kidney disease

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Today, Cricket Health closed an $83.5 million Series B funding round led by Valtruis, which will enable Cricket's expansion to support demand for its care model for people with kidney disease.

Blue Shield of California made a strategic investment of an unspecified amount. The round also includes existing investors Oak HC/FT and Cigna Ventures, as well as K2 HealthVentures.

The expansion will improve clinical outcomes for people with kidney disease, resulting in lower costs for health plan partners, according to Cricket. In both Texas and California, across commercial and Medicare Advantage health plan partnerships, Cricket Health said it has shown improvements in key clinical measures for its populations living with kidney disease.

These include more than 50% fewer hospital admissions than the baseline, 77% of those starting dialysis doing so in an outpatient setting (compared with the status quo of 40%), 45% who need dialysis initiating it at home (compared with the status quo of 11%) and 60% of those starting dialysis doing so with a permanent access placed (compared with the normal baseline of 45%).

WHAT'S THE IMPACT

Through its StageSmart predictive analytics model, Cricket is able to identify patients with chronic kidney disease in Stage 3B and beyond with 96% accuracy, according to the company. This allows Cricket to risk stratify patient populations for plans and providers and deliver stage-specific care. 

Cricket Health extends care delivery capabilities through the MyCricket comprehensive support service, which includes a multidisciplinary care team, peer support and virtual educational resources, as well as by telephone or in person. 

If patients do progress to end-stage kidney disease, Cricket Health's approach increases transplant referrals, and according to the company, increases utilization of home dialysis and reduces unnecessary hospitalizations.

With the new funding, Cricket Health has raised a total of more than $120 million in equity and debt financing to date.

THE LARGER TREND

Blue Shield of California has had a busy year. In January, the nonprofit health plan teamed up with CommonSpirit Health (which operates Dignity Health hospitals) and software startup OODA Health on a high-tech pilot program. The three organizations launched the "member payments" pilot in September 2019 at two Dignity Health hospitals in Sacramento, California. The yearlong program grew to include six hospitals, and now the platform has been rolled out at more than 20 additional Dignity Health hospitals throughout California.

Then in April, BSC enhanced its Wellvolution program by adding two new services that provide personalized care and nutrition support for members living with or at risk for Type 2 diabetes. 

Wellvolution is a digital lifestyle medicine and health platform that can be personalized to each member's individual health needs and preferences. The platform, including these expanded programs, is available to plan members at no additional cost.

The new services include a digital health tool that enables members to engage in shared decision-making with their care team and a fresh-food delivery service for eligible members.
 

Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com