Access HealthNet, a startup developing software designed to help employers save money on their workers’ healthcare, has raised $1 million in debt funding from a dozen investors, according to a securities filing.
Wauwatosa, WI-based Access HealthNet works with its business clients to help them find the lowest prices for common medical procedures. Specifically, the digital tools the startup is developing help users determine, among all the healthcare providers covered under an employee health plan, which one charges the lowest amount for a given procedure or so-called episode of care.
Access HealthNet has raised more than $5.7 million in combined equity and debt funding since launching in 2014, according to regulatory documents. Its backers have included the BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation and Wisconsin Super Angel Fund. The startup is seeking an additional $650,000 in debt financing for its latest investment deal, the new SEC filing shows.
Leaders at the startup did not immediately return a message asking what Access HealthNet plans to do with proceeds from the new funding round.
Access HealthNet is among the software companies helping employers navigate the shift from fee-for-service healthcare reimbursement models toward value-based care. Value-based care is aimed at incentivizing hospitals and other care providers to keep costs as low as possible by keeping patients healthy, rather than reimbursing them for individual units of care like procedures and lab tests.
The primary users of Access HealthNet’s service are employers that self-insure, meaning they’re responsible for paying the majority of their workers’ bills after they receive care, co-founder and CEO Eric Haberichter told Xconomy previously.
In May, Access HealthNet announced a partnership with another Wisconsin startup, Datica, which helps set up connections between computerized patient record systems at hospitals and independent software applications. The collaboration is aimed in part at improving the process of reimbursing healthcare providers for care by ensuring Access HealthNet’s software complies with rules governing the use, disclosure, and transmission of protected health information, the companies said.
