Funding Will Grow Medication Adherence Services for Medicaid and Other Under-resourced Populations
Baltimore, MD (April 12, 2023) – Scene Health, the leading medication engagement company, has closed an oversubscribed $17.7 million Series B growth financing led by ABS Capital Partners with participation from existing investors Claritas Health Ventures, as well as Healthworx, the innovation and investment arm of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, PTX Capital, and Kapor Capital.
The investment is the latest validation of Scene Health’s unique video-based platform, which empowers people to take medication properly through person-to-person connections, every day. This week’s funding announcement comes on the heels of:
- The recent CDC endorsement of video Directly Observed Therapy (video DOT) as equivalent to in-person DOT for tuberculosis treatment.
- Last week’s announcement of a $1.67 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant allowing Scene to provide medication adherence support to pediatric heart transplant recipients in Florida.
- Scene reaching a milestone of impacting more than 200,000 lives with over 40M engagements through its 360° model of care.
Series B funding proceeds will enable Scene to further accelerate its ability to serve Medicaid and Medicare managed care plans, pharmaceutical companies, and clinical research organizations. This financing brings the total investment in Scene to over $25 million since its founding in 2014.
“This is an incredible opportunity for Scene Health and it comes with a very important obligation to meaningfully impact millions of people who struggle with chronic and infectious conditions” said Sebastian Seiguer, co-founder and CEO of Scene Health. “Nonadherence, or not taking medication as prescribed, is one of the most insidious causes of mortality and cost in our healthcare system. We’ve taken the gold standard solution to the problem from the inpatient setting and enhanced it for scale in outpatient care using video technology and a compassionate care team. This funding is a critical milestone to defining a new, modern standard for supporting medication adherence using evidence-based public health strategies.”
Medication nonadherence is a $500 billion challenge in the U.S. and the leading cause of preventable hospitalizations. Scene’s tech-enabled solution provides personalized engagement through video technology, clinical coaching, and validated interventions to improve medication adherence rates and address barriers related to social determinants of health. Through daily one-on-one video and in-app chat interactions, Scene’s care team of pharmacists, nurses, and health coaches build relationships with patients like young Elajah to improve their medication administration technique, adherence, and motivation.
“Scene’s solution directly aligns with the quadruple aim in healthcare – enhancing the patient experience, improving a population’s clinical and quality outcomes, improving care providers’ work lives, and reducing costs,” says ABS Capital Partner Cal Wheaton who led the investment and will be joining Scene’s board of directors. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Scene and its experienced team to expand the scope of Scene’s positive patient engagement and impact, while meaningfully reducing the financial burden associated with medication nonadherence for Scene’s varied customers.”
About Scene Health
Scene (formerly emocha) brings healthcare professionals, patients, and their families together to solve the $500 billion medication nonadherence problem. Scene’s mobile app allows patients to connect with a care team of pharmacists, nurses, and health coaches through daily video check-ins anytime and anywhere. Research in 19 peer-reviewed publications so far has demonstrated that Scene dramatically increases patient engagement, improves health outcomes, and reduces overall costs for healthcare payors. Scene currently delivers programs for 720 customers across Medicaid and Medicare Managed Care Organizations, public health departments, and life science organizations covering multiple chronic and infectious conditions, including diabetes, asthma, cholesterol, opioid use disorder, hepatitis C, tuberculosis, hypertension, solid organ transplants, and sickle cell disease. For more information, visit www.scene.health.
About ABS Capital
ABS Capital provides growth equity capital to B2B software and tech-enabled services businesses with strong technology and data underpinnings looking to scale with the right partners. Building growth-stage businesses has been ABS Capital’s focus for more than 30 years. Over that time, ABS Capital has invested more than $2.5 billion in approximately 130 companies across eight funds. Bringing investing, operational, infrastructure, technology, and business development skills to amplify the success of growing businesses together with data-driven business strategies, market research and analytics, ABS Capital works intensively in close partnership with talented management teams. ABS Capital: building emerging growth businesses into industry leaders. For more information, visit www.abscapital.com.
Contact: Liz DeForest
Email: scene@theblissgrp.com
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