Pip Care, a company seeking to optimize the surgical journey for care teams and patients, has raised $5 million in Series A equity financing. The round was led by A1 Health Ventures, with participation from existing investor UPMC Enterprises.
Pip Care, the first company created from a collaboration between UPMC Enterprises and Redesign Health, was established to help patients prepare for and recover from surgery through a consumer-facing app.
Pip Care focuses on the digitalization and automation of existing processes, workflows and perioperative protocols. The company provides personalized patient health education and counseling to prepare them for surgery and recovery.
The closing of the Series A funding comes on the heels of Pip Care receiving a $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to launch a trial of its platform with 2,000 patients. Pip Care partners with health systems and their surgical specialty teams to offer the best care to patients throughout the surgical journey by combining a smartphone app with a real-life health coach.
Supporting a patient throughout their entire surgical journey improves outcomes as well as patient satisfaction and reduces the total cost of care, the company said. Pip Care’s platform alleviates the administrative burden, allowing physicians to practice to the fullest extent of their licenses. With all of this information in one place, patients and providers have a seamless experience navigating the surgical care process, the company said.
“This increase reaffirms the work we have done so far and fuels our next phase of growth to ensure we deliver the most impactful, technology-based, human-powered medical optimization platform for health systems, surgical care teams and their patients,” Kathy said. Kaluhiokalani, founder and CEO of Pip Care, said in a statement.
Pip Care said it is the first company to combine a mobile app and digital platform that provides perioperative and postoperative instructions to patients with personalized telehealth advisors who check in regularly to support patients throughout their surgical journey. This includes following evidence-based protocols, surgery and surgeon-specific perioperative and postoperative instructions to improve outcomes and reduce complications, and coordination of care so patients can achieve their surgical goals.
“Pip Care’s differentiated service offering deploys health coaches to conduct live sessions with patients, improving patient engagement, adherence and satisfaction. Ultimately, this leads to better outcomes for patients, lower costs for health systems and enables standardization, consistency and reduced administrative burden on care teams,” said Rachel Kern, CEO of A1 Health Ventures, in a statement.
