GARNER HEALTH™ ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC FUNDING TO EXPAND ITS QUALITY HEALTHCARE RECOMMENDATIONS
Funding will further enhance the use of data science and engagement tools to drive consumers to high-quality healthcare
NEW YORK, NY (July 27, 2021)—Garner Health™, a health tech company that uses data science to enable personalized provider recommendations, today announced a strategic investment from Optum Ventures, the independent venture arm of Optum and part of UnitedHealth Group.
Garner Health analyzes large amounts of medical insurance claims data to identify high quality doctors in a user’s community. It then partners with local employers to guide their employees to the doctor that best fits their needs. Since high quality doctors keep patients healthy, these providers are often lower-cost in the long run, empowering employers to pay for their employees’ out-of-pocket costs when they use Garner’s platform to choose their doctors. By guiding employees to these providers, Garner can create net cost-savings for employers, while providing better, more affordable care for employees.
Garner recognized that Optum Ventures’ wealth of expertise, long-standing relationships and commitment to better care across the healthcare ecosystem would support Garner’s mission to fix the information and incentive problems that can lead to poor health outcomes and higher costs across the U.S. healthcare system.
“Optum Ventures’ track record, reach and commitment to fundamentally changing healthcare for the better makes them the perfect partner for us,” said Garner Health founder and CEO, Nick Reber. “We could not be more excited to have Optum’s support as we pursue our joint goals of making people healthier while also lowering healthcare costs.”
"Garner’s platform is well positioned to improve quality health outcomes by connecting employees with high-performing doctors in their communities" said Laura Veroneau, partner at Optum Ventures. "We are excited to see how their use of data science can change how health plan incentives function and positively impact how the health system performs."
Optum Ventures joins an esteemed group of earlier Garner Health investors, including Founders Fund, Maverick Ventures, Thrive Capital and Sequoia Capital.
ABOUT GARNER HEALTH
Garner Health Technology, Inc. is a new health benefit program that helps employees find the best possible doctors in their community. Using proprietary doctor-quality ranking algorithms, consumer-friendly engagement tools, and creative financial incentives, Garner is able to lower out-of-pocket spending for employees while saving employers 10% or more on overall health benefit costs. For more information, please visit www.getgarner.com.
ABOUT OPTUM VENTURES
Optum Ventures is the independent venture fund of Optum, a leading information and technology-enabled health services business dedicated to helping make the health system work better for everyone, and part of UnitedHealth Group. Optum Ventures invests in digital health companies that use data and insights to help improve consumers' access to health care services and how care is delivered and paid for, and that make the health care system more reliable and easier to navigate. For more information, please visit www.optumventures.com.