Personalized care is in demand — here’s how healthcare is finally focusing on underserved patient populations in 2021

If you’re an entrepreneur building at the intersection of technology and healthcare, read Bessemer’s 2021 Healthcare Predictions. 

COVID-19 highlighted the staggering health disparities that exist in the United States across intersectional axes spanning race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and immigration status to name a few. It remains imperative that healthcare incumbents and new entrants design and deliver care with social and structural factors of health in mind.

A quick note on semantics: While “Social Determinants of Health” (SDOH), is a widely used term in the industry, we prefer the CDC’s terminology, “Social and Structural Determinants of Health” (SSDH). Only speaking to the social factors fails to acknowledge the systems that contribute to health disparities.

Several forces are catalyzing renewed (and long overdue) interest in healthcare companies focused on underserved patient populations. First, we are encouraged that BidenCare is expected to further expand Medicaid. 

We’ve seen remarkable traction among companies focused on Medicaid populations (e.g. Cityblock Health, Ready Responders, Brave Health, and LiveChair), demonstrating to many investors that (1) the economics of managing Medicaid populations can work within value-based arrangements, and (2) tech-enabled patient engagement and care delivery paradigms can be effective among underserved groups when designed with intentionality and cultural competence.

LiveChair, a Maryland-based company that equips barbers with the infrastructure to offer care solutions for their community, clients, and those who choose to join, has seen success with their trust-centered model and is contracting with leading Medicaid plans. We expect continued innovation focused on Medicaid and dual-eligible populations.

Let’s be frank: for years, the investment community has largely overlooked opportunities citing that certain markets were too small, or likely because of the lack of representation among healthcare investment professionals. Increasingly, personalized care is in demand.

A new cohort of companies is on the rise — companies that serve the unique needs of LGBTQ+ people, people of color, people living with housing-instability, and immigrants to name a few.

Historically, many investors have balked at the “nicheness” of these intersections, which we believe is a grave mistake.

Increasingly, personalized care is in demand.

As we highlight in our 10 Laws of Healthcare, healthcare is approaching a $4 trillion dollar market size, but no single addressable market comes close to that figure. Instead, healthcare is a lot more like a thousand $4 billion markets, and numerous underserved populations embody this. We note that at the seams of healthcare where the medical industrial complex breaks down, patients from underserved communities are not waiting for the system to reform. For so long, many underserved communities have created their own infrastructures for caring for one another.

The LGBTQ community is a great case study — for instance, our portfolio company, FOLX Health, is building a virtual primary care clinic in the cloud for people who identify as LGBTQ. Their initial products will include hormone replacement therapy for transgender patients as well as sexual health and wellness products and services. Over time, FOLX will expand their product and service offerings with the intention of becoming a leading destination for LGBTQ+ health and wellness.

Read more of our 2021 Healthcare Predictions on Atlas, brought to you by Bessemer Venture Partners.