Emerging Health IT Leader Voluware Announces Growth Investment from Hughes & Company

Investment will accelerate Voluware's product innovation, support client success, and expand strategic partnerships as company speeds and simplifies prior authorizations

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., April 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Voluware, Inc., an award-winning provider of solutions to speed and simplify prior authorizations, announced today a capital investment from Hughes & Company. The private equity firm invests in growth and later stage healthcare software and technology-enabled service companies. The additional capital will accelerate the company's product innovation and devote more resources to expanding payer coverage and geographic footprint, and client onboarding and support. With growing interest in Voluware from providers of revenue cycle management and electronic medical record solutions, the additional capital will also enable Voluware to acquire and support more partnerships and resellers for its prior authorization products.

Voluware was co-founded by Steve Kim, MD, who as a practicing pediatric urologic surgeon with Children's Hospital Los Angeles became deeply concerned with the impact of prior authorization delays, denials, and complexity on patients, providers, and staff. Dr. Kim witnessed clinical risks to patients, financial risks to healthcare organizations, and turnover risks to staff. Without seeing a solution in the market to effectively address these issues, Dr. Kim invested years working with hospital and ambulatory practice professionals to research and develop a truly effective solution.

Dr. Kim and his co-founder, Marty Staszak, launched Voluware with a mission to ensure patients receive the care they need without unnecessary delays created by today's manual administrative workflows and ineffective solutions. Voluware's VALER® solution provides health systems, hospitals, clinics, and payers with a cloud-based platform to automate prior authorizations. Voluware's workflow-centric, customized approach to each client's unique needs accelerates time to results and reduces barriers to access. Its single, custom-tailored interface centralizes, standardizes, and automates fragmented prior authorization workflows across all payers and all service lines. Voluware's VALER solution was recently recognized with AVIA Connect®'s Top Company for Prior Authorizations.

Dr. Kim, who is Voluware's CEO, said about Hughes & Company's investment, "We're thrilled with the commitment that Hughes & Company has shown to our mission of finally addressing the clinical, financial, and operational risks of prior authorization processes and products that exist today. As healthcare technology experts, they understand the patient, provider, and staff risks as much as we do. We also look forward to their valuable strategic guidance in helping us to acquire and support clients better than ever before. The entire Voluware team prides itself on partnering with our clients to help drive efficiency and real results."

Jim Denny, Managing Partner at Hughes & Company, added, "Voluware is a diamond in the rough. Solving the prior authorization nightmare on an all-payer basis is a huge problem. There are plenty of companies that can do a piece of it, but nobody has figured out how to do all of it. The Voluware team has walked in their clients' shoes and developed solutions that will finally benefit patients, providers, and healthcare staff. We look forward to partnering with the Voluware team to address a longstanding need to simplify prior authorizations."

With Hughes & Company's investment, Mr. Denny will join Voluware's Board of Directors. Denny brings to Voluware deep healthcare technology expertise. Before becoming an health IT investor in 2018, Mr. Denny was co-founder and CEO of Navicure, a provider of revenue cycle management solutions. He led the company from 2001 to 2017 through its merger with a competitor to become what is now Waystar.

About Voluware

Voluware provides health systems, hospitals, and clinics powerful custom workflow automation solutions for today's manual prior authorizations and referrals. Voluware's proven VALER® platform addresses the clinical, financial, and operational risks of complex prior authorization processes, creating improved patient outcomes, financial performance, and staff morale and retention. VALER is one platform to streamline, automate, and continuously optimize prior authorization workflows. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Contact Steve Kim, CEO & Co-Founder
626-344-2005
[email protected]

About Hughes & Company

Hughes & Company is a private equity firm investing in growth and later stage healthcare software and technology-enabled service companies. The Firm is an active investor and works closely with its portfolio companies on initiatives to accelerate growth, enhance customer value propositions and increase long-term retention by applying institutional best practices and disciplined execution. The Firm maintains an extensive network of longstanding relationships with senior executives, advisors and partners across the healthcare software and technology-enabled service market who assist Hughes & Company and its portfolio companies in a range of capacities.

To learn more about Voluware and its VALER^™ product, visit voluware.com.

SOURCE Voluware, Inc