Laguna Health Closes $15M Series A to Usher in the Next Generation of Care Management

• AI-powered contextual care innovator gives care managers intimate insights into individuals life circumstances, helping identify risk barriers, personalize care plans and improve care manager productivity
• Laguna-supported patients in hospital transitions and complex care settings see superior care plan adherence and outcomes, offering a beacon of light for payers and employers grappling with high-cost members
• Initial close of Series A fundraise heralds next generation of contextual care management, which goes beyond SDOH to consider behavioral, emotional, cultural, financial and spiritual patient life context

NEW YORK, May 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Laguna Health, the AI-powered contextual care management platform, today announced the initial close of its Series A fundraise: a $15 million round co-led by SemperVirens and HC9 Ventures. The initial close brings Laguna's total raise to date to over $21 million. The company will use the funding to deepen its AI capabilities in the care management context and expand its go-to-market.

35 million Americans are hospitalized annually, with at least two-thirds discharged to self-care at home. To recover, these patients typically receive paper instructions and minimal ongoing clinical oversight. Even if a recovering patient is assigned a care manager, the patient's medical records rarely reflect their own life context, their caregiver's life context, or the emotional drivers that may hinder their recovery journey.

Individual life circumstances, which go beyond SDOH, are seven times more costly than medical errors. Arthritic fingers or poor vision might prevent an older patient from taking insulin as directed. A mother with career and family obligations might delay calling her physician about nausea and lethargy, and end up being readmitted to the hospital with sepsis. Single-parenting a toddler might be why a father does not adhere to 'no-lifting' instructions.

As a result, care transitions such as inpatient or acute outpatient hospital admissions are woefully underserved. Care managers are further hampered by chronic staffing shortages and overwhelming caseloads.  Built on a proven contextual care model, Laguna's AI engine integrates medical care plans with social, emotional, and cultural factors to help care managers better support members' recovery and ongoing care. Armed with care plans personalized to patients' unique life contexts, care managers are empowered to help members overcome recovery barriers. For a mother with family and career obligations, Laguna's NLP will identify her anxiety over her recovery and competing life priorities, and offer digital and human interventions, such as personalized content in the app and virtual support with a care manager.

"As employers continue to deal with skyrocketing overall healthcare spend, it's imperative to address chronically high-cost complex and acute patient populations," said Robby Peters, Co-Founder, SemperVirens. "The Laguna team understands that employers and health plans require solutions that not only improve patient outcomes, but are easy to integrate, require no plan change and deliver immediate ROI."

A rocky economy coupled with rising healthcare costs has shifted employer healthcare priorities from 'nice to have' employee benefits and perks to managing double digit healthcare cost growth. Offered through health plans and requiring no change in employer health plan design, Laguna's ability to drive down complex and acute population spend delivers exceptional return on employer investment.

"Driving both impact and scale is usually a painful tradeoff for health plans, post-acute providers and home health providers," said Richard Lungen, General Partner, HC9 Ventures. "Laguna has proven that AI powered contextual care is both effective and scalable, positioning it as the next-generation care management platform of choice for employers, health plans and integrated delivery networks."

"We are thrilled to partner with SemperVirens and HC9 Ventures to further the growth of Laguna Health. Their leadership, experience and relationships will help drive accelerated employer and health plan adoption – giving Laguna the potential to make a difference in millions of members' lives," said Yoni Shtein, CEO and Co-Founder, Laguna Health

About Laguna Health

Laguna Health is an AI-powered contextual care management solution scaling personalized care, starting with hospital transitions. The company has built an innovative suite of NLP and AI solutions proven in published randomized clinical trials to drive 50% cost savings and 10X productivity gains for care managers. Laguna is led by a seasoned team of clinical leaders and technology innovators. Customers include health plans, employers and integrated delivery networks that aim to improve member outcomes while increasing care management productivity. To learn more about Laguna, visit www.lagunahealth.com

About Semper Virens

SemperVirens is a leading US-based ecosystem-driven investment firm focused on companies in the workforce, healthcare, and financial technology markets. The firm has a network of executives, industry analysts, and distribution partners that serve as a proprietary platform for accessing, analyzing, and amplifying the most promising companies in its target sectors.

About HC9 
HC9 is an early-stage venture capital firm purpose-built to provide industry-specific expertise to emerging healthcare software and services companies. HC9's unparalleled, deeply-engaged investor community of leading executives, entrepreneurs, and investors collectively has thousands of years of experience in all facets of healthcare. We leverage the power of that experience to support the founders that are shaping the future of healthcare. For more information, please visit http://www.hc9.vc.

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SOURCE Laguna Health