On Wednesday, Blackstone Growth, the growth equity arm of private equity giant Blackstone that recently raised $4.5 billion for its first investment fund, announced a disruptive health care joint venture with medical technology firm K Health. The venture, Hydrogen Health LLC, will be backed by an investment from health insurer Anthem, and aims to provide “digital-first” affordable health care for Americans. Financial terms of the joint venture are not being disclosed.
Hydrogen Health will seek to lower healthcare costs by leveraging K Health’s cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to bring digital-first healthcare to the employer and consumer markets. Hydrogen Health will seek to develop new tech-driven solutions for direct-to-consumer, direct-to-employer, and direct-to-insurers markets; and give users access to the spectrum of care – digital, virtual, and in-person. Blackstone says these solutions could be integrated across different types of health coverage to achieve more affordable, high-quality care.
Allon Bloch, CEO and co-founder of K Health, said, “K Health has proven that we can give people access to really high-quality medicine remotely. This partnership with Anthem and Blackstone will help get K Health’s solutions into the hands of those who need them most, expanding upon our existing base of 4 million users and reducing costs in the healthcare system to make it work for all.”
Ram Jagannath, Global Head of Healthcare for Blackstone Growth and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities, said, “Like our partners, we have a shared vision for how technology can fundamentally disrupt traditional care delivery models and bend the overall cost curve in healthcare. We are thrilled to partner with Anthem, a leading health innovator, and K Health, a best-in-class digital health company, to help people in their healthcare journey. Our partnership is indicative of Blackstone’s ability to creatively work with key constituents across the healthcare ecosystem to enhance and improve access to innovative care and move the healthcare system into the future.”
Amy Mulderry, SVP and Chief Development Officer at Anthem said: “Our stakeholders expect us to find innovative solutions to increase access to high-quality care, enhance the healthcare experience, and help lower costs. As part of this approach, we focus on investments and partnerships like this one that leverage exponential technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence; revolutionize industries; and profoundly affect our lives. We look forward to working with K Health and Blackstone Growth to redefine the future of healthcare.”
The investment follows a multi-year effort between Anthem and K Health that leverages K Health’s technology and aims to reduce avoidable healthcare costs and improve health outcomes. Hydrogen Health is meant to expand that impact at a broader scale to more people.
New York-headquartered K Health is an AI-powered, “free” healthcare tool that accumulates and consolidates physician knowledge and billions of clinical data points to deliver information and treatment to people based on how doctors are diagnosing and treating people with similar symptoms and conditions. K Health also offers the option for users without insurance to chat with a doctor for less than the price of a copay. According to the company, K Health treats nearly all primary care conditions (as well as anxiety and depression), offers customizable treatment plans and prescriptions, and is available in all 50 U.S. states.
K Health’s CEO Allon Bloch will also serve as the CEO of Hydrogen Health. The agreement reportedly includes a put/call structure between Anthem and Blackstone.
