This week Steve Case’s Revolution Health Group (RHG) announced six acquisitions which Case said positions the company “on [its] way to put[ting] patients back in control of their health care decisions.”
Case’s launch of RHG’s parent, Revolution LLC, first came to light last spring, in a Business Week article in late March, which was followed by another BW story published a few weeks later. At the time it was reported that Case had invested $500 million in capital to support Revolution investments in the health and wellness and resort industries.
Early Revolution investments include: the acquisition of Wisdom Media, a cable and satellite network that targets the so-called LOHAS (lifestyles of health and sustainability) market, which has since been re-launched as Lime Media, whose tagline is “healthy living with a twist”; Miraval, a luxury resort and spa and; FlexCar, the nation’s first and largest car-sharing service.
According to a company press release, the latest round of acquisitions cover three key areas of the healthcare industry: content, coverage and care.
On the content side, RHG plans to launch a consumer-friendly health portal in 2006, building on four of this week’s acquisitions:
MyDNA Media, which offers health news and information; 1-800-Schedule, which helps consumers find doctors and schedule appointments with health care providers; Simo Software, Inc., which has created software that allows consumers to manage their health care spending, records and finances; and Wondir, Inc., which provides a community-based search for information about health needs and issues.
The company says that “other acquisitions will be added in the months ahead, as well as additional tools and content to be developed by the RHG team.”
In the area of health coverage, “[i]n conjunction with major partners, RHG plans to offer consumers new, easy-to-understand, health care coverage services that aim to give patients and their doctors more control over health care decisions.” Toward that end, RGH has acquired controlling interests in Extend Benefits, LLC and ConnectYourCare, Inc.
RHG has also purchased a minority stake—with an opportunity to acquire a majority stake—in InterFit Health, “one of the nation’s largest providers of retail health screenings and immunizations delivered in retail outlets and at employer worksites.” It is also “providing the capital to support the roll-out of InterFit’s ‘RediClinics,’ which are “retail-based health care centers…staffed by certified nurse practitioners…that provide fast, affordable treatment for routine medical conditions, as well as screenings, medical tests, and immunizations and other preventive services…RediClinic is the second-largest national convenient care chain, with a major, nationwide expansion planned in 2006.”
RHG also announced an executive team, headed up by former IAC/InterActiveCorp. Executive John Pleasants, along with a board of directors that includes Case, Colin Powell, former Fortune 500 CEOs Frank Raines, Jim Barksdale, Steve Wiggins, and Carly Fiorina; and venture capitalists/financiers Miles Gilburne, Jeff Zients, John Delaney, and David Golden.
The Washington Post quotes Case:
“Today’s announcement is just a start, and we have a lot more to do. I view this as a long journey, as AOL was,” said Case in an e-mail. “We do believe new products and services, including telehealth and in-home monitoring and diagnostics, can go a long way towards improving quality and reducing costs.”
The WSJ’s Alan Murray notes the similarities to WebMD, and Case’s view of them:
The [RHG] portal, to be launched sometime next year, sounds a little like WebMD, which has a troubled history but enjoyed a successful IPO last week for its portal, WebMD Health. Mr. Case says WebMD — a former partner of his at AOL — has done a “good job building a brand and an audience,” but is “a mile wide and an inch deep.”
Regardless of what one thinks about Revolution’s strategy and prospects, Steve Case deserves credit for putting $500 million of his own money at risk in an effort to build businesses that can help bring our nation’s healthcare system into the 21st century. According to Murray, “unlike other wealthy entrepreneurs who have turned to government or philanthropy later in life, Mr. Case believes he can do more good as an entrepreneur.” And, as Murray notes:
Certainly, the U.S. health-care system could use a revolution. Runaway costs, uneven quality and tens of millions of uninsured patients have turned it into a national embarrassment — an especially big one that accounts for one-seventh of the U.S. economy.
Mitch Shapiro at 4:36 PM|Comments(0)
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