Judith J. Mercado

Read the pitch deck that buzzy startup Devoted Health used to reach a $1.8 billion valuation before it signed up a single customer

Judith J. Mercado 3 weeks ago

Devoted Health wants to change the way the U.S. takes care of its senior citizens, and it has big plans in its first five years to do just that.

Devoted Health co-founder and executive chairman Todd Park is the former US chief technology officer and is the White House tech advisor.
Devoted Health co-founder and executive chairman Todd Park is the former US chief technology officer and is the White House tech advisor.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

The startup, which has been gathering lots of buzz in the last year, was founded to sell private health insurance plans to U.S. seniors, a market that is growing rapidly as Baby Boomers age.

Using one pitch deck, Devoted Health managed to secure $300 million from investors in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz late last year, with a valuation of $1.8 billion – all before it signed up a single customer.

But the deck also outlined the company’s aggressive plans for its first five years. Devoted Health planned to sign up 5,000 members for

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UnitedHealth’s Unit Ties Up With Boulder Community Health

Judith J. Mercado 4 weeks ago

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated‘s UNH health service business, Optum, recently forged a relationship with Boulder Community Health (BCH) to provide an enriched, seamless and affordable healthcare to patients residing in Boulder County and the surrounding communities.

Optum, a leading information and technology-enabled health services business, brings in a wide array of capabilities to this unique tie-up, which in turn, will help BCH strengthen its clinical and operational performance. Like every other hospital and healthcare system, BCH is facing economic issues. This relationship will enable Optum to reduce costs and increase efficiencies, and BCH will be able to continue as an independent, community-based health system.

The newly-forged tie-up will offer enhanced services, scale and resources to BCH, comprising a host of essential functions covering data and analytics, revenue cycle management and care coordination. BCH clinicians and leaders take all vital decisions to make sure that the organization is run to fulfil

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Being fit, losing weight is a powerful force against COVID-19 but cities have to do more

Judith J. Mercado 4 weeks ago

The annual ranking of the fittest U.S. cities, out today, tracks with some of the cities that weathered COVID-19 better — but the reverse is also often true. 

The ranking underscores how cities can help or hinder residents’ opportunities to be physically active, lose weight and avoid chronic conditions including diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, which increase the risk of serious illness and death from COVID-19.  

The COVID-19 death rate for Arlington, Virginia, the nation’s fittest city for the third year in a row, is 56 per 100,000 population. Like most of the other Washington, D.C. suburbs, Arlington had more cases per-capita than more rural parts of the state. Indiana’s Marion County, which includes 94th-ranked Indianapolis, has the highest number of cases and deaths in the state. 

“We know from research that physical activity can build a healthier immune system and overall wellness which help minimize harmful effects of illness

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Shooting of man by Baltimore police highlights ‘total failure’ of city’s behavioral health response, agency says

Judith J. Mercado 4 weeks ago

BALTIMORE — After Baltimore police officers shot a man who pulled a firearm while undergoing a behavioral health crisis last week, the organization that oversees the city’s behavioral health services called the current system “a total failure” that needs better integration of mental health professionals with the police.

There is no indication that police dispatchers attempted to connect available behavioral health resources with officers on the scene before they shot Ricky Walker Jr. on July 1, said Adrienne Breidenstine, vice president of policy and communications for Behavioral Health System Baltimore.

“This incident with Mr. Walker highlights a total failure of our two systems,” Breidenstine said. “We need to get police the heck out of there and not even be handling these types of calls.”

The city has two so-called crisis response teams that handle mental health issues, one inside the police department and another at the nonprofit Baltimore Crisis Response

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