Chicago-Based Health Technology Company Kaizen Health Raises Funding

By Annie Baker ● Jan 12, 2020
  • Chicago-based Kaizen Health announced it completed a Series B round of funding led by UnityPoint Health Ventures

Chicago-based Kaizen Health announced it has completed a Series B round of funding led by UnityPoint Health Ventures — which is the venture investment arm of one of the nation’s most integrated health systems. Lewis and Clark Ventures and Hyde Park Angels also participated in the round.

The investment supports Kaizen Health’s efforts to streamline the experience of ordering non-emergency multi-modal medical transportation on behalf of patients, members, clinicians, staff, and residents.

Kaizen Health’s platform is known for addressing the availability and reliability of healthcare transportation. And it is used by health systems, payers, senior living providers and municipalities across the country. And the funding supports further enhancement of Kaizen Health’s market-leading healthcare transportation platform as well as the expansion of their sales and account management teams.

Kaizen works with Managed Medicaid and Medicare Advantage plans as well as leading commercial payers, health systems, academic medical centers, clinical trial sponsors, senior living providers, and municipalities to facilitate safe and reliable transportation, address food insecurity, reduce social isolation, and coordinate other SDOH programs and interventions.

“Transportation plays a critical role in not only our day-to-day lives, but also our health care experiences,” said Matthew Warrens, Managing Director of Innovation, UnityPoint Health. “We want to ensure a lack of transportation does not pose a barrier to health for any of the people we serve. There was tremendous interest from within our organization and our communities to make meaningful progress on this issue, and we’re excited to partner with Kaizen Health to further support our patients.”

This round of funding supports the efforts of UnityPoint Health to provide an easier and more personal experience for patients and providers while also addressing cost and quality. And it also aligns with the organization’s focus on addressing the social drivers of health.

“The UnityPoint Health Ventures team brings the strength of a multi-state provider system with an appetite for tackling many of the very same challenges around access, patient experience and operational efficiency that Kaizen Health was created to address,” added Mindi S. Knebel, founder and CEO of Kaizen Health. “This partnership will accelerate our growth and impact nationwide.”