Voluware – a provider of solutions to speed and simplify prior authorizations – announced a capital investment from Hughes & Company. And the private equity firm invests in growth and later-stage healthcare software and technology-enabled service companies.
The additional funding round will accelerate the company’s product innovation and provide more resources to expanding payer coverage and geographic footprint and client onboarding and support. And with growing interest in Voluware from providers of revenue cycle management and electronic medical record solutions, the additional funding round will also enable Voluware to acquire and support more partnerships and resellers for its prior authorization products.
Voluware was co-founded by Steve Kim, MD – who as a practicing pediatric urologic surgeon with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles – had become deeply concerned with the impact of prior authorization delays, denials, and complexity on patients, providers, and staff. Dr. Kim had witnessed clinical risks to patients, financial risks to healthcare organizations, and turnover risks to staff. Without seeing a solution in the market to effectively address these issues, Dr. Kim had invested years working with hospital and ambulatory practice professionals to research and develop a truly effective solution.
Dr. Kim and his co-founder Marty Staszak launched Voluware with a mission to ensure patients receive the care they need without unnecessary delays created by today’s manual administrative workflows and ineffective solutions. And Voluware’s VALER solution provides health systems, hospitals, clinics, and payers with a cloud-based platform to automate prior authorizations.
Voluware’s workflow-centric and customized approach to each client’s unique needs accelerates time to results and reduces barriers to access. And the company’s single, custom-tailored interface centralizes, standardizes, and automates fragmented prior authorization workflows across all payers and all service lines.
With Hughes & Company’s investment, managing partner Jim Denny will join Voluware’s Board of Directors. And Denny brings to Voluware deep healthcare technology expertise. Prior to becoming a health IT investor in 2018, Denny was co-founder and CEO of Navicure, a provider of revenue cycle management solutions. He also led the company from 2001 to 2017 through its merger with a competitor to become what is now Waystar.
KEY QUOTES:
“We’re thrilled with the commitment that Hughes & Company has shown to our mission of finally addressing the clinical, financial, and operational risks of prior authorization processes and products that exist today. As healthcare technology experts, they understand the patient, provider, and staff risks as much as we do. We also look forward to their valuable strategic guidance in helping us to acquire and support clients better than ever before. The entire Voluware team prides itself on partnering with our clients to help drive efficiency and real results.”
– Voluware CEO Dr. Kim
“Voluware is a diamond in the rough. Solving the prior authorization nightmare on an all-payer basis is a huge problem. There are plenty of companies that can do a piece of it, but nobody has figured out how to do all of it. The Voluware team has walked in their clients’ shoes and developed solutions that will finally benefit patients, providers, and healthcare staff. We look forward to partnering with the Voluware team to address a longstanding need to simplify prior authorizations.”
– Jim Denny, Managing Partner at Hughes & Company
