Following NIH Grant, Pip Care Raises $5M in Venture Funding

Pip Care, a company that seeks to optimize the surgical journey for care teams and patients, has raised $5 million in a Series A equity funding. The round was led by A1 Health Ventures, with participation from existing investor UPMC Enterprises.

Pip Care, the first company to be created out of a collaboration between UPMC Enterprises and Redesign Health, was established to help patients prepare for and recover from surgery through a consumer-facing app.

Pip Care focuses on digitization and automation of existing perioperative processes, workflows, and protocols. The company provides one-on-one patient health coaching and education to prepare patients for surgery and recovery.

The Series A funding close comes on the heels of Pip Care being awarded a $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to launch a trial of its platform with 2,000 patients. Pip Care partners with health systems and their surgical specialty teams to offer best-in-class care to patients throughout the surgical journey by coupling a smart phone app with a real-life health coach.

Supporting a patient through their entire surgical journey improves outcomes as well as patient satisfaction and lowers the total cost of care, the company said. Pip Care’s platform alleviates administrative burden, allowing clinicians to practice at the top of their licenses. With all this information in one place, patients and providers have a smooth experience navigating through the surgical care process, the company said.

"This raise reaffirms the work we have done so far and fuels our next phase of growth to ensure we deliver the most impactful, tech-enabled, human-powered medical optimization platform to health systems, surgical care teams and their patients," said Kathy Kaluhiokalani, founder and chief executive officer of Pip Care, in a statement. 

Pip Care said it is the first company to pair a mobile app and digital platform providing perioperative and post-operative instructions to patients with one-on-one telehealth coaches who check in regularly to assist patients throughout their surgical journey. This includes evidence-based protocol tracking, surgery and surgeon-specific perioperative and post-operative instructions to improve outcomes and reduce complications, and care coordination so patients can achieve their surgical goals.

"Pip Care's differentiated service offering deploys health coaches to conduct live sessions with patients, enhancing patient engagement, adherence and satisfaction. This ultimately drives better outcomes for patients, lowers costs for health systems, and enables standardization, consistency and reduction in administrative burden for care teams," said Rachel Kern, managing director at A1 Health Ventures, in a statement.