Better Health Group Gets $175M to Expand Value-Based Care Network

Better Health Group, a value-based care provider network with over 1,200 owned and affiliated providers, has received $175 million in financing. The latest round of financing follows a $500 million equity investment from Kinderhook Industries in December 2021.

The Tampa-passed company said the new funding would support new risk-based payer partnerships, strategic acquisitions as the company expands operations to new states, and continued openings of  new clinics.

Over the 22 months since the Kinderhook financing, Better Health Group said, it has doubled its patient base to more than a quarter million, doubled the size of its provider network, and tripled the number of company-owned medical centers. Over the past year, Better Health Group generated $1.2 billion in revenue through its operations across eight states and Puerto Rico.

 “Our payer, provider, and investment partners recognize our long track record of success running a scalable, value-based care organization,” said Mike Polen, CEO of Better Health Group, in a statement. “Since inception, the company has generated consistent profitability and industry-leading care quality. We’ve done so by relying on close collaboration with our provider partners and through comprehensive care management that emphasizes early disease detection and prevention. The approach helps our patients achieve better health, enables our providers to deliver higher quality and more personalized care, and gives our payor partners greater financial stability. In short, we’re providing real value-based care.”

Before joining Better Health Group, Polen served as senior vice president and Medicare CEO at Centene Corp., where he was responsible for leading the Medicare Advantage business. Prior to Centene, he spent 15 years at WellCare Health Plans serving last as executive vice president of Medicare and Enterprise Operations.

The company said its “two-pronged offering” has attracted 575 new providers to the network since 2022. These providers can maintain ownership of their practices and partner with Better Health Group’s management services organization and ACOs, or they can work as employees at one of its 162 company-owned medical centers.

 “Almost 90 percent of our providers deliver savings in value-based arrangements while also achieving the highest quality scores,” said Chris Michalik, managing director at Kinderhook Industries, in a statement. “BHG’s results speak for themselves.” 

Michalik was the chairman of Wellcare Health Plans prior to its acquisition by Centene in 2020. 

 “Over the past two years, we have shown the healthcare industry that not only does our model work, but it’s also scalable,” said Sidd Pagidipati, Better Health Group’s founder and chairman, in a statement. “With only one in five primary care providers participating in risk-based value-based care arrangements, we see enormous opportunity to help providers across the country earn more by delivering better care to their patients.”