The U.S. healthcare system is broken, but not for the reasons most people think.
For the last decade, the industry’s “silver bullet” has been value-based care. The theory was simple: if we pay doctors for outcomes instead of volume, the system will fix itself. But after billions of dollars in investment, the healthcare cost crisis is only getting worse: healthcare costs today are rising faster in every sector than ever before. The impact was felt in last year’s record-long government shutdown and continues today in the form of skyrocketing premiums on the ACA exchanges and a historic squeeze facing every employer offering healthcare benefits.
[Read more about our $118M funding on Forbes]
It is increasingly clear that the solution to the crisis must come from a new direction: a shift in consumer demand. Over the last several decades, we have seen nearly every market—from consumer goods, to taxis, to restaurant delivery—get more efficient not by doling out supply-side incentives, but by giving consumers the information and incentives to make better decisions. When you have an active consumer, suppliers are forced to improve performance or risk going out of business.
Healthcare is the only sector where we have ignored this truth. At Garner, we are filling this gap.
Garner is building the infrastructure for a better future of healthcare. We start by understanding physician performance in a better way than ever before using a proprietary dataset of longitudinal claims records for over 320 million patients. Our data science identifies the "Top Providers" who have 75% lower complication rates, 60% lower hospitalization rates and are three times more likely to follow medical guidelines than their peers. We then layer this data directly onto an employer’s existing health plan, with an added twist: when an employee sees a Garner-recommended doctor, their employer helps cover their out-of-pocket costs—allowing them to pay less for office visits, tests, and even surgeries. By making the highest-quality care the most affordable choice, we deliver on average a 12% reduction in total healthcare spend for employers and save employees an average of 80% on their medical bills.
Garner now impacts millions of employees, and this allows us to also work directly with providers, who are eager to improve their performance in our rankings, directly contract with employers, and increase their commercial market share. This is how you fix healthcare: you reward the best providers with more patients, forcing the rest of the market to improve or lose out.
Looking Ahead
Today, I’m proud to share that we’ve raised $118 million in new funding. Our Series D was led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Redpoint, Maverick, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Mercy, Plus Capital, and other existing investors. The funding round brings our valuation to $1.35 billion.
Our growth—an increase in revenue of over 130% year-over-year—proves that the "demand-side" approach isn't just a theory; it’s the most effective tool we have to solve the healthcare crisis. We are now trusted by over 700 companies to protect their employees' health.
We’re building a team of mission-driven people who believe that healthcare doesn't need more "participation" in old models—it needs a fundamentally new marketplace.
Onwards!