SteadyMD, a Westlake Village-based telehealth startup, has acquired health care credentialing platform BlocHealth, it announced on Tuesday. The deal makes SteadyMD the first telehealth platform to offer both clinicians in all 50 states as well as licensing and credentialing services for those health care providers, according to the company.
“We can so much more efficiently handle broadly the demand in telehealth when our clinicians are licensed in a lot of states,” SteadyMD co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Yarone Goren told dot.LA. “That was really the rationale for the deal.”
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Both companies will continue to operate under their existing names.
Founded in 2016 by Goren and CEO Guy Friedman, SteadyMD says it has raised $35 million to date, including a $25 million Series B round led by Lux Capital last year. The startup has looked to tackle an ongoing primary care physician shortage by making it easier for patients to access out-of-state doctors whose expertise is matched to their health and lifestyle. The company has since grown to expand its business-to-business (B2B) offerings, allowing it to provide other telehealth ventures with infrastructure and streamlining the licensing process for customers like Lemonaid Health, the San Francisco-based telehealth startup acquired by 23andMe in November.
Telehealth—once a niche product dedicated mostly to online therapy—has expanded to nearly every facet of health since the pandemic. But as most clinicians are required to be licensed and follow guidelines in the state where a patient sought treatment, platforms like Florida-based BlocHealth allow physicians, nurses and therapists to apply for licenses across different states—letting them access patients across state lines, including in areas that may have a clinician shortage.
“In a sense, we're creating capacity by bringing clinicians online and then by getting them licensed in more states,” Goren said. “I think we're creating a lot of efficiencies. The primary care shortage is not overstated, but it usually relates to in-person visits.”
With more health care providers and patients embracing telehealth, investment has poured into the rapidly growing sector—not only on the point-of-care side, but on the B2B side, as well. Tech giants like Google have ramped up their health care cloud offerings to make telehealth platforms more secure, while startups that help clinicians transition to the telehealth model have lured millions in investment dollars.