Transcarent, Founded by Livongo Pioneer Glen Tullman, Files for IPO After Raising Nearly $300M in Three Years

Recently, VCBeat learned that Transcarent, a healthcare services platform provider, has announced plans to acquire a partial equity stake in the virtual care company 98point6, including its AI-powered virtual care platform and care operations. The deal is valued at up to $100 million. Upon completion, 98point6 will focus on licensing its software to third-party providers.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Transcarent was founded in 2020 as a health and care experience company. It delivers personalized care experiences, including expert second opinions, medication review and management, remote physical therapy, and comprehensive on-site surgical care solutions.

Transcarent's Historical Funding Rounds

Data source: Crunchbase official website

According to data from Crunchbase’s official website, Transcarent raised a total of $298 million in funding over three years, making it a highly sought-after company. At the helm is Glen Tullman, the founder of Livongo, the pioneer of digital health.

Transcarent Founder: Glen Tullman

Image source: Transcarent official website

In an interview with Kinnevik, Tullman noted that healthcare costs have been rising continuously, placing an unsustainable burden on patients, while the healthcare system remains complex and chaotic. Meanwhile, employers are seeking to provide their employees with high-quality care experiences at affordable prices. Against this backdrop, the demand for healthcare transformation has reached its peak.

During his tenure at Livongo, Tullman recognized that providing consumers with unbiased information, trustworthy medical guidance, and accessible, high-quality care are key factors in enhancing consumer satisfaction and experience.

Therefore, when Tullman embarked on his new venture, he chose to embed these elements into the DNA of Transcarent. In just three years, Transcarent has achieved remarkable results in this regard: reducing the incidence of surgical complications by 80%; correcting and optimizing 72% of treatment plans; enabling 40% of patients to avoid unnecessary surgeries or procedures; and achieving an overall 50% cost savings with the surgical solutions provided...

Transcarent’s services primarily cover five key areas: primary care, pharmacy care, behavioral health care, surgery and musculoskeletal (MSK) care, and oncology care.

Daily care primarily encompasses urgent care, primary care, medication management, and emotional health support. Patients can communicate directly with physicians through Transcarent. Meanwhile, Transcarent establishes personalized health goals based on each patient’s condition and integrates them throughout the entire care journey, while also matching patients with higher-quality, more suitable care services according to their actual needs.

As nearly one in four consumers struggle to afford prescription drugs, corporate employers need to provide new options for their employees. Through pharmacy care services, employers can maximize control over prescription pricing and benefits design for their workforce. Employees can also add text notes to their online prescriptions, enabling direct communication with prescription providers.

In the realm of behavioral health care, Transcarent also delivers personalized care by matching patients with the appropriate care plans and providers based on dynamic assessments of their needs and goals. While the industry average wait time for an appointment is 21 days or longer, Transcarent enables patients to connect with high-quality care coaches or therapists—either remotely or in person—within three days or even less, achieving a recovery rate of 76%. Notably, Transcarent’s behavioral health services extend not only to patients but also to their family members aged six and older.

Transcarent has a network of more than 700 physicians across China who perform spinal, joint, cardiac, gynecological, neurological, and other general surgical procedures. When patients require surgery, Transcarent assigns dedicated surgical care coordinators to manage all aspects of their care, from selecting a surgeon and scheduling the procedure to transferring medical records and arranging travel when necessary. Throughout this process, both healthcare providers and patients can track and manage the surgical journey via a mobile application, which enables digital management of case documentation and monitoring of case progress. This care model reduces costs for employers by an average of 40%, decreases readmissions and complications by 80%, and eliminates more than 30% of unnecessary surgeries.

National experts review cancer cases to determine appropriate diagnostic and treatment plans, enabling patients’ dedicated healthcare teams to learn and implement individualized treatment protocols. Over three years, Transcarent has improved the quality of life for more than 80% of surgical patients, with patient satisfaction rates exceeding 90%.

Overall, Transcarent offers straightforward healthcare services that act as a nexus, directly connecting patients, employers, and providers to eliminate intermediaries and minimize costs.

Communicate directly with doctors online and get matched with healthcare professionals in just 60 seconds. Physicians will determine whether to provide remote or in-person care based on the patient’s specific condition, thereby reducing emergency room visits and eliminating long wait times for patients. Covering five care scenarios, the platform offers a one-stop solution for all nursing needs throughout the recovery process, including consultations, medication dispensing, and even surgery. On January 13, 2023, Transcarent partnered with Cleveland Clinic. This collaboration added 3,500 specialists to Transcarent’s network, expanding choices for both patients and employers.

It directly connects employees with local physicians and health solutions providers, requiring only a single contract with these providers. This streamlined approach eliminates cumbersome procedures, enhances employee satisfaction, improves health outcomes, and reduces administrative burdens.

Healthcare providers—whether individual practitioners, institutions, or enterprises—as the supply side of healthcare services, can directly find their target patients and employers on Transcarent.

Transcarent proactively selects and stocks low-cost medications to reduce drug expenses; remote expert guidance and tele-diagnosis and treatment help avoid unnecessary surgeries, thereby lowering costs; surgical centers composed of expert teams coordinate with nursing care to reduce complications and surgical expenses. As a result, Transcarent reduces care costs by an average of $500 per patient annually.

In the future, Transcarent will focus on making its services more inclusive.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that 25% of adults with disabilities are unable to access routine medical care, and 20% have had to forgo medical services due to cost, which is directly related to the social barriers faced by people with disabilities. PEAT (Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology) states that accessibility means “everyone can use the exact same technology as everyone else.” In response, Transcarent will design its future services to be more inclusive.

For example, visually, use high-contrast images and text with background colors to meet the needs of people with color blindness or limited color visibility. In addition, solid and dashed lines can be used to create related charts for two different items. To meet the reading needs of blind individuals, text versions of images can be compiled, which can be read aloud and translated by screen readers.

Tullman did not begin his career in the healthcare industry. During his undergraduate studies, he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and psychology from Bucknell University and spent a year studying social anthropology at the University of Oxford. Consequently, he initially worked for CCC Information Systems, a vendor providing computerized systems to the property and casualty insurance industry.

However, Tullman has always sought to find cures for diabetes and other chronic diseases, striving to keep people healthy until such treatments are available. Urged by his brother, Howard Tullman, and driven by his steadfast commitment to his medical aspirations, he launched and managed his own venture after leaving CCC Information Systems.

From 1998 to 2012, Tullman served as Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts, a leading provider of e-prescribing, practice management, and electronic health records. During this period, he led Allscripts through its initial public offering (IPO) and secondary offerings. Prior to joining Allscripts, he was the CEO of Enterprise Systems, a leading hospital resource management system company, which he successfully took public before selling it to McKesson/HBOC.

After leaving Allscripts, Tullman founded Livongo Health. As the first large-scale consumer digital health company, Livongo Health empowered patients with chronic conditions to leverage data science for better, healthier lives. During his final year at Livongo, he led the company through the largest initial public offering (IPO), secondary offering, and convertible bond issuance in the history of consumer digital health, raising over $550 million. He also completed the merger between Livongo and Teladoc Health, which stood as the industry’s largest merger prior to 2020. This move elevated Livongo’s valuation to $18.5 billion, ushering in a new era of consumer-centric virtual care.

In a sense, Tullman’s dream of digital health has not only realized his personal value but also demonstrated the significance of the entire digital health industry to public health. Therefore, in recognition of his career-long dedication to improving the safety and efficiency of healthcare systems, he was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award in 2019.

Now, this seasoned “captain” has set sail once again, steering Transcarent into the vast ocean of digital health...