Tue, May 15, 2012, 6:03 PM EDT - U.S. Markets closed
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Showing posts with label Castlight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Castlight. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Castlight Health Raises Record Amount For A Health IT Start-Up
Castlight Health announced today it raised $100 million in a Series D round, bringing the total amount raised to $181 million since its inception in 2008. New investors include T. Rowe Price, Redmile Group, two of the country’s biggest mutual funds (unnamed), as well as previous investors. “This is a vehicle to something bigger,” says Giovanni Colella, co-founder and chief executive, who expects an IPO next. He declined to disclose revenues, or profitability, but says capital was raised at a “huge upward valuation.”
Castlight has been at the forefront in tackling the lack of transparency in health care pricing. It offers employees of self-insured companies the tools to shop around for tests and procedures based on cost and quality, which can vary widely within the same geographical area. For example, a study published last month by UC San Francisco in the Archives of Internal Medicine revealed that the cost of a routine appendectomy in California can vary between $1,529 and $183,000. In San Francisco alone, the difference between the highest and lowest charge was $172,000.
Pushing consumers to shop around for prices is the rise in high-deductible plans. According to Mercer, the percentage of employees enrolled in those plans has increased from 3% in 2006 to 13% last year. A recent New York Times article suggested a permanent change in consumer behavior toward health care consumption, and although economists are still unsure about the causes which include the recession, high-deductible plans could be one reason. “The reality is, when you put people on a high-deductible plan, they’re going to think twice before going to the doctor,” says Colella. “Tools like ours will be needed more and more.”
The company says it has more than 10 customers, including Honeywell, Life Technologies, and global insurance broker Willis North America. Peter Isaacson, Castlight’s chief marketing officer, says that overall, 70% of employees use Castlight’s price comparison tool, and 61% attribute a change in how they spend their health care dollars to Castlight.
To get claims data from prospective customers, the company often ran into resistance from health insurers that process the claims. They balked at releasing such data because of confidential pricing contracts with hospitals, but Colella says that will change within two years when those contracts are up. He says that some employers are also “fed up,” pointing at one potential customer who might switch insurers to be with Castlight. “We’ve never seen this kind of traction; everyone thought the health plans would root us out,” says Colella, who’s ready to do battle with insurers, such as WellPoint and UnitedHealthcare, which are releasing their own price comparison tools to members. “We don’t have to report to [health care] providers, we don’t have to please any constituency; we are neutral,” he says.
Because of demand for Castlight’s product, Colella went to his board last January to get the green light to raise more money. He plans to use the $100 million to recruit and expand sales. “It signals to the market that we’re here to stay,” he says.
Castlight’s other founders include its chairman, Bryan Roberts who’s a partner at Venrock, and U.S. chief technology officer Todd Park.
Castlight Health Secures $100 Million in Series D Funding
Tue, May 1, 2012, 11:04 AM EDT - U.S. Markets close in 4 hrs 56 mins
Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.Sunday, April 1, 2012
Castlight Health Takes Health Care Transparency Mobile With New Applications and Mobile Web Access
Castlight Health, developer of a personalized health care shopping platform, today announced the launch of Castlight Mobile, a new offering that extends the power of the Castlight Health platform to users’ preferred mobile devices. Available as a native application for Apple iOS and Google Android, Castlight Mobile provides users the flexibility to view health care cost and quality data at anytime and from anywhere. BlackBerry and other smartphone users can also access an optimized mobile Web experience. The mobile products are available today to users at all of Castlight’s employer customers, at no additional charge. \health yahoo\)
Castlight Mobile extends the power of the Castlight Health platform to users' preferred mobile devices, delivering health care pricing and quality data anytime, anywhere. (Photo: Business Wire)
Offered by innovative companies to their employees, the Castlight Health platform transforms the way consumers shop for health care. The personalized, secure platform provides employees a wealth of data about the price of medical services, the quality of physicians and facilities, as well as important educational and convenience information. With Castlight, employers can maintain or improve the quality of employees’ care and lower total health care spend.
“Traditionally, transparency into the cost and quality of health care services has been largely unavailable to consumers. We are changing this paradigm by enabling companies to offer their employees easy access to the data they need to make better health care decisions,” said Ethan Prater, vice president of products at Castlight Health. “Castlight Mobile gives our users another access point to informative health care data, regardless of their location.”
“Many of our talented employees spend their time with customers on the salon floor, rather than in front of computers, so their smartphones often act as their primary computing devices,” said Allison Brown, director of employee services, Regis Corporation. “With new mobile options for accessing the Castlight platform, our employees will have easy access to cost and quality health care information wherever they are. We expect that in addition to helping our staff save money, this offering will also help them become more engaged in their health and wellness.”
Transparency into Health Care Cost and Quality, Direct from a User’s Preferred Mobile Device
The new mobile offerings deliver the key functionality of the Castlight Health platform in a secure, easy-to-use format that is tightly integrated to the Web-based portal to ensure a unified user experience. Regardless of their preferred mobile device, users can find care based on a doctor’s name, specialty or a condition; get on-the-go access to up-to-date health plan information; and keep critical health care information – such as specialists and family doctors – in one place.
“Today, when doctors recommend specialists, most people will take their word for it,” added Prater. “We’re all about ensuring that health care consumers are better informed – no matter where they are. With Castlight Health’s mobile offerings, users can become more informed about the care they’re receiving and paying for, before they go.”
To learn more about the Castlight Health Mobile, please visit: www.castlighthealth.com/mobile.
About Castlight Health
Castlight Health enables employers, their employees, and health plans to take control of health care costs and improve care. Named #1 on The Wall Street Journal’s list of “The Top 50 Venture-Backed Companies” for 2011 and one of Dow Jones’ 50 Most Investment-Worthy Technology Start-Ups, Castlight Health helps the country’s self-insured employers and health plans empower consumers to shop for health care. Castlight Health is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by prominent investors including Venrock, Oak Investment Partners, Maverick Capital, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Wellcome Trust, Cleveland Clinic, and U.S. Venture Partners. For more information, please visit our web site at http://www.castlighthealth.com or call (415) 829-1400.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50220145&lang=en
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Fast Company Names Castlight Health One of the World’s Most Innovative Companies
Thu, Feb 23, 2012, 1:36 PM EST - U.S. Markets close in 2 hrs 24 mins
Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.Friday, February 17, 2012
Castlight Health Strengthens Management Team to Capitalize on Growing Demand for Health Care Transparency Solutions
Fri, Feb 17, 2012, 8:16 AM EST - U.S. Markets open in 1 hr 14 mins
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