NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Fortuna Health, a consumer-first platform simplifying Medicaid navigation, today announced a seed investment of $4 million led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health with participation from BoxGroup and Y Combinator. The funding accelerates Fortuna’s state expansion and partnerships with managed care organizations (MCOs), health systems, and service providers in the Medicaid space.
Fortuna’s seed round includes notable healthcare angels and advisors including Jeff Sachs (CEO, Sachs Policy Group), Cyrus Massoumi (founder, Zocdoc), Jeff Gerard (former President, Sutter Health Bay Area), Elliot Cohen (Founder, PillPack), Iyah and Sylvia Romm (Founder and former Chief Health Officer, Cityblock), Ellen DaSilva (Founder, Summer Health), as well as EGOT winner, entrepreneur, and social advocate John Legend who came into the round through support from a16z’s Cultural Leadership Fund.
Fortuna Health was founded by healthcare operators with direct Medicaid experience and a shared mission to create seamless Medicaid navigation. Over 90 million Medicaid beneficiaries encounter challenges with enrollment and recertification. These issues range from accurately screening for Medicaid eligibility to submitting long applications and tracking fluctuating renewal dates. Resulting procedural issues such as form errors account for a staggering 80% of disenrollments.
Loss of Medicaid coverage produces huge downstream consequences: managed care plans lose over $36B from churn and providers suffer from $20B in lost patient revenue and uncompensated care. Delayed enrollment also increases total cost of care and worsens outcomes as seen in maternal health.
“I’ve faced the hurdles of Medicaid first-hand as a beneficiary,” said Nikita Singareddy, co-founder and CEO of Fortuna Health. “These personal experiences are at the core of Fortuna’s commitment to consumer trust and simplicity in every interaction through our platform.”
Fortuna’s simple, self-serve platform eliminates the need to interact with state portals and physical forms. The product screens for Medicaid eligibility in under 60 seconds with fast enrollment and recertification in more than seven languages. To accelerate application completion, consumers can connect third-party accounts to populate form fields, photo upload documents, and receive text/email notifications for urgent actions. Fortuna provides additional live support from licensed navigators as needed.
“A core component of health equity is making healthcare coverage easy to understand, navigate, and access. Fortuna Health’s approach resonated with me by making Medicaid truly simple and intuitive. I’m proud to support their journey to combat health disparities and ensure patients get the care they need,” said John Legend.
The Fortuna platform also gives providers and health plans unparalleled visibility into account statuses and consumer next steps. With enhanced consumer data that includes tracking transitions from Medicaid to ACA/marketplace plans, teams are better equipped to serve their consumers with Fortuna’s comprehensive analytics.
“Everyone deserves simple access to healthcare, without legacy systems and broken processes standing in the way,” said Julie Yoo, general partner at a16z Bio + Health. “As Medicaid becomes even more difficult to navigate post-COVID, we’re excited to be backing the Fortuna Health team as they do the essential work of modernizing the pathway for consumers to maintain eligibility and consistent enrollment in their health plans.”
Fortuna Health is already partnered with organizations that touch thousands of Medicaid members in Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania.
To learn more about Fortuna Health or to get started as a managed care plan or provider customer, please visit: fortunahealth.com
About Fortuna Health
Fortuna Health is the leading consumer-first platform for navigating Medicaid end-to-end from eligibility and enrollment to recertification. Fortuna Health is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, BoxGroup, and Y Combinator. For more information, visit fortunahealth.com.
