Upfront Healthcare Services, a Chicago healthtech startup that helps physician practices get smarter about their scheduling, announced Thursday that it has raised a $5.6 million Series A round of funding to support growth and accelerate its product development cycle.
“We are in an ambulatory epidemic as patients struggle to get appointments, clinician burnout is real, quality program payments are opaque and volume is still the measure of success rather than value,” said CEO and co-founder Ben Albert in a statement. “Our Series A investors are aligned to help make ambulatory medicine work again, and we couldn’t be more excited to have their partnership in the effort.”
Upfront uses data science to analyze visits at large physician practices to understand how scheduling and logistics can be improved to make the practice more effective and profitable — whether that’s from better preparation for each patient visit, declining referrals for unnecessary appointments or assigning more patients to nurse practitioners or physician assistants.
Nashville Capital Network led the round, in which Echo Health Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners and Martin Venture participated. Albert and co-founder Carrie Kozlowski’s last startup, Care Team Connect, was acquired by Advisory Board in 2013.
Nashville Capital Network was an investor in that startup as well.
“NCN is excited to once again partner with the Upfront management team,” said managing partner Sid Chambless in a statement. “Ambulatory medicine is struggling, and Upfront Healthcare’s approach will make the experience better for everyone… [We] know this group has the vision and operational experience to solve the problems facing ambulatory medicine.”
Founded in 2015, Upfront’s eight-person team includes a former executive at Rush University Medical Center and Chicago healthtech veteran Michelle Sobel.
Image via Upfront Healthcare Services.
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