Each month, we round up breaking news featuring 1501 Health, our cohort companies and partners.
June features the exploration of possibilities within the healthcare metaverse and celebrating a 1501 Health graduate cohort who just hit a huge funding milestone.
“Baltimore startup that works with barbershops to tackle health disparities raises $3.5M”
Baltimore Business Journal | June 23, 2022
Featuring Andrew Suggs, founder of Live Chair Health
The Brief:
A Baltimore startup that helps African Americans access health care through barbershops and other community institutions has raised $3.5 million in new funding.
Live Chair Health now plans to move into new markets, focusing on the southeastern United States.
Going forward, Co-founder and CEO Andrew Suggs said he hopes to add additional features to the Live Chair Health program, such as a reward system. The feature would enable people who maintain healthy habits, such as going to doctors appointments, to receive discounts from barbershops and other similar businesses.
"We're still building out all of those services that allows people to regain credits, but the whole idea was to incentivize the right behaviors and give people things they can tangibly use," Suggs said.
“Healthcare in the metaverse? It might be closer than you think.”
Technical.ly | June 13, 2022
Featuring David Black, founder of Even Health & Lifebridge Health
The Brief:
Virtual reality telehealth is growing on closed platforms, such as Cabana, a VR-based mental healthcare application from Annapolis, Maryland-based Even Health.
“I lost my father in 2016 to a late-stage terminal cancer, and a year later, I sat next to a stranger on a flight who was headed to his father’s funeral for the same reason,” Even Health CEO and founder David Black told Technical.ly.
“And it was a moment where I realized I had sought therapy for losing my dad and processed it how I thought I was supposed to, but I really connected with that stranger on a plane because we were going through a shared challenge, and that connection stuck with me. So I was researching mental health and wellbeing for work, and I was frustrated that we have low engagement rates for individuals but yet a high need. And it got me thinking about that conversation and how we could innovate in mental health.”
“We’re now supporting 70,000 healthcare workers across the country” — including Baltimore’s LifeBridge Health — “through their employers as an early alternative for mental health support,” he said.
To learn more about our 1501 Health program, head here.
About 1501 Health
1501 Health is a unique partnership between Healthworx and LifeBridge Health, representing expertise in both health insurance and financing (payers) and healthcare delivery and services (providers). The investment and incubation program empowers entrepreneurs to get their innovative solutions to market and expand their impact in healthcare quality, access and affordability. To learn more about 1501Health, visit www.1501Health.com.
About Healthworx
Healthworx operates at the intersection of healthcare and innovation by creating, co-creating and investing in companies that are improving healthcare quality, accessibility, affordability and equity. As the innovation and investment arm of CareFirst, Healthworx envisions a healthier future for all people by changing the way health works. To learn more about Healthworx, visit https://www.healthworx.com.
About LifeBridge Health
LifeBridge Health is one of the largest, most comprehensive providers of health services in Maryland. LifeBridge Health includes Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Northwest Hospital, Carroll Hospital, Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital, Grace Medical Center and related affiliates. For more information, visit www.lifebridgehealth.org.