Dealflow | November 4, 2019

Socially Determined raises $7.3 million to shed light on factors influencing health

Jessica Pothering
ImpactAlpha Editor

Jessica Pothering

ImpactAlpha, November 4 – There’s growing recognition that an individual’s health isn’t merely influenced by germs or genes. Issues like financial stability and nutritional knowledge play a role.

Washington, D.C.-based Socially Determined is trying to help healthcare providers, payers, pharmaceutical companies, and community organizations understand the risks and costs associated with so-called social determinants of health. Its cloud-based analytics model culls data around seven issue areas: housing, transportation, economic well-being, health literacy, food insecurity, crime and social support. It uses the data to forecast health outcomes, spending and utilization patterns.

Socially Determined, which launched in 2017, entered the healthcare scene as providers have been ramping up efforts to address health more holistically. For example, Catholic health provider Bon Secours is one of six providers investing in affordable housing via an initiative called Accelerating Investments for Healthy Communities, while Kaiser Permanente earmarked $200 million to focus on supportive housing and homelessness prevention.

“Addressing issues like food insecurity and housing instability not only positively impacts the lives of individuals, but it provides a real cost-savings to health systems, plans, and business stakeholders,” Socially Determined’s Trenor Williams said in a statement.

Ziegler Link-Age Funds, ProMedica, 3M, OSF HealthCare, and LRVHealth backed the company’s Series A funding round.