Venture firms, convinced they’re jumpstarting the world’s most helpful tech products, have struggled mightily to get them in the hands of cash-strapped, risk-averse hospital administrators and clinicians — but that could change as tech startups and their powerful backers explore ever closer relationships with health care providers.
Among them is General Catalyst, which on Sunday announced a health business spinout with plans to buy a health system of its very own. The new business, called the Health Assurance Transformation Corporation or HATCo, is on the lookout for health systems to purchase. The idea is to create a testing ground for new tech that could improve patients’ health while making hospital processes more efficient. General Catalyst — which has backed household names like Airbnb and Warby Parker well before they were successful companies — did not say how much they’d invest to acquire a health system.
It’s the most overt attempt by a venture firm to directly shape how hospitals use technology to provide care. General Catalyst already works closely with a network of 15 health systems across 43 states eager for early access to technology developed by its portfolio companies and companies it has launched — including IT software developers like Commure — but has so far operated as more of a partner to health systems than an owner.