BOSTON– Gather Health, a high-impact, socially-focused primary care solution for older adults, has opened its first primary care practice in Quincy, MA after raising over $15M in Series A financing from investors including Khosla Ventures, Maverick Ventures, Commonwealth Care Alliance, and others. The company will be launching other locations and markets to follow in 2024.
Gather’s innovative primary care model leverages a provider with a ‘wrap-around’ care team approach. EMTs and Guide Partners are hired from and for the communities being served to transcend the walls of doctors’ offices as centers of medical care. Patients will enjoy in-clinic, at-home, or virtual care, depending on their unique medical and social needs.
Dr. Brent Asplin, former Chief Operating Officer of VillageMD and President of Village Medical, has joined Gather Health as Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer.
“We will be the only at-risk primary care platform purpose-built to address social determinants of health with care team members serving their own neighborhood community,” Asplin said. “In my years as a physician and clinical operator, I’ve seen socially and medically complex patients struggle, especially in fee-for-service models, to get the healthcare they deserve. Gather Health is built for them through our learnings from years of on-the-ground experience.”
Each dedicated care team will consist of a Primary Care Provider; a Guide Partner to provide social support and to help navigate the ever-complicated healthcare system; and a Medical Technician Partner to provide patients with at-home visits. Gather will also offer transportation to patients for medical visits, a neighborhood office with space for classes and social events, and technology-enabled care designed to help patients in the comfort of their homes.
This approach is overseen by Co-Founder Dr. John Loughnane, former Chief Medical Officer of Commonwealth Care Alliance, and has been developed based on his years of experience serving at-risk communities throughout the greater Boston area. Rob Pahlavan, an industry veteran focused on complex patient care, led the company formation process as a Partner at Healthcare Foundry. Gather represents the third company launched from the platform.
“The last decade has seen massive technological advances and leaps in our understanding of how primary care can be utilized to address patient need. However, to date there has been little real effort to bring a new model of care to those who can benefit from it the most, lower income older adults,” said Alex Morgan, partner at Khosla Ventures. “Gather’s technology-driven social primary care model is doing just that, connecting people to the care they need in a modality that best suits their personal circumstances.”
Uniquely focused on opening locations in underserved communities where top-quality care is needed most, Gather Health intends to supply older adults with numerous benefits needed for better management of personal health—and for strengthening their sense of community overall.
“We are excited to back Dr. Brent Asplin, Dr. John Loughnane, Rob Pahlavan, and the rest of the Gather team in building a primary care model for socially & medically complex patients,” said Prateesh Maheshwari, Managing Director at Maverick Ventures. “The combination of in-clinic, in-home, and virtual care will create generational health and equity for each community, one patient at a time.”
