Social factors like education, employment status, income level, gender, and ethnicity have a marked influence on the health of a person. There is evidence of wide disparities in the health status of different social groups. Individuals with lower socioeconomic positions are at a higher risk of poor health.
Cityblock, a US-based healthcare startup, is working on providing community-based care to most underserved communities. The company works with insurance companies to provide in-home, community-based, and virtual care at no extra cost, including no copays. The startup partners with community-based organizations and health plans to deliver services virtually, in-home, and in their community-based clinics. Modern technology is at the core of the model, with custom-built tools to support every facet of care team operations and member interactions. Cityblock currently serves 70,000 members in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Washington, DC.
Launched in 2017 out of Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs, Cityblock offers a personal care team for each patient encompassing primary care, mental health, social services, pregnancy care, and urgent care. It also offers safe housing, food security, and childcare support, working with local shelters, housing agencies, and food pantries along with medical support.
Cityblock is building its solutions on a modern technology stack with an orientation toward impact. The integrated care teams include doctors, nurses, advanced practice clinicians, behavioral health specialists, licensed clinical social workers, and community health partners, and leverage close partnerships with existing healthcare providers and community-based social services organizations.
Cityblock started with a partnership with EmblemHealth, one of the largest nonprofit health plans in the US, and is now teaming up with MDwise. Recently, the company has raised nearly $900 million and has a valuation of around $6 billion, according to media reports.
Cityblock said in a press statement that it is confident that its team has the potential to scale to serve millions of people across the country in new and better ways. The startup believes that new models of care delivery, rooted in preventative care and augmented with social services, are one major path forward to righting the injustices in the healthcare system. This starts with extending changing payment models to create sustainability for primary care providers and building technology to democratize access to the care models.
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