Iora Health model plans to double number of sites after $28M funding

Having secured $28 million in recent funding, and planning to double the number of primary care practices in the next year, Iora Health's innovative model is finally starting to catch fire.

The Cambridge-based primary care business is different from the typical fee-for-service platform. Instead, it features a per-patient, per-month payment, typically paid for by a self-insured employer for its employees.

That funding is meant to encompass all the care a patient may need, allowing Iora to open doctors' offices close to the employer that are focused on preventative care. In turn, the doctors' office can do whatever it takes to keep a patient healthy, including treatment that would typically be beyond those for which insurance companies would pay.

"We improve people's health, and that will lower health care costs," said Rushika Fernandopulle, co-founder and CEO of Iora Health, in an interview. "It's important to get that order right. Lowering health care costs is easy to do - you just deny access. Our job isn't to lower health care costs. Our job is to improve people's health."