The intent of the healthcare system isn’t aligned with improving things, said Dr. S. Claiborne “Clay” Johnston.
“It’s not about making healthcare better,” said Johnston, the inaugural deal of the Dell Medical School, who left that job in 2021 after seven years and co-founded Harbor Health in 2022.
Austin-based Harbor Health is disrupting the way patients receive healthcare.
The first time he talked about his new venture in public was Thursday morning at the Health Tech Austin’s Future of Care Delivery Summit at Capital Factory.
Tony Miller, the other co-founder of Harbor Health, is a serial healthcare founder. He formerly founded Bind Benefits in 2016 which offered on-demand healthcare and sold to United Healthcare. Before that, Miller founded Definitely Health which sold to United Healthcare for $300 million in 2004, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Harbor Health is working with employers and Medicare to redesign benefits and care to reduce costs and improve care.
“We’re wasting a ton of money,” Johnston said.
For example, only 25 percent of people with high blood pressure are being treated for it, Johnston said. If that rose to 100 percent, then 60 percent of heart attacks and strokes could be prevented, he said.
Harbor Health is a fee-based system that focuses on preventative care and providing access to doctors through telemedicine and even text-based exchanges, Johnston said. It’s also focused on finding the best specialists for the patients, he said.
Harbor Health is redesigning the care system around things that matter, Johnston said.
The new healthcare provider has three clinics in Austin, Round Rock and Kyle. The clinics provide primary care, chronic disease management, behavioral health, health and wellness services, and Medicare wellness exams. The multi-specialty clinic groups treat infants, children, adolescents, and adults.
Harbor Health has raised a $9.5 million Series A round of funding from two investors, according to Pitchbook. The company has 100 employees, Johnston said.