Software Company DrFirst Invests $ 50 Million in Shares to Expand Reach in Digital Health

Healthcare software provider DrFirst has raised $ 50 million in equity capital to invest in targeted acquisitions and accelerate business growth.

The investment was supported by Sixth Street Growth, the growth investment platform of the Sixth Street investment firm.

The venture-backed company provides e-prescription and telehealth software products to healthcare providers, payers and life science companies. DrFirst’s solution is used by nearly 300,000 healthcare professionals, including over 100,000 prescribers, almost half of electronic health record systems in the United States, and over 1,400 hospitals in the United States and the United States. Canada.

James Chen, CEO and President of DrFirst, founded the company in 2000 to tackle some of the most challenging problems in healthcare, starting with e-prescribing and working your way through its current portfolio of solutions, which encompasses telehealth within the framework of collaborative care and patented artificial products. intelligence that improves the accuracy of the patient’s medication history.

The company’s capabilities have expanded to include collaborative care, transparent pricing, patient engagement, and the challenges of drug adherence.

Following the previous investment of $ 35 million from Sixth Street and an additional $ 50 million from Goldman Sachs Growth, both in 2020, DrFirst’s total investment over the past year is now $ 135 million.

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DrFirst plans to use the new capital to expand its reach through targeted acquisitions that will build on its capabilities in areas such as patient medication adherence, care collaboration and telehealth, according to Chen.

The company’s solutions are designed to connect people at the touchpoints of care with the information they need to improve patient outcomes.

“We are currently reaching approximately 1 million patients per week through our patient platforms. We would like to reach much more than that, up to 5-6 million patients per week. So we need to take a close look at how we can have more points of contact with patients and have a broader impact than we have today, ”said G. Cameron Deemer, President of DrFirst, at Fierce Healthcare .

The company’s sustained business growth, long-standing work with major healthcare systems, expanding customer base and proven leadership in the digital healthcare solutions market underscore the investments, according to the company.

“Software that improves healthcare workflows is a long-term theme for our team, and DrFirst stands out as a scale and differentiated enterprise technology platform delivering high quality technology solutions. and friendly, ”said Michael McGinn, partner and co-director of Sixth Street Growth, in a statement. “Their offerings help physicians provide better and more informed care, which ultimately benefits patients and everyone involved in healthcare. “

The business has experienced accelerated growth as vendors turn to digital health tools during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last spring, DrFirst partnered with EHR companies to bring telehealth to healthcare providers across the United States.

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DrFirst has invested in AI and machine learning to solve the “dirty little secrets” in healthcare, Deemer said. The company’s SmartSuite artificial intelligence tools deliver immediately consumable drug data from the supplier’s EHR to the pharmacy information system with precision and with fewer clicks and keystrokes.

In the 21 years since the launch of DrFirst, the healthcare technology space has become increasingly competitive with new players. But Deemer said the company is differentiating itself by offering solutions that tackle the broader challenge of medication management.

“The individual aspects of what we do are competitive, such as telehealth, secure SMS and collaborative care. In the collaborative safe care space, there are a ton of people competing for hospitals, but not so many in the areas around hospitals, acute care, rehabilitation, hospices, and nursing homes. ’emergency,’ he said.

“We’ve worked hard to distribute in these empty spaces and hospitals need to talk to these people, so we’ve grown that footprint. For major healthcare systems and big payers looking for an innovative partner and industrial-strength technology platforms, they come to see us for that, “he said.

The company also announced that Sixth Street’s Lee Mooney has joined DrFirst’s board of directors.

“Sixth Street Growth’s follow-up investment is a testament to their deep commitment to DrFirst as we continue to bring practical and collaborative tools to market that solve the day-to-day challenges of healthcare stakeholders, including clinicians, patients, healthcare professionals, and healthcare professionals. hospitals, outpatient offices, pharmacies and payers, “Chen said.