Woman consulting doctor on tablet

Investment in so-called disruptive digital health platforms, including companies such as Honor and Signify Health, increased 1,900% in the past few years, according to a new report by digital health advisory firm Summit Health.

Summit Health said last year alone investors funneled more than $11.8 billion into digital health platforms, a 47% increase over the $8 billion they invested in all digital health investments in 2019. Summit considers digital health platforms as “all multisided platforms and marketplaces that utilize technology to connect and/or facilitate a transaction between previously disparate healthcare constituents.”

Summit Health founder and managing director Seth Joseph said in a statement that disruptive digital health platforms are revolutionizing the way healthcare is delivered.

“The pandemic has accelerated it along with the recognition that traditional players can’t solve the biggest challenges in healthcare on their own,” Joseph explained.” From unlocking the power of connected systems and enabling the promise of machine learning, to the emergence of marketplaces that efficiently match supply and demand, to an evolution of the role of traditional EHRs, savvy investors and founders are now seeing the value that platforms can create.” 

San Francisco-based Honor is revolutionizing home care through an app that connects that right patient with the right caregiver. The eight-year-old company also rocked the home care world last year with the $2 billion purchase of Omaha-based Home Instead.

Honor Technology CEO Seth Sternberg recently told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse in a podcast that using technology in the high-touch home care industry can actually enhance the caregiving experience.

“We see ourselves as delivering care and human experiences, but we’re using technology to make those experiences better,” Sternberg said. 

Summit also found investors are increasingly pouring money into health technology startups. Last year investors sank $29.1 billion into new firms, nearly double the amount they invested in 2020. The advisory firm said the currents for investment in digital health technology continue to look strong for the foreseeable future.