May 25, 2021

Flume looks to shake up health benefits in a fragmented ecosystem

As a plethora of startups, from Accolade to Grand Rounds, look to build a new “front door” for how people access their health benefits, Cedric Kovacs-Johnson is wondering: who is managing the back end? 

His startup, Flume Health, is looking to take on that task by providing a modern alternative to third-party administrators that process claims and manage benefits, many of which still rely on spreadsheets or pen-and-paper processes. It lets companies bring in specialized providers to address musculoskeletal pain, diabetes, mental health and other specialties. 

The company recently emerged with $10 million in seed funding and its first group of clients. Crosslink Capital led a recent $6 million seed round, bringing Flume’s total to $10 million. It also brought on Ann Joo Kim, who was a program director for Haven, as its COO.  

Kovacs-Johnson is familiar with the extent that behind-the-scenes administrators can affect people’s care. He started Flume in 2017, after seeing his sister grapple with getting approval for an epilepsy-related surgery. Read rest here