USAable Corporation is joining an investment alliance to drive increased innovation in the health sector.
The Little Rock-based company, the investing arm of Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield, will be partnering with Echo Health Ventures on the Echo Innovation Alliance. This alliance is designed to increase health care innovation by investing in health care technology, services and digital health companies.
As part of Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield, USAble Corporation identifies and invests in products and companies that have the potential to serve the needs of businesses and individuals that its parent company services. The company will contribute this expertise to the Echo Innovation Alliance, as the new entity aims to bring more health care solutions to scale.Â
“As a health solutions company, we are excited to support those we serve, improving their health and well-being as well as their health care experience,” Curtis Barnett, president and CEO of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield and a member of the USAble Corporation Board of Directors, said in a statement. “Every day, we are committed to finding ways to solve for the challenges that our members and health care system faces. By joining the Echo Innovation Alliance, we will have access to deep health care industry knowledge and funding, which allows us to have greater speed to bring critical innovations to market for the benefit of members, providers and communities.”Â
Founded in 2016, Echo Health Ventures is a collaboration between Cambia Health Solutions and Mosaic Health Solutions that invests in health care companies. The organization has a portfolio of more than 20 companies with multiple IPOs and more than 30 collaborations across its portfolio companies and its parent companies.
Echo Health Ventures has offices in Durham, North Carolina; Portland, Oreg.; Seattle Wash.; and Boston, Mass.
“At a time like this, when the need for innovation in health care is so urgent, we are excited to launch the Echo Innovation Alliance, a new model of highly strategic venture investment, in collaboration with such respected, progressive health care leaders,” Echo Health Ventures chief executive officer Rob Coppedge said. “The Echo Innovation Alliance further validates Echo’s unique model and will accelerate our work with leading entrepreneurs and management teams to scale their innovations nationally.”
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