My Health Care Manager lands $3 million investment

Indianapolis-based My Health Care Manager LLC has just landed $3 million in venture capital, with $1 million of the infusion
coming from locally based Clarian Health Ventures.

My Health Care Manager, which guides working adults and their
parents through the maze of decisions and agencies involved in care for seniors, plans to use the money primarily to augment
its sales staff and operations.

The company aims to capitalize on two major macroeconomic trends: the aging of
the baby boomer population, which will increase its pool of potential customers; and federal health care reform, which could
create opportunity as hospitals and insurers seek methods to cut costs.

“All the debate that’s going
on in Washington is still redividing the way the dollar is spent among providers and payers,” said My Health Care Manager
founder and Chairman Alan Stanford, 68. “The next wave is keeping [seniors] out of the health care system and making
sure seniors are in better compliance with doctors’ orders.”

Founded in 2006, My Health Care Manager
has 22 employees plus five contractors. Since inception, it had raised $2 million from local angel investors. It also had
attracted a $1.9 million grant from the Indiana 21st Century Research and Technology Fund.

The new funding is the
first time the company has landed venture capital. Stafford said $2 million of the infusion is coming from a strategic investor,
which he declined to identify.

My Health Care Manager isn’t profitable yet but has tremendous potential,
said Matt Neff, CEO of Clarian Health Ventures, which is owned by the Clarian Health hospital system.

“We
understand it’s going to be a while before the company turns the corner,” he said. “That’s not uncommon
for early-stage companies. You’re betting on their ability to quickly scale the business.”

In its earliest days, My Health Care Manager focused on signing up customers one by one. But more recently,
it has had success offering the service through employers as a component of their health care plan.

It struck a
breakthrough deal in August, when WellPoint Inc. agreed to begin touting My Health Care Manager’s services to employers
throughout its network.

In early October, the startup hired former WellPoint executive Jane Niederberger, 49,
as CEO, succeeding Stanford. He remains chairman.

My Health Care Manager has been offering its service to employers
for 40 cents to $1.50 per month for each health plan member. Employers who buy the service through WellPoint will pay similar
rates, with WellPoint getting a small cut of the revenue.

This is a critical stage in the development of My Health
Care Manager, said Mark Long, president of Greenwood-based Long Performance Advisors Inc. and the former chief of Indiana
University’s business-incubation program.

The key to success, Long said, will be convincing more organizations
that My Health Care Manager can truly make a dent in health care costs.

“If people perceive it as something
that will both save money and give better care, that’s the tipping point for them,” Long said.

If
My Health Care Manager’s growth matches its potential, it won’t be long before it needs to approach investors
again.

“Three million dollars isn’t what it used to be,” he said. “They’ll swallow
that up pretty quick, especially in this market. They have to make hay while the sun shines with it.”•