Employers consistently identify cancer as a top condition driving their health care spending.1 At the same time, employers care deeply about supporting their employees through life’s most vulnerable moments. Patients diagnosed with cancer have generally faced a fragmented health care system, often unsure of where to turn for high-quality, affordable care. Despite the growing prevalence of cancer among younger individuals, there remains a significant unmet need across the employer-sponsored insurance population and an opportunity to scale solutions.
Traditionally, cancer care programs have focused on the Medicare population, leaving working-age individuals and their families behind. Morgan Health, a division of JPMorganChase, invested in Thyme Care because we see an opportunity to build upon their success in Medicare and capture momentum within the employer market. In their first year serving this market, Thyme Care has already formed partnerships with health plans and businesses, including Fortune 500 companies, revealing the urgent demand for comprehensive oncology solutions in this sector. This year, more than 2 million Americans are expected to be diagnosed with cancer.2
As a strategic investor, Morgan Health is focused on helping Thyme Care scale their solutions, and ultimately, help drive better outcomes for patients. As such, we’re committed to growing Thyme Care’s employer-sponsored insurance membership and driving improvements in cost and quality. This marks Morgan Health’s 10th investment, furthering our commitment to expanding specialty care navigation within employer-sponsored insurance.
In the five years since Thyme Care launched, their value-based programs have demonstrated significant impact: On average, their model has achieved a 15-20% reduction in acute care spend3 and saved patients $594 per month through their virtual navigation platform.4 Their approach has also proven to offset rising drug costs by minimizing waste and interchanging products with less expensive clinical alternatives like biosimilars.5 Thyme Care’s comprehensive model stands apart from traditional oncology centers of excellence, which have been limited in their ability to guide patients toward the highest quality provider and support more specialized care when needed.
Thyme Care aims to improve the health care system for employers facing nearly double-digit percent increases to health care costs and for patients navigating a maze of appointments, treatments, paperwork and stress. Consider a 40-year-old woman whose primary care provider identifies a potential malignancy. In the standard system, she might wait weeks for an appointment to receive a diagnosis and experience severe symptoms during treatment that lead to costly emergency department visits.
With Thyme Care, she could see a high-quality cancer provider within a couple days, start treatment sooner, and receive proactive symptom management that reduce her acute care visits, improving her patient journey. Local teams also assist members with accessing community-based resources, including financial assistance, transportation, nutrition support and stable housing.
Our investment in Thyme Care furthers our commitment to extend the patient-centered “medical home” concept for complex conditions. We look forward to working with the Thyme Care team to meaningfully scale more connected, personalized cancer solutions.