Bostinno
CEO of hospital software company stays on through multiple acquistions
By: Miranda Perez
Not many CEOs stay involved in their startups post-acquisition. But Lissy Hu, CEO of Boston-based CarePort, has made it her mission to stay in leadership through her company’s second acquisition because, she says, “there are not enough women or women of color in entrepreneurship, especially in health care entrepreneurship."
This past October, a a global health and community care technology company called WellSky acquired CarePort — a software company that matches patients seeking post-hospital care with the high-quality and ideal options for their needs — for $1.35 billion.
It was the second time CarePort has been acquired: the first acquisition was by Allscripts in 2016.
Before 2016, the 9-year-old company had raised less than $5 million. But with 200 employees on board now, the company is looking to bring on 60 more employees by the end of the year.
Hu started CarePort when she was attending Harvard Medical School doing a joint MBA program.
“When I was at the Boston hospitals most patients thought they’d be able to go home and move on after being stabilized, but most times, they needed some type of post hospital care. That was oftentimes a surprise for patients and their families,” Hu said.
CarePort’s mission is to aid patients in the period between of stabilization and home care. Through using software analytics, the company’s technology connects hospitals to post-care facilities that help patients through home care.
Through using software analytics, the company’s technology connects hospitals to post-care facilities that help patients through home care. This includes finding an at-home nurse or someone who is simply able to pick-up and drop-off patients at their appointments.
CarePort
This includes finding an at-home nurse or someone who is simply able to pick-up and drop-off patients at their appointments.
Its original business model focused on selling to hospitals and to post-hospital providers. However, as Hu said, "over the last couple of years insurers have gotten involved in the process, as they're responsible for paying for the total cost of care."
CarePort’s technology is in over 1,000 hospitals and over 100,000 of community based post-care providers.
A third of patients coming out of U.S. hospitals will be set up for post care through CarePort.
“This has been incredibly fulfilling to me as someone who left the practice of medicine to try to continue to make a broader impact on healthcare and on patients,” Hu said.
Uncertainty after acquisitions
As an entrepreneur who has gone through two major acquisitions, Hu notes there is a lot of uncertainty in making the right decision regarding acquisitions.
“You hear all these horror stories of acquisitions going wrong. A larger company may acquire a smaller one, then everybody leaves and the product shutters,” Hu said.
But, when it came to allowing CarePort to get acquired (twice) Hu was careful in deciding how an acquisition would allow her to grow a lot faster than she would otherwise.
To Hu, the end goal is to not necessarily become a part of a bigger company, but to make CarePort more valuable to consumers and further the mission of being a great help to patients.
While there are competitors in the space, she said, “there is not one with as large of a network as ours."
"Despite that, I enjoy seeing my competitors succeed. Because I think to myself, it's great that there's money flowing into space, because other people are recognizing this is a huge problem,” Hu said.
