CVS Health-backed primary care provider Oak Street Health struck a multiyear deal with Strive Health to offer care focused on patients with chronic or end-stage kidney disease.
With the partnership, the primary care provider's doctors can refer patients to Strive, whose nurses, nurse practitioners and other staff members offer care virtually, in-home and at partner nephrology offices. Strive began rolling out the services to Oak Street's 21-state footprint in 2022's fourth quarter and plans to complete the rollout by the end of this year, said Will Stokes, Strive's co-founder and chief strategy officer.
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Financial details were not disclosed.
Stokes estimated Strive can serve 7,000 Oak Street patients with stage-4 chronic and end-stage kidney disease.
"What we're doing is not replacing primary care," Stokes said. "We're plugging in additional touch points that are specialized around caring for chronic kidney disease and comorbidities and social determinant issues that surround those patients and doing that in a way that is very collaborative with the primary care physician."
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Drew Crenshaw, chief population health officer at Oak Street, said in a Wednesday news release the deal made sense because of the companies' similar clinical approaches and geographic overlap.
States such as Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Texas and Pennsylvania are important markets for both companies, making it easier to integrate resources in those areas, Stokes said. Strive serves more than 90,000 patients across 30 states and plans to exceed 100,000 by the end of the year.
The deal is part of both organizations continued investment into value-based care and big expansion plans for Oak Street and Strive. In May, Strive closed a $166 million Series C funding round led by venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates and including CVS Health Ventures. That same month, CVS completed its $10.6 billion all-cash acquisition of Oak Street, building its value-based portfolio to compete with other big retailers disrupting the space.
Stokes said kidney disease patients can benefit from an integrated value-based care model because of the complexities surrounding the condition and the need for a long-term care plan to slow disease progression and help lower healthcare costs.
