Habitat Health gets $50 million in funding, names CEO

Habitat Health announced Tuesday it has tapped former Cigna executive Matthew Bennett as CEO and raised $50 million in capital as the company prepares to open its first Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly in Sacramento, California early next year.

Bennett previously held several executive positions at Cigna, including senior vice president of care delivery at Evernorth, the company’s pharmacy and healthcare provider services business. He said he plans to use the new capital to launch Habitat Health's PACE programs throughout California.

Related: OSF HealthCare returns to its home care root with PACE

Kaiser Permanente and investment firm Town Hall Ventures launched Habitat Health last spring to provide integrated home and center-based healthcare services to low-income older adults. San Francisco-based Habitat Health plans to partner with Kaiser Permanente and other healthcare providers across the country to offer those progams.

Kaiser and Town Hall Ventures, along with venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, provided the latest round of funding for the company. Bennett said the company will use that funding to open PACE programs in Sacramento and Los Angeles next year, before rolling out additional programs in California.

However, he said the company would need to raise additional capital to expand PACE to markets outside of the state.

Bennett said he was confident there would be funding available to expand beyond California based on preliminary conversations with Habitat Health’s current funding partners.

“There is deep conviction in the power of what PACE represents as well as the opportunity that we have ahead of us for Habitat Health with Kaiser Permanente as an anchor partner,” Bennett said.

PACE is a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services program that offers home- and center-based care to eligible people 55 and older. Participants qualify for skilled nursing care, but can still live in their communities. More than 150 PACE programs in 33 states provide home care, prescription drugs and transportation to participants. Enrollees receive adult day services, recreation, meals and medical services at approximately 300 neighborhood PACE centers.

The decades-old PACE program has been growing as demand for home-based care increases along with an aging population. Hospital systems such as OSF HealthCare, Geisinger, Baptist Health and Ascension also offer PACE.