Redbrick gets a $15M boost for incentive-based health insurance

April 2, 2009 | Camille Ricketts | Comments | |

Redbrick Health, provider of employer insurance that bases employee premiums on their behavior, has scored $15 million in a third round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The Minneapolis, Minn.-based firm says the system is designed to encourage insurance recipients to adopt healthier habits, and to reward those that already practice them.

This individualized approach to healthcare allows every employee to map their health status according to standardized measures, and view specific steps they can take to better their profile. The company emphasizes that this system isn’t meant to punish people suffering from chronic diseases — rather, those employees would be rewarded for taking a more active role in treating their conditions. Even those who are already pretty healthy receive action plans detailing what they could do to be even healthier.

Redbrick’s methods for tracking employees’ commitment to these health plans are surprisingly detailed (though they may smack a bit of Big Brother). For example, it offers an iPhone application that records progress on a person’s walking exercises and beams the data back to Redbrick’s system. Pedometers and watches that do the same are also in the works, VentureWire reports. This might sound a tad invasive, but the company says that employers have the choice whether or not to make employees prove that they are following their custom health maps.

The company has already snagged big name customers like Target and Welch Allyn, and plans to use its recent financing to further expand its number of clients. Fidelity Ventures, Highland Capital Partners and Versant Ventures joined Kleiner for the recent round. Redbrick had previously raised $30 million.

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About the Author, Camille Ricketts

Camille is the lead writer for GreenBeat. She came to VentureBeat from Google where she worked on its traditional platforms team, particularly in TV. Before that, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York and London. Follow her on Twitter at @camillericketts, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

With GreenBeat 2009, VentureBeat's all-star conference on all things Smart Grid, coming up in November, Camille will be expanding coverage of this exciting space. Stay up to date by following @greenbeat2009 on Twitter or by becoming a fan of the event on Facebook here.

  • I think that encouraging a lot of people to become wiser as well as healthier is something worthwhile to do because this will show that the firm or company is not all about profit.
  • Most companies care ONLY about their profits, it's really sad but it's a fact :(