Digital health companies led by Andy Roddick and Glen Tullman partner

ViewFi, a company co-founded by former U.S. Open tennis champion Andy Roddick, is partnering with Transcarent, which is led by digital health entrepreneur Glen Tullman, the companies said Thursday. 

ViewFi will provide its virtual diagnostics to Transcarent’s employer members. Tullman said ViewFi’s service will be a part of Transcarent’s larger musculoskeletal program that is offered to employers which also include physical therapy and pain management. ViewFi will serve as the digital front door for Transcarent’s musculoskeletal condition care plan, he said.

“The patient wants to be in charge. It’s no different than your Uber,” Tullman said. “For God’s sakes, we do that for a taxi ride. I think we can do better in healthcare.”

On top of musculoskeletal care, Transcarent offers pharmacy, behavioral health, cancer and primary care services to employers. For ViewFi, the partnership offers a quick pathway to customers.

“A partnership with Transcarent allows us to scale a lot quicker than if we had gone to each payer or employer individually,” Roddick said. 

Members utilizing the service will receive a virtual diagnosis, care plan and subsequent required tests or imaging. Once a member has a diagnosis they will be funneled to other care pathways within Transcarent, which could include virtual care through ViewFi or in-person care at another provider.  

“We can keep it in house but it’s not as if we’re going to kick you off the platform if you decide that you want to do your physical therapy in-person somewhere else,” Roddick said. 

Roddick said the idea for ViewFi came to fruition over a call during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of Roddick’s fellow co-founders Dr. Josh Dines told him a story about the struggles he faced diagnosing patients over video calls.

“Josh [was], quite literally, our Davis Cup doctor and my doctor throughout my entire career,” Roddick said.  

Roddick, acknowledging the care he received as an athlete was much more difficult to obtain for the average musculoskeletal condition patient, made a connection between the clinical challenges Dines identified in diagnosing musculoskeletal conditions and the technology required. Roddick helped connect Dines with ViewFi’s third founder and CEO Michael Williamson and the three helped start the company. 

ViewFi, which secured $11 million in seed funding in June 2021, has around a half dozen additional contracts in place prior to its partnership with Transcarent.

Transcarent, which was founded by Tullman in October 2020, has grown quickly in a short time. In March, Transcarent acquired portions of virtual primary care company 98point6 in a deal that could be valued up to $100 million. In January 2022, it raised $200 million from venture capital firms Kinnevik and Human Capital. The round included support from well-known digital health investors General Catalyst and 7wireVentures, along with a list of health system investors that included Northwell Health, Intermountain Healthcare and Rush University Medical Center. It has client relationships with more than 200 mostly self-insured employers including UPS and Boeing.