The acquisition of technology-enabled home health company CareLinx continues to pay off for Sharecare (Nasdaq: SHCR).
Under Sharecare ownership, CareLinx has seen “explosive growth,” Sharecare Chairman and CEO Jeff Arnold explained Wednesday during a fourth-quarter earnings call. The growth includes adding 1.8 million new members to CareLinx in 2022 while outpacing revenue expectations.
“We expanded our home care offering to deliver tailored care management programs and traditional care to high-risk populations, which results in improved experiences, member acquisition and retention, quality ratings, and cost savings,” Arnold said.
The Atlanta-based Sharecare is a digital health company that helps people manage their health care needs. In addition to CareLinx, Sharecare’s business portfolio includes digital therapeutics offerings and its Sharecare+ advocacy solution, along with further resources for employers, health plans, providers and others.
The publicly traded company acquired CareLinx in August 2021 for a purchase price of $65 million. On its end, CareLinx provides consumers access to both medical and non-medical home care services.
“As we have seamlessly integrated CareLinx into our digital-first advocacy solution, our home care capabilities also are providing a valuable differentiator for Sharecare+,” Arnold said.
Sharecare reported revenue of $123.3 million for the fourth quarter, a 4% increase compared to $118.5 million during the same period the previous year. Full-year revenue was up 7% to $442.4 million, though Sharecare still recorded a net loss of $118.7 million.
At the time of the CareLinx acquisition, Sharecare had projected the home health business to contribute upwards of $35 million in revenue in 2022. Sharecare has exceeded that figure, partly thanks to CareLinx taking on more Medicare Advantage (MA) lives, Arnold noted.
“[CareLinx had about] 300,000 MA lives when we bought it,” he said. “It was 1.8 million ending last year. It’ll be more for this year.”
Specifically, Sharecare projects CareLinx to be working with between 2 million and 3 million MA members soon.
Prior to joining Sharecare, CareLinx had already been one of the more active home-based care organizations in pursuing MA business. In 2018, in fact, CareLinx launched its own “turn-key solution” for plans seeking to do more in the home for their members.
“Everyone sees a lot of promise, and MA plans want to start incorporating non-skilled home care,” Sherwin Sheik, CEO of CareLinx and head of home health at Sharecare, told Home Health Care News at the time. “But when it comes down to how they effectively do that at scale, there have been a lot of questions asked. We heard those questions loud and clear.”
Despite the success of CareLinx and some of the other parts of its business, Sharecare is in the middle of a strategic review over its long-term future. The strategic review includes exploring potential business combinations, Arnold said.
“In August of 2022, we announced our plan to conduct a strategic review of our business,” he said. “And [we] have been working extensively with financial advisors to evaluate all potential options to maximize shareholder value.”
That process is “ongoing,” he added.
