Mohamad Abdallah

HealthTech isn't short on capital right now. There is $1.3T in global PE dry powder and $4.0B in Q1 digital health funding alone. What's changed is where that capital is going. Our H1 2026 numbers point to one theme, platform consolidation. Digital health M&A jumped 47% QoQ, mega-deals captured 59% of Q1 funding, and EV/revenue multiples are stretching to 8x+. However, these numbers only apply to enterprise-grade platforms and point solutions without a platform story are getting squeezed. See the full H1 2026 Health & Wellness Capital Markets Report here: https://lnkd.in/gz-pDfcA

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We, at Bourne Partners, are excited to see that the use of digital health technologies appears to be on the verge of getting a major adrenaline shot from the Trump administration. Specifically, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) launched a new 10-year demonstration project -- the “Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions (ACCESS) Model” -- to fund digital health technologies in Medicare. Historically, the use of digital health technologies has not been compensated by the government since it does not “fit neatly” with any statutory benefit category, e.g., a hospital stay, a physician service, or a piece of durable medical equipment. However, under the ACCESS Model, the CMMI will now directly reimburse providers for the cost of digital health technologies when they are used to treat Medicare patients with a continuum of “qualifying” chronic diseases and/or health conditions. Payments, in turn, will be made in installments -- contingent on the ability of a provider to show that these technologies can achieve certain pre-defined clinical outcomes. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin accepting applications in January, with the model officially launching in mid-2026.   In our opinion, the ACCESS Model could be particularly helpful for improving access to behavioral healthcare as it will directly fund various digital technologies for mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. According to CMS, this includes mobile apps that deliver cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression, prescription digital therapeutics for anxiety, and telehealth/virtual coaching. For instance, behavioral health providers could now receive incremental, recurring payments for digitally treating patients with depression if they are able to reduce a patient’s PHQ-9 score. This could be a nice financial boost to the behavioral health space, which we have argued has historically operated with relatively low profit margins. Also, other physical chronic diseases are covered in the ACCESS Model, such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. As such, the ACCESS Model appears to recognize that behavioral health is often co-occurring (and worsened) in the presence of other chronic “physical” diseases. So, we are hopeful that, over time, the ACCESS Model can further help to integrate behavioral health with the broader healthcare system, leading to greater “whole-person” care.   To discuss more, please reach out to me, our healthcare services banking team, including Aaron Olson (aolson@bourne-partners.com) and Evan Goldstein (egoldstein@bourne-partners.com), and/or our research team led by Donald Hooker, CFA Hooker (dhooker@bourne-partners.com).

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💡"Focusing on women-specific outcomes offers a real opportunity to create alpha by investing where competitors have not spent much time or capital, creating room for differentiation and early leadership." Kudos to Millie Nelson and BioXconomy for drawing attention to the positive impact of investing in women's health!

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An insightful article from RA Capital Management’s Kyle Teamey and Peter Kolchinsky on the overlaps between human and planetary health companies. As someone who’s recently joined several BioInnovation Institute (BII) portfolio company boards, the section on board governance gave me a useful framework. Three ideas I’m passing along to our first-time founders who are thinking about how to organize their meetings or form them from the start: 1. Compress the meeting. Most board meetings can lose two hours without losing substance. Across a large portfolio, that’s thousands of hours of senior leadership time recovered. 2. Every slide should answer the question: are we screwed? If a board member has to hunt for the bottom line, rewrite the slide. 3. Put the whole elephant on one slide. Cash runway, key deliverables, strategic risks - one view so nothing can be missed at a glance. RA Capital calls it the “Elephant Slide” and it’s a brutally effective forcing function.

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Loved geeking out with some of the sharpest minds in healthcare VC this week. It’s always energizing to hear folks unpack where digital health, AI, and care delivery might be heading — especially because there are thoughtful perspectives across the spectrum. A few takeaways that stood out: 1️⃣Cost containment is top of mind — though strategies vary widely. Everyone agrees rising costs are unsustainable, but the approaches differ: specialty care models, operational efficiency, labor leverage, and infrastructure all play a role. Examples: Heartbeat Health (cardiology), CareBridge (LTSS/HCBS; acquired by Elevance), Diana Health (OB/GYN across high-Medicaid hospitals). 2️⃣AI has real promise — but the bar is very high. There’s no shortage of enthusiasm around AI, but also healthy skepticism about where value will truly accrue. The consistent theme: depth of technical differentiation + measurable workflow impact. Example: Ambience Healthcare — backed for its technical rigor and broader infrastructure vision beyond scribing. 3️⃣The commercial employer market is evolving fast. Especially among small and mid-market employers, we’re seeing more innovation around transparency, dynamic plan design, and benefit flexibility. Examples: Helm Health (dynamic copay), Garner Health (transparent navigation), Lynx (ICHRA infrastructure). 4️⃣Value-based care continues to be a long-term direction for the system. While there are different views on timing and adoption, the shared belief is that models improving efficiency, right-site-of-care, and aligned incentives will play an increasingly important role. Examples: Equip (case-rate eating disorder care — strong outcomes without needing full risk), InStride Health (severe OCD/child behavioral health). 5️⃣Epic remains one of the most influential forces in the market. Even without launching a full product, Epic can “freeze” an entire category simply by announcing that they’re entering it. While their first versions often deliver ~60% of best-in-class functionality, their scale, distribution, and embedded workflows mean adoption can still be high — and the ripple effects for startups are significant. Huge thank you to our panelists — all incredible MIT alums — for sharing such balanced, thoughtful insights: Payal Agrawal Divakaran (.406 Ventures), Annie Weissbach (Echo Health Ventures), Laura Veroneau (Optum Ventures), Ellen Herlacher (LRVHealth), and Andrew Geraghty (Morgan Health). And grateful for my Sloan Healthcare Club teammates Kendall (Kenji) Yoshii and María Soledad Ross — truly the best partners to co-lead this with. Always love being part of this community. Already excited for what’s next. #DigitalHealth #VentureCapital #Startups #EarlyStage #MITSloan

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BCI Private Equity is making strides and rising up the ranks among allocators. Buyouts shows BCI now as the 11th largest North American allocator in the sector, jumping two ranks in one year. Proud of the work the team is doing and there's more to come. Read below for more.

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