Endocrinology March 05, 2024

Investing in the Future of Diabetes Care

With a combination of insights, technology and care, Valendo Health empowers independent endocrinologists to grow their practices

Diabetes can be debilitating for people who live with the disease, and its growing prevalence costs the U.S. healthcare system a staggering $327 billion.

When diabetes patients can access endocrinologists, they experience improved quality of life, fewer complications and lower hospital utilization. Yet our internal research found fewer than 10% of the 12 million Medicare beneficiaries living with diabetes could access an endocrinologist last year. Even worse, the median time to see an endocrinologist is between three-to-four months.

Simultaneously, endocrinologists are stretched thin as they try to manage a growing volume of patients with diabetes and associated conditions like obesity, hyperthyroidism and metabolic issues. While they are passionate about their work, more than half (51%) of endocrinologists also say they experience feelings of burnout.

With the prevalence of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes expected to increase by 54% by 2030, endocrinologists will need help to keep up with even greater patient demand.

Added concerns for independent endocrinologists

Independent endocrinologists face more acute challenges. They need to manage their higher patient volume while also trying to run a practice and keep pace with changes in treatment.

Adding to their frustration is endocrinology’s status as one of the lowest-paid specialties, an unfortunate reality that leads 45% of endocrinologists to take on additional work inside or outside of medicine. This harsh reality is also causing many endocrinologists to retire. Simultaneously, the pipeline of future endocrinologists is shrinking, evidenced by a reduction in fellowship applications.

All of these forces leave independent endocrinologists with a lack of financial resources to add more staff or expand their practice offerings. It also hinders their ability to transition to value-based care (VBC), a payment model that has helped other types of specialists improve care, gain more control over their practices, and grow revenue.

Introducing Valendo Health

Valendo Health was built at Redesign Health in 2023 to empower independent endocrinologists to shape the future of diabetes care.

Valendo Health was created to improve the economics of endocrinology practices and increase access to the best care for people with diabetes. The company’s ultimate goal is to create value-based specialty care arrangements that better align incentives and reward endocrinologists for what they do better than anyone else – improve care and reduce costs for the diabetes population. To accomplish this, Valendo ignites growth and success for endocrinology practices in three phases:

Phase 1: Valendo works with practices to increase clinical capacity and enhance patient services through the delivery of telehealth and remote patient monitoring services. These services have the dual benefit of improving health outcomes for people with diabetes and creating opportunities for practices to grow.
Phase 2: The Valendo team works to centralize administrative and clinical services and aggregate clinical and administrative data. This helps smooth practice operations, reduce overhead costs and enhance practice profitability.
Phase 3: Valendo develops and manages value-based specialty care contracts with payers and at-risk provider groups. These contracts are designed to reward specialists for improving care and reducing costs for the population of patients they treat rather than for generating more visits and procedures. By better aligning incentives, endocrinologists can earn more of the value they create, so they can recruit more endocrinologists, diabetes educators and other specialists and serve more patients.

Forging early partnerships to improve diabetes care

Valendo officially launched in January 2024 with two partners already onboard: Cecelia Health and Advanced Metabolic Care & Research (AMCR).

Cecelia Health is the leading national virtual specialty care provider for people with diabetes. AMCR is a large and long standing endocrinology provider in Southern California, serving thousands of patients with diabetes and other metabolic conditions.

Through its exclusive partnership with Cecelia Health, Valendo will enable AMCR to tap into an extended national network of dedicated diabetes educators, nutritionists and nurses.

Meet the Valendo Health team

Valendo Health’s leadership team comprises decades of experience in diabetes care management, technology and VBC.

Dave Terry, CEO and Co-Founder, is a healthcare entrepreneur and executive who has helped to start four value-based specialty care businesses. Throughout his 20+ year career, he has worked as an advisor, senior executive and entrepreneur, with a focus on helping hundreds of providers across the care continuum prepare for and succeed within risk-based arrangements. At Archway Health, he led a team that built longitudinal data sets to understand what high-quality VBC looks like. At Remedy Partners, he led the efforts to build the largest network of providers participating in the Medicare Bundled Payment for Care Improvement program.
David Weingard, Chief Strategy Officer, has received numerous awards for his contributions to diabetes care and entrepreneurial accomplishments. After being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, Weingard left the technology sector to found Cecelia Health, which has partnered with providers and payers to improve the health of thousands of people with diabetes.
Bongoni Mngomezulu, Chief Product Officer, has 20 years of experience in healthcare and data analytics, specializing in provider performance and risk management. He previously led product management at Archway Health and ConvergeHEALTH by Deloitte.

Putting endocrinologists at the heart of diabetes care

Endocrinologists are essential to addressing the growing diabetes crisis. By increasing clinical capacity, improving practice economics, and facilitating value based care arrangements, Valendo Health empowers independent endocrinologists to grow and thrive in a shifting healthcare landscape.

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