Startup wants to bring health care to those who can’t afford it
Joseph Kitonga is a 24year-old from Delaware County, Pennsylvania, who aims to reinvent the way primary care is delivered to hourly workers who lack health insurance.
His primary care service Vitable LLC has gotten strong reviews from employers and workers in child care, restaurants, and home care for its high quality and convenience. The firm has already signed up 10,000 people in its current markets of Southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware.
“The best part of all that is they come to you because, when you’re sick, you really don’t want to go nowhere,” said Elaine Green, a preschool teacher at Somerset Academy in Philadelphia, a school that uses the service.
Kitonga, who emigrated from Kenya to the United States with his family when he was 13, founded primary care provider Vitable LLC in 2019 while studying computer engineering at Pennsylvania State University and has been winning technology accolades and millions from investors.
Vitable, headquartered in Woodlyn, Pa., sells virtual and in-person primary and urgent-care services to small employers of hourly workers, charging about $50 a month per employee. The company has gained a foothold in a competitive arena, joining such tech titans as Amazon.com in aiming to eliminate inefficiencies and inconvenience in basic care.
For all the technology accolades, Kitonga’s business has a human focus inspired by the health-care travails of employees at
Hosana Home Health Care, a company that his parents started in 2012.
“At their small business, hourly workers made too much to qualify for Medicaid, too little to afford comprehensive health insurance, so they were stuck uninsured and overutilizing the ER,” Kitonga said. “Vitable is built to be their primary-care plan that is both affordable and accessible.”
Patient convenience
Vitable has been a hit at Somerset Academy, a childcare center and preschool in Philadelphia.
“You don’t want to go to the doctors’ office. You don’t want to be bothered” when you’re sick, explained Green, a veteran pre-school teacher who has worked at Somerset for two years. “That’s what I like. Anytime I have an issue or a problem, they’re always prompt, always call, and they even check back later. I like that.”
On Dec. 17, a nurse practitioner, Vicky TubensLowa, who works about eight hours a week for Vitable, was at Somerset doing required annual physical exams for Green and other staff members. Somerset employs 22.
“We absolutely love Vitable,” said Tiffany Chavous, Somerset’s director, recalling how Vitable came to her house to check her for strep throat. Chavous also received her physical from Tubens-lowa on the 17th.
Vitable’s approach attracted a $1.6 million investment led by Softbank’s Opportunity Fund early this year, and Vitable announced in October that it received $7.2 million in venture capital to expand. The next market will be Baltimore, in Febru
ary, Kitonga said.
Primary care as hot spot for innovation
But Vitable isn’t the only company tackling primary care. There’s been a flood of investment over the last 10 years in primary care and telehealth by start-ups and giants such as CVS Health Corp. which has primary care Healthhubs planned for stores nationwide. Plymouth Meeting’s Accolade, started to help employees of large companies navigate health care providers, this year paid $380 million for Plushcare Inc., an online primary care provider.
“Within primary care, what’s happening today is that all the big tech firms like Amazon and many of the digital first start-ups are getting into primary care because it’s relatively safe to price in the risk and to manage the population,” said Paddy Padmanabhan , CEO of Damo Consulting, near Chicago, which specializes in digital health care. He said primary care can be very profitable under these new models, depending on the health of the population covered.
Padmanabhan noted that Vitable’s approach to primary care — at small employers — is at the opposite end of the market from Amazon Care, which is trying to sign up large employers for its hybrid of virtual and in-person primary care. In-person visits are available in only some markets.
Kitonga and Kopelman said most primary-care start-ups are designed as a convenience for employees of large companies, people who already have good access to health care services.