Privia Health Group, Inc. CEO Shawn Morris
Healthcare technology firm Privia Health Group, Inc. (ticker:PRVA) staged a strong debut on the Nasdaq exchange Thursday, with the stock surging above $30 a share, having priced the night before at $23 a share, well above the indicated range. The company, which is already profitable but also growing very quickly, has thrived by using technology to help physicians manage the business side of being doctors. Privia’s specialty is coordinating with medical groups, health plans and health systems.
In an interview with IPO Edge, CEO Shawn Morris explained that the timing was right to go public to increase visibility while also using the proceeds to fund further investments in client services. He also highlighted the company’s potential to benefit as the industry moves more toward so-called value based care, which is a pay-for-performance model. In addition, he explained The Privia Technology Solution, a cloud-based solution. The full interview is below:
IPO Edge: Tell us more about your model of working with existing primary care practices. Why is that a better approach than building out your own?
At the heart of it, our value proposition revolves around addressing key pain points that physicians face in order to help them succeed in today’s ever-changing healthcare industry. Whether primary care or specialty, existing practices face very real challenges around managing their businesses in an age of increased reporting, demands for new technologies and in preparing for payment models that tie payment to keeping patients healthy (value-based) care. The market opportunity for our services is strong as these issues distract physicians from the practice of medicine. We want to simplify and manage all the complexity, so physicians can spend their time focused on patients.
IPO Edge: Why go public now and how do you plan to use the proceeds from the primary shares issued?
The public markets offer Privia greater market visibility and awareness as an independent company as we pursue future growth and continued success. We see a significant national opportunity to scale the Privia platform across the U.S. to optimize physician practices and improve patient experiences, and believe investments in client services, technology enhancements, and business development will accelerate our ability to achieve national market expansion and future growth for our services. Fortunately, Privia Health has been profitable and cash flow positive for the past three years, so we have the financial flexibility to be very thoughtful and strategic with our use of proceeds from this IPO.
IPO Edge: How do you distinguish yourself from other companies in the industry like Agilon and Oak Street?
Our current scale of 2700+ signed providers in 650+ locations, caring for 3+ million patients, including 680k+ value-based care attributed lives, is much larger and more diversified than most other companies. Our size and flexibility come as a result of a commitment to working with physicians across all types of payers — CMS, National Payors, Regional Blues plans, and others. Many of our competitors often focus on a single payer model. We believe working with physicians across payer relationships and various reimbursement models positions them best for success. It also means we touch the lives of patients from birth through their twilight, final years. We value the role we can play in those long-term relationships.
IPO Edge: Your provider retention rate is 95{efe5d79870c08482e17ab0c97855f89429dac5f22c46026d3ca83573faec2208}. Please tell us why providers are so inclined to stay with you.
We provide a complete solution of support, expertise, and resources that address the key challenges physicians face, and deliver real value that has never been more clear than over the last twelve months of the pandemic and as the industry moves to value-based care (pay for performance.) That said, we provide our physicians the independence to be who they are within Privia Health. We have found that when you are delivering real tangible value while creating a collaborative culture that treats providers like the individuals they are, you have highly-satisfied customers.
IPO Edge: Can you explain why the Privia model is scalable?
We have a simple and elegant strategy yet very difficult to replicate. Enter a state, organize providers to become a large medical group, drive improvements in the business and move the market to value-based care at scale. Among other things, this includes modernizing their technology platform and their infrastructure and processes.
IPO Edge: What’s The Privia Technology Solution and how does it help clients?
It’s our cloud-based technology platform that integrates Privia developed solutions, for instance we built our own telehealth capability, with third party applications into a seamless interface and workflow that manages all aspects of our physician’s provision of healthcare services. At its simplest, it’s the technological engine of our service. We like to think it’s the secret sauce that underpins our ability to collaborate across physician practices and deliver distinct value of a purpose-driven technology solution.
Contact IPO Edge:
John Jannarone, Editor-in-Chief
Twitter: @ipoedge
