What SonarMD does

SonarMD is a value-based care coordination platform focused on chronic gastrointestinal conditions, with an initial concentration in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The company was founded in 2018 by Dr. Lawrence Kosinski, a gastroenterologist who previously built Illinois Gastroenterology Group into a 50-physician practice, and is headquartered in Chicago. Its core product combines monthly text- and email-based symptom assessments derived from validated instruments (Crohn's Disease Activity Index, Mayo Score, Ulcerative Colitis Disease Activity Index) with a proprietary Sonar Score algorithm and an AI-assisted Sonar Ping alerting mechanism that detects deterioration in patient response patterns and routes alerts to a care coordination team and the patient's gastroenterologist.

The platform is delivered exclusively through B2B channels. SonarMD enters risk-bearing value-based care arrangements with large U.S. health plans and gastroenterology practices, generating revenue through shared-savings agreements and per-member-per-quarter prepayments to providers. Patients access the service free of charge through their participating health plan or GI provider, with reported outcomes including a roughly 50% reduction in hospitalizations and ER visits and more than $3,000 in average annual savings per patient. Two peer-reviewed studies presented at Digestive Disease Week 2024 documented 15-46% fewer ED visits and up to 78% fewer inpatient admissions versus risk-matched controls. The company reports five large-health-plan arrangements as of 2024, a network of more than 300 gastroenterologists, and operates in California, Illinois, Minnesota, and North Carolina.

SonarMD has raised roughly $20.5M in disclosed equity since founding, including a $10M 2018 round led by Arboretum Ventures and The Blue Venture Fund. The team is small (11-50 employees) and is currently expanding its AI-first product engineering function. In October 2024 the company broadened its patient offering through partnerships with LyfeMD (nutrition and lifestyle) and Movement Genius (mental and emotional health), positioning the platform as a holistic, bundled chronic-care service rather than a single-condition monitoring tool. Beth Houck serves as CEO and founder Lawrence Kosinski remains active as Board Member and public clinical spokesperson.

Name

SonarMD

Legal name

SonarMD, Inc.

Website

https://sonarmd.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SonarMD is a value-based care coordination platform for chronic gastrointestinal conditions, primarily IBD. Its proprietary Sonar Score algorithm and AI-assisted Sonar Ping alerts enable gastroenterologists and health plans to detect clinical deterioration early, reducing hospitalizations by 50% through shared-savings contracts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Value-Based Care Coordination Software for Chronic GI Disease

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Gastroenterology Telemedicine Platforms (HLALAGAE)

Keywords

• Value-based care coordination
• Chronic disease management
• Digital health platform
• Gastroenterology care management
• Remote patient monitoring

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Value-Based Care Shared Savings: SonarMD operates under risk-bearing value-based care arrangements with health plans and gastroenterology practices. Revenue is generated through shared savings agreements — the company aligns incentives with payers and specialists, sharing in cost reductions achieved by preventing hospitalizations and unnecessary healthcare utilization. Practices receive a share of savings plus a per member per quarter prepayment.
2. Value-Based Care Coordination Fees: Health plan contracts fund SonarMD's care coordination services as part of value-based arrangements. No separate charge to patients for use of the platform.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

SonarMD operates a value-based care coordination platform for chronic gastrointestinal conditions, particularly inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), under risk-bearing arrangements with health plans and gastroenterology practices. The platform delivers monthly text/email symptom assessments, generates proprietary Sonar Scores from validated instruments (Crohn's Disease Activity Index, Mayo Score, UCDAI), and uses AI-assisted Sonar Ping alerts to detect clinical deterioration before flare-ups, enabling proactive intervention by the care team. Patients access the platform at no cost through participating health plans and GI providers, while SonarMD earns revenue through value-based shared savings arrangements with payers and providers.

Product overview

SonarMD is a unified value-based care coordination platform for complex chronic gastrointestinal diseases, centered on its core SonarMD Platform that integrates monthly text-based health assessments, the proprietary Sonar Score algorithm, and AI-assisted Sonar Ping alerts. The platform operates across three customer segments: Health Plans (risk-bearing VBC arrangements), Providers (practice enhancement tools for GI specialists), and Patients (free subscription with holistic health programs). Complementary holistic health programs (diet/nutrition via LyfeMD, mental health via Movement Genius, sleep and fitness support) are delivered through partnerships and included with patient enrollment. The company also produces The Scope with Dr. K podcast as a content marketing vehicle.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SonarMD Platform A holistic value-based care coordination platform for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that enables scalable, continuous patient monitoring between clinician visits using monthly text-based health assessments, the proprietary Sonar Score algorithm, and AI-assisted care coordination alerts to detect deteriorating gut health before symptoms escalate.
• Holistic Health Programs Complimentary patient wellness services including diet and nutrition counseling via LyfeMD, emotional health services and mental wellness tools via Movement Genius, sleep improvement interventions, and fitness support, offered at no cost to IBD patients enrolled in value-based care arrangements.
• Health Plan Solutions Value-based care arrangements with health plans providing comprehensive, coordinated GI care that drives savings by enabling physicians with tools to improve patient outcomes, with reported up to $3,000 savings per member per year and 50% reduction in hospitalizations.
• Provider Solutions Practice enhancement tools for gastroenterologists that provide early IBD symptom detection, reduce ER and hospitalization costs by 50% on average, and share savings with contracted practices through value-based arrangements with zero downside risk and per member per quarter prepayments.

Named customers15 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• LyfeMDcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 October 2024SonarMD partnered with LyfeMD to provide clinically-vetted nutrition and lifestyle programs to IBD patients enrolled in SonarMD's value-based care arrangements. LyfeMD offers digital nutrition and lifestyle support based on over $9M in clinical research and 400+ scientific publications from the University of Calgary. Programs are delivered at no cost to IBD patients as part of SonarMD's holistic care offering.
• Movement GeniuscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 October 2024SonarMD partnered with Movement Genius to deliver mental and emotional health solutions — including therapist-led content and somatic tools for stress reduction and pain management — to IBD patients. Movement Genius specializes in democratizing access to mental health through inclusive, accessible experiences. Programs are delivered at no cost to enrolled IBD patients as part of SonarMD's holistic care offering.
• GI Partners of IllinoiscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Digestive Health Services, a division of GI Partners of Illinois (one of the largest GI practices in Illinois), signed an agreement with SonarMD to enable proactive management of IBD patients (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis) using SonarMD's care coordination platform. GI Partners of Illinois has been a partner since approximately 2023.
• Minnesota GastroenterologycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMinnesota Gastroenterology is a key clinical partner participating in SonarMD's value-based care program. A 2022 study involving 1,008 patients at Minnesota Gastroenterology showed 15% fewer ED visits, 14% lower inpatient admissions, and 11.5% lower abdominal surgery rates for SonarMD-enrolled patients versus controls. Minnesota Gastroenterology represents a 'best-in-class' GI practice in SonarMD's model.
• Allied Digestive HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAllied Digestive Health is a New Jersey gastroenterology practice that was part of a three-practice SonarMD study published at Digestive Disease Week 2024, covering 495 IBD patients over two years.
• Gastroenterology Associates of New JerseycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the three-practice New Jersey study demonstrating SonarMD's impact on IBD outcomes. The study showed 46% fewer ED visits and 78% fewer inpatient admissions in Year 2 for SonarMD-enrolled patients versus risk-matched controls.
• Digestive Healthcare CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNew Jersey-based gastroenterology practice that was part of the three-practice SonarMD IBD outcomes study, contributing to the dataset that showed significant reductions in ED visits, hospitalizations, and abdominal surgery.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Oshi Health: Oshi Health is a virtual-first gastroenterology care platform delivering multidisciplinary GI care including IBD, IBS, and GERD via telehealth and value-based contracts with health plans — directly competing with SonarMD in the payer-funded GI value-based care category.
• Vivante Health: Vivante Health is a digital GI health platform offering digestive disease management programs for employers and health plans, including nutrition, symptom tracking, and care coordination for conditions like IBD — overlapping strongly with SonarMD's chronic GI focus.
• Trellus Health: Trellus Health is a digital health company specializing in value-based care for chronic conditions including inflammatory bowel disease, combining behavioral and clinical remote care — closely comparable to SonarMD's IBD care coordination model.

Emerging players

• Mahana Therapeutics: Mahana Therapeutics develops FDA-authorized prescription digital therapeutics for IBS and other GI conditions, targeting the same gastroenterology patient population through payer channels — adjacent to SonarMD's IBD monitoring and care coordination offering.
• metaMe Health: metaMe Health builds FDA-cleared digital therapeutics for gastrointestinal conditions including IBS, with a similar evidence-driven, payer-reimbursable model targeting chronic GI patients — competing for the same payer formulary and formulary-decision-maker mindshare.
• Wellinks: Wellinks is a digital health company offering virtual COPD management and chronic respiratory care coordination via payer and provider partnerships — adjacent comparable in remote patient monitoring, risk-sharing contracts, and AI-supported care team alerting.

Broad incumbents

• Aledade: Aledade is a large value-based care platform partnering with primary care providers and payers under risk-bearing arrangements — comparable in business model (risk-sharing with providers, payer contracting) but focused on primary care rather than specialty GI.
• Evolent Health: Evolent Health partners with health plans to manage specialty care populations under value-based arrangements, including chronic and complex conditions — comparable in payer-facing VBC infrastructure and shared-savings contracting, though much larger and broader in scope.
• agilon health: agilon health is a value-based care company enabling senior-focused primary care groups to take risk on Medicare populations — comparable in core VBC operating model with health plans and providers, with a publicly traded benchmark for specialty VBC economics.
• Hinge Health: Hinge Health is a digital chronic-condition management platform serving musculoskeletal and pelvic health conditions via employer and payer contracts with an AI-assisted care model — structurally comparable to SonarMD's chronic care coordination and predictive engagement approach.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/sonarmdhealth
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/bethahouck

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SonarMD