Iris Healthcare

What Iris Healthcare does

Iris Healthcare, founded in 2015 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, delivers a telehealth-enabled Advance Care Planning (ACP) platform that helps seriously-ill individuals and their families document healthcare wishes through guided conversations with trained facilitators. The company's product suite centers on two tiers: Iris Premier, an expert-led service delivered via phone and video by CACP-trained clinicians (skilled nurses and social workers) for seriously-ill members; and Empower, a self-guided online platform launched in June 2021 for healthier populations. Core technology includes proprietary disease-specific advance directive templates covering 10+ conditions (CKD, ALS, MS, Parkinson's, CAD, heart failure, COPD, cirrhosis, frailty, dementia, stroke), the Iris Planning Summary — a personalized supplemental document capturing care goals in patient language — and EHR integration with health systems such as Scripps. State-specific regulatory compliance is built into the documentation engine, and services are delivered nationwide via telehealth without geographic limitation.

Iris operates as a subsidiary of Aledade following its January 2022 acquisition, which folded the company into Aledade Care Solutions, Aledade's newly formed health services unit. The business model is enterprise B2B with multi-year subscription contracts across three channels: health plan partnerships (Medicare Advantage, commercial, Medicaid), at-risk provider partnerships (ACOs, managed care organizations, integrated delivery networks), and Empower platform licensing. Named customers include Healthfirst (1.7M members), Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City, Scripps Health, Umpqua Health Alliance, IlliniCare, Brand New Day, and Innovista Health Solutions. Through Aledade, Iris gains distribution into a network of 1,000+ independent primary care practices spanning 37 states covering 1.7M patients under value-based contracts. The company employs 51–100 people, serves tens of thousands of patients, and is led by President and CEO Steve Wardle and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Stephen Bekanich.

Name

Iris Healthcare

Legal name

Iris

Website

https://irishealthcare.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Iris Healthcare, a subsidiary of Aledade, delivers telehealth-enabled Advance Care Planning services via expert-led consultations (Premier) and a self-guided digital platform (Empower) to health plans, ACOs, and provider organizations across the U.S.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Advance Care Planning Services

NAICS

Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities (624120), Social Assistance (624)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Patient Engagement, Education & Messaging Platforms (portal/CRM integrated) (HLALABAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Patient Relationship Management (PRM) & CRM for Provider Growth (Marketing/Outreach) (HLACAEAO), Adherence, Reminders & Engagement Automation (Medication/Follow-up) (HLACAEAJ)

Keywords

• Advance care planning
• Telehealth services
• Care management software
• Value-based care
• Healthcare documentation

Headquarters

HQ city

Austin

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Health Plan Partnerships: Iris partners with health plans (Medicare Advantage, commercial, Medicaid) to provide ACP services to their member populations. Services are billed and paid through value-based care arrangements aimed at reducing unnecessary care utilization and improving outcomes.
2. Provider/ACO Partnerships: Partnerships with at-risk healthcare organizations including ACOs, managed care organizations, integrated delivery networks and large provider networks to deliver value-added advance care planning services.
3. Empower Platform Licensing: Self-guided digital ACP platform offered to health plans enabling them to meet quality targets under value-based care programs, delivered as a scalable technology solution.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Iris Healthcare delivers comprehensive Advance Care Planning (ACP) solutions through expert-led telehealth consultations and a self-guided digital platform (Empower). The company helps individuals, health plans, and provider organizations create, document, and distribute state-specific advance directives and personalized care planning summaries that capture individual care goals, values, and treatment preferences.

Product overview

Iris Healthcare, powered by Aledade, offers a comprehensive suite of advance care planning (ACP) solutions designed to help individuals document their healthcare wishes. The core offering consists of the Iris CACP Facilitation Process (expert-led phone/video consultations) and the Iris CACP Documentation Process (generation of state-specific advance directives and personalized Iris Planning Summary documents). The portfolio includes the Empower self-guided online platform for healthier populations and Iris Premier for seriously ill members requiring expert-led facilitations. Services are delivered nationwide via telehealth to health plans, clinicians, and individuals/families, with the company operating as a tuck-in acquisition of Aledade's new health services unit called Aledade Care Solutions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Iris CACP Facilitation Process Expert-led phone or video consultations conducted by specially trained CACP healthcare facilitators (skilled nurses and social workers) who guide individuals and families through comprehensive advance care planning conversations, discussing and documenting care goals, values, and preferences.
• Iris CACP Documentation Process Technology-enabled documentation service that generates state-specific advance directives and personalized Iris Planning Summary documents that capture individual care goals, location preferences, hospital use, and treatment preferences in accessible language.
• Empower Platform Self-guided online ACP application for healthier populations that simplifies the advance care planning process with guiding prompts, supportive education, and auto-generated advance directives that can be shared with family members and health care providers.
• Iris Premier Comprehensive ACP solution offering expert-led facilitations via telehealth to discuss and document care goals and preferences for seriously ill members, designed to engage seriously ill members to better align their goals of care.

Quantifiable outcome

• Only about 2.8% of seniors have advance care planning discussions with their doctors despite benefits
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• AledadecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 January 2022Aledade, the leading primary care enablement company, acquired Iris as its first acquisition to build out a new health services unit called Aledade Care Solutions. Iris technology is integrated into Aledade's network of more than 1,000 independent primary care practices and health centers spanning 37 states. This acquisition enables the company to provide more high-value, patient-centered services through its value-based care contracts covering more than 1.7 million patients.
• Umpqua Health AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 June 2021Iris partnered with Umpqua Health Alliance, a Coordinated Care Organization (CCO) managing Medicaid for Douglas County, Oregon, to offer ACP to the general population through the Empower platform. The partnership aims to provide universal access to ACP and help residents retain control of their healthcare.
• HealthfirstflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 June 2021Healthfirst, one of New York's largest not-for-profit health insurers with 1.7 million members, selected Iris to provide comprehensive ACP services tailored to healthy, chronically-ill and seriously ill members. Healthfirst leverages both the self-guided Empower platform and Iris Premier for members facing serious illness.
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Iris partners with Blue KC, the largest not-for-profit health insurer in Missouri, to offer advance care planning to Medicare Advantage and commercial members through the Premier program. Iris provides dedicated one-on-one time to walk through treatment options and paperwork, relieving burden for providers and improving care for members in line with their individual goals.
• Scripps HealthflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerIris partnered with Scripps Health, a fully integrated delivery system, to offer ACP services to Medicare Advantage members. Iris customized its digital ACP workflows to fit into Scripps' administrative processes resulting in higher member engagement rates and improved NPS scores. Integration with Scripps EHR allows direct communication with member's physicians.
• IlliniCarecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIris engaged by IlliniCare to deliver innovative ACP services for their dual-eligible population, providing comprehensive care planning solutions to help individuals retain control of their healthcare.
• Brand New DaycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBrand New Day expanded its partnership with Iris to deliver industry-leading ACP with a multi-lingual program, extending services to broader member populations with language support needs.
• Innovista Health SolutionscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIris Plans partnered with Innovista Health Solutions to deliver innovative ACP services and further enhance Innovista's value-based care and population health programs.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Vynca: Digital advance care planning platform offering electronic Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (ePOLST) and ACP documentation integrated with EHRs. Direct competitor in the payer/provider ACP space, with similar emphasis on state-specific compliance and EHR workflows.
• WiserCare: Online ACP decision-support platform used by health systems and plans to guide patients through values clarification and advance directive creation. Directly comparable on the patient-engagement, portal-based ACP model.
• ADVault / MyDirectives: Digital advance directive repository and ACP platform enabling individuals to create, store, and share portable medical treatment documents with providers. Closely overlaps Iris's Empower self-guided functionality.
• Vital Decisions: Specializes in ACP and serious-illness conversations for members of MA plans and ACO populations, often delivered telephonically by clinical specialists. Direct overlap with Iris Premier's expert-led facilitation model for seriously ill members.

Emerging players

• Cake: Consumer-facing end-of-life and estate planning platform covering advance directives, will, and healthcare proxy. Overlaps with Iris Empower on the self-guided ACP use case, though more consumer-retail than B2B.

Broad incumbents

• Aspire Health (Anthem): Payer-owned (Anthem) palliative care and complex-illness management provider serving MA populations with home-based and telephonic ACP-adjacent services. Comparable in targeting seriously ill MA members, though embedded inside a large payer.
• Landmark Health (Optum): In-home complex-care and palliative provider for MA patients, addressing many of the same seriously ill, polychronic members Iris serves. Larger, multi-state Optum-owned platform with overlapping clinical mission.
• Evolent Health: Value-based care services company that acquired Vital Decisions; provides specialty care management and ACP for payer clients. A broader incumbent in the VBC services ecosystem that overlaps with Iris on the ACP capability.
• Aledade: Parent company and VBC primary care enablement platform operating 1,000+ practices across 37 states. While Iris is now part of Aledade Care Solutions, Aledade itself is a relevant incumbent peer from a VBC platform-distribution standpoint.
• agilon health: Value-based primary care platform partnering with MA plans and PCPs to manage senior populations. Compares to Aledade/Iris in targeting MA senior populations with VBC-aligned services, including serious-illness and ACP-adjacent workflows.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/iris_healthcare

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors6 records

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Iris Healthcare