AI-enabled rural primary care group earns $53M in funding to expand beyond North Carolina
Hopscotch Primary Care, which primarily serves Medicare enrollees in rural areas, is looking to expand beyond its home state of North Carolina into neighboring Tennessee and Georgia, thanks to a round of Series D financing totaling $53 million.
The company said in an announcement that it currently serves 15,000 patients in the southeastern U.S., though most of them are located in western North Carolina where Hopscotch has physical clinics.
While in-person care is the backbone of what the rural provider group does, its AI-centric, tech-backed approach is crafted around a hybrid model that includes virtual visits for sick appointments and to connect its Medicare-enrolled patient base with specialists remotely whenever possible.
Hopscotch envisions its model as a modest solution to the loss of healthcare services in rural areas, including retiring physicians and hospital closures. Part of its core mission is to manage chronic conditions for seniors, keeping them healthy while they’re outside the office so they can avoid an unexpected trip to the emergency room.
The company said it sees this moment as a “rare window for change” for rural healthcare access, thanks to “historic federal investment, deep engagement among the States, and rapid advances in AI and digital health.”
The latter is an important component of what Hopscotch is doing, as it boasts longer primary care visits with fewer distractions, thanks to the use of ambient AI scribes and other technologies that “reduce administrative burden so providers can focus on delivering great care.”
It added that its patients get 24/7 access to a care team and benefit from proactive outreach to ensure they are following care plans as part of becoming a Hopscotch patient.
“At Hopscotch, we believe that access to world-class primary care is the building block of healthier patients and communities. We recruit dedicated clinicians to rural communities and empower them with advanced technology to deliver access where other companies do not operate,” Tim Gronniger, Chief Executive Officer, Hopscotch, said in a statement.
“This new funding comes at an inflection point for Hopscotch, and for rural health care as a whole. We are accelerating our growth into more small towns while improving outcomes, delighting patients and building a sustainable future for the communities we serve.”
The influx of money comes from existing and new investors alike, led by 8VC and Townhall Ventures, with participation from K2 Health Ventures, Alumni Ventures and the Citi Impact Fund.
New investors in the round include the Autism Impact Fund, John Doerr, chairman of Kleiner Perkins, Dr. Richard Merkin, founder of Heritage Provider Network and the Leon Levine Foundation.
An AI success story
Despite its older patient population, Hopscotch is not shy about highlighting its use of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. However, adopting new tools is done within the context of ensuring providers have more time with patients.
The staff physicians and advanced care practitioners, who are hired right from the communities they serve, remain the backbone of operations—and the relationship patients have with their primary care provider is something no machine or algorithm can replace.
It's this philosophy that was attractive to investors at Kleiner Perkins, who in this round opted to back Hopscotch.
“The best use of AI is to amplify human potential,” John Doerr, chairman of Kleiner Perkins, said. “Hopscotch is giving clinicians the tools to care for more patients with greater insight, while preserving the trusted relationships at the heart of primary care.”
“That’s exactly the kind of technology that can transform healthcare in rural America and fundamentally improve lives.”
In its announcement, Hopscotch said it has a patient retention rate above 90%. It also said its model, which has proven profitable, is attractive to Medicare plans because it helps get medical expenses under control, powering MLR improvement of more than 25 percentage points for patients over their first two years.
The company was founded in 2021 and currently operates 12 clinics in rural North Carolina.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.