When insurtech Shiny Well being Group It first emerged in 2015 and had daring targets of disrupting the insurance coverage business utilizing know-how. It raised as a lot as $2.4 billion — together with from Cigna Ventures — and went public in 2021 earlier than the IPO market dried up.

As soon as a high-flying insurtech that aimed to shake up the previous insurance coverage business, Shiny Well being has since seen its wings clipped. And even a latest company rebranding is unlikely to shine its picture.

Within the third quarter of 2023, the corporate made reported an working lack of $462.8 million and in April selected to get out of the insurance coverage enterprise altogether. In January, it bought the remaining elements of that enterprise – two California Medicare Benefit plans – to Molina Healthcare for $500 million, $100 million much less than what was beforehand deliberate.

After jettisoning its insurance coverage enterprise, the corporate shifted focus to its current value-based shopper care enterprise referred to as NeueHealth. NeueHealth consists of two segments: NeueCare and NeueSolutions. NeueCare delivers “value-driven” care to shoppers within the ACA Market, Medicare and Medicaid by its personal clinics and partnerships with healthcare suppliers. NeueSolutions helps impartial suppliers and medical teams enter into value-based preparations by public well being instruments and partnerships with well being plans and authorities applications.

NeueHealth serves greater than 500,000 shoppers and companions with greater than 3,000 affiliated suppliers. Shiny Well being want to shake off its associations with a failed insurance coverage firm introduced final month that NeueHealth would develop into the corporate's model identify. It additionally moved its headquarters from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Doral, Florida.

However will just a few thousand kilometers and a brand new avatar save the corporate?

Nobody from NeueHealth wished to be interviewed. A number of business specialists stated the corporate had no alternative however to rebrand given the shift in focus, however most weren’t optimistic concerning the future..

“The identify could also be 'neue,' however their issues are previous,” Ari Gottlieb, president of A2 Technique Corp., joked in an interview. “It doesn't change something. This was a basically failed firm when it was referred to as Shiny, and it’s a failed firm when it was referred to as Neue. You possibly can depart behind your previous identify and the legacy that comes with it, however not your obligations.”

The corporate has about $1.4 billion in debt, Gottlieb estimates. This consists of cash owed to the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies (CMS) in threat adjustment funds, in addition to cash owed to Cigna Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and CalSTRS, he stated.

As well as, $100 million of the $500 million from the MA sale to Molina Healthcare can be positioned in an escrow account, the place a 3rd get together will maintain the funds till sure obligations are met, in accordance with an SEC submitting. The funds can be supplied if there’s a profitable consolidation of Shiny Well being's two MA plans – Model New Day and Central Well being Plan – or if Model New Day is ready to obtain a minimum of three stars for its Half D plans from CMS. So there's a chance that NeueHealth received't even get all this cash, Gottlieb stated.

Gottlieb added that the NeueHealth firm shouldn’t be value $1.4 billion, making it unlikely to outlive.

“I simply suppose this can be a zombie firm that nobody cares about. … I feel they're simply going to empty this out after which file for chapter safety in March 2025 earlier than they owe the federal authorities any cash and there's nothing anybody can do about it,” he stated.

One other skilled echoed Gottlieb, primarily suggesting that the inner issues can’t be lined up by a rebranding – although a rebranding was essential to shift the main target to a consumer-facing enterprise.

“It modifications the storefront, nevertheless it doesn't meaningfully change their steadiness sheet,” the corporate stated Wesley Sanders, well being plan advisor at Evensun Consulting, in an interview.

Sanders stated he expects NeueHealth to go underneath or be acquired, particularly as a result of he “hasn't seen something particular about their value-based care plans that makes me suppose they'll have a greater mannequin than anybody else.”

Based on Gottlieb, NeueHealth's opponents in value-based care embody Cano Well being (which simply filed for chapter) and CareMax.

Whereas Gottlieb and Sanders don't foresee a future for NeueHealth, one business follower has a extra optimistic view.

“Shiny Well being is working in an enviornment with lots of momentum and tailwinds as payers look to accomplice with organizations which are keen to take monetary dangers on the care they supply,” stated Tyler Giesting, director of healthcare and life sciences at West Monroe, in an e mail. “Main payers are integrating vertically by pushing their manner into the house the place NeueHealth operates, and I anticipate this may solely proceed to occur.

“Between Medicare ACO, Medicare Benefit and Medicaid, there’ll proceed to be alternatives for them to assist suppliers transition to value-based preparations in new markets or construct or purchase their very own clinics in new areas. I’d anticipate extra geographic growth as they construct scale and develop lined lives.”

Not shocking Mike Mikan, president and CEO of NeueHealth, stated in a press launch that he expects a constructive future for the corporate.

“Adopting the NeueHealth identify signifies our dedication to delivering worth by our differentiated care mannequin that uniquely aligns the pursuits of healthcare shoppers, suppliers and payers. Our NeueHealth identification has been an essential and profitable a part of our group's story, and we sit up for constructing on its sturdy efficiency as we lead the business's shift to value-based care.”

Regardless of the sunny tone, West Monroe's Giesting believes the corporate's success will finally be decided by how effectively its working and care fashions carry out in value-based contracts.

Photograph: Carloscastilla, Getty Photographs