A former leader of the CMS Innovation Center is launching his own health care investment firm.
He’s doing so armed with a pretty solid endorsement from one of the home health industry’s biggest names.
Adam Boehler — the initial head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) under the Trump administration — announced Thursday that he’s launching Rubicon Founders, a new firm based in Nashville, Tennessee, focused on growing “transformational” health care companies. Boehler eventually left CMMI for another government position, with former Aspire CEO Brad Smith replacing him.
As part of Rubicon’s launch, the firm simultaneously announced partnerships with investment firms Oak HC/FT and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS).
While at CMMI, Boehler led a variety of initiatives to shift health care into the home. Those efforts included several alternative payment models designed to transform kidney care by encouraging greater use of home dialysis and kidney transplants for Medicare beneficiaries with end-stage renal disease, plus the rollout of the Primary Cares Initiative.
Prior to CMMI, Boehler was the founder and CEO of Landmark Health. Before that, he was an operating partner at $14 billion global investment firm Francisco Partners.
“I’ve spent my career focused on changing peoples’ lives by transforming the way they receive health care, including founding Landmark Health and leading innovation as the director of [CMMI],” Boehler said in a statement. “I am honored that Oak HC/FT and WCAS similarly share my vision and will be collaborating on opportunities with Rubicon Founders.”
Rubicon hasn’t released a ton of information on its investment plans, other than it hopes to “build meaningful businesses that create enduring value by impacting people in a measurable way.”
Its interests will range from building ground-up businesses to purchasing “large platform companies” and related special opportunities.
Rubicon hasn’t specifically identified the home as an area of interest, but Boehler was clearly a home-based care ally while running the CMS Innovation Center.
And the new firm already has caught the attention of Amedisys Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED) Chairman and CEO Paul Kusserow.
The Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Amedisys is a home health, hospice and personal care services provider with 514 care centers in 39 states and the District of Columbia. The company also maintains an executive office in Nashville, long known as a major hub of health care innovation in the U.S.
“I’ve known and worked with Adam for many years, and I am delighted to have such a capable entrepreneur in Nashville — his new firm, Rubicon Founders, will be a huge benefit to health care investors and to the Nashville community,” Kusserow said in a statement.
Boehler launching a new health care investment firm is yet another example of the revolving door between the private and public sectors.
In 2018, for example, former U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Andy Slavitt helped launch Town Hall Ventures. Slavitt is now back in the government, serving as a senior adviser on President Joe Biden’s coronavirus response team.
Former U.S. Senator Bill Frist — the founder of Frist Cressey Ventures — is also now an active health care innovator and inventor.
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