On Heels Of Record Health IT Funding, Castlight Health Recruits Former Medco Executive

Founded only four years ago, Castlight is fast establishing itself as the leader in a field rarely associated with health care: cost transparency. The San Francisco, Calif.-based company offers employees of self-insured companies the capability to compare medical procedures based on price and quality, which vary widely within the same geographical area. Earlier this month, it announced it raised $100 million, bringing the total amount of funding to $181 million, a record amount for a health IT start-up.

Castlight has now hired John Driscoll, an experienced industry executive, as president. (Co-founder Giovanni Colella is chief executive). Driscoll spent the past nine years at pharmacy benefits manager Medco Health, most recently as group president, where he championed electronic prescribing, helped establish a national drug safety system in Sweden, and oversaw consumer-driven programs. Prior to Medco, he served as an advisor on health care investments at Oak Investment Partners, an investor in Castlight. He also spent eight years at Oxford Health Plans, which was once hailed as a progressive HMO and is now part of UnitedHealth Group.

Driscoll left Medco shortly after the Federal Trade Commission approved its merger with Express Scripts last month, and was quickly tapped by Colella to expand Castlight’s partnerships with employers and payers. “We’re in the first inning to get consumers and plans make smarter decisions,” states Driscoll. “The data is coming.”

Colella had first approached Driscoll prior to founding Castlight, to bounce the idea of a start-up that mines claims to deliver a clear picture of what certain tests and procedures costs, and in which locations. “I thought it was great, assuming you can pull together the technology and employers,” states Driscoll. He was impressed when Medco and Castlight embarked on a pilot program with a mutual customer this past January, integrating Medco’s MyRx Choices that grants members to compare prescription drug costs, with Castlight’s tools. “The level of consumer engagement was off-the-chart,” states Driscoll, starting the first week. Now Castlight plans to bring the same transparency to drugs.

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Submited at Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 at 4:01 pm on Health by Alina
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