Included Health: A Vision for Integrated Care in America

This case tells the story of Included Health, a U.S. health care venture born from the unification of a major virtual care provider and two health care navigation platforms. The company’s overarching mission is to raise the standard of health care for everyone by becoming a single source where all of a patient’s services are provided – such that the patient is fully supported physically and financially. As of late 2023, it served tens of millions of individual members across America, counting as clients 32 of the Fortune 100 companies.

We enter the case almost three years since the merger of the health navigation platform that Included Health’s CEO Owen Tripp first founded, Grand Rounds, and the virtual care provider Doctor On Demand. He and Dr. Ami Parekh, the chief health officer, are at a crossroads. As the case describes their options for strategic direction going forward, Included Health becomes a window into several important industry themes: rethinking future models of in-person care, government regulation of virtual care after its boom during the COVID-19 pandemic, opportunities and challenges of incorporating AI, the increasing “consumerism” in health care, the primary care doctor shortage, and more.