Have you ever been car shopping, and suddenly notice the car you have your eye on literally everywhere - or so it seems? Well that just happened with this issue. We thought stablecoins might be interesting to write about, given that we were hearing more about them over the past couple of months. Then all of sudden, Stablecoins here, Stablecoins there, Stablecoins everywhere! Stablecoin coverage now seems to be a regular staple of the financial, fintech and even political press given the new administration's attitude toward crypto/ blockchain. In this issue we touch on stablecoins through the lens of medical tourism, and provide links to Stablecoin 101 reading.
This issue we also have more on AI in healthcare as the year gets underway, including the launch of the new Stargate AI company and its $500 billion investment announced by President Trump with Larry Ellison, Sam Altman, and Masayoshi Son at the White House on January 21.
But first, a few healthcare payments deals...
DEAL NEWS
Warburg Pincus may have put ModMed on block (again)
Reuters first reported on January 8 that Warburg Pincus is exploring a sale of Boca Raton, FL-based Modernizing Medicine that would value the company at $5 billion or more. Founded in 2010 and originally known as an EHR/ PM system for ophthalmologists and dermatologists, ModMed expanded to other specialties including gastroenterologists with the acquisition of gMed in 2015. The company current serves 40,000 providers and has over 1,200 employees.
Warburg Pincus first invested in ModMed in 2017, and attempted a transaction of the company in 2022 that never materialized.
New Mountain Capital doubling down in revenue cycle
After losing the R1 deal to CD&R and TowerBrook last year, New York-based New Mountain Capital has pursued other revenue cycle deals. First New Mountain combined The Rawlings Group and VARIS together with Apixio’s Payment Integrity business in September 2024. Then since the start of the year, it announced the acquisition of Palo Alto-based Machinify for an undisclosed amount, which it will merge with the Rawlings/ VARIS/ Apixio combination. The new entity, focused on payment integrity and working with 60 health plans including some of the biggest U.S. payers, will be called Machinify and have over $500 million of revenue. Reports suggest the new company will be valued at over $5 billion.
On the heels of the Machinify announcement, it was also reported that New Mountain is making a "strategic growth investment" in Access Healthcare, which would value Access at more than $2 billion. Access, with 27,000 employees and dual headquarters in India and Dallas, TX, provides revenue cycle software, technology and outsourcing services to 30+ hospitals/ health systems and 500K individual healthcare providers according to its website.
After doing some initial research on how banks have approached healthcare (see newsletter Issue #17), we wanted to go a little deeper to understand the different approaches that U.S. banks take to offer services to healthcare providers, and what lessons can be learned. We spoke to healthcare executives at banks and evaluated their healthcare strategies, and completed our report in December. It looks at the unique characteristics of the healthcare vertical, different choices that banks make to serve healthcare, the healthcare positioning of the top 10 national and selected regional banks, and challenges and opportunities for serving healthcare moving forward.
Some comments from our interviews with bank executives:
“Healthcare banking needs to start with credit and lending…Who’s got the credit box, where does the bank fall in the provider’s pecking order? Where is the bank lending at the provider? How big a check is the bank willing to write?”
“To be better in healthcare, we can do more to unify our solutions - collaborate across different products, LOB, create a progression path for customers. But we have to get the basics right first, such as merchant services.”
To request an executive summary and/ or schedule time to review our findings, please contact us here.
STABLECOINS
Can cryptocurrency improve the medical tourism payment experience?
Since the release of Bitcoin in 2009, the market for cryptocurrencies has been growing and the categories of crypto expanding. There are now over 13,000 cryptocurrencies available for trade. Among these are about 200 stablecoins.
Despite their small size in the crypto market, stablecoins have the potential to fill an outsized role in global finance (see suggested reading below for more on stablecoins). And in healthcare, FinMed Partners thinks that one use case worth paying attention to is medical tourism.
What are stablecoins?
Stablecoins are cryptocurrency that enable near-instantaneous payments and remittances at much lower cost than through traditional banking channels. They address treasury departments’ lack of real-time visibility into cash positions that have traditionally prevented transactions from moving quickly. Incompatible systems and lack of integration between payment systems create friction for international payments. Stablecoins also improve access for the unbanked and underbanked as only a smartphone and internet connection are required.
With stablecoins, the digital asset can move seamlessly across borders and financial institutions enabling instantaneous management of liquidity (cross-border money transfers using SWIFT can sometimes take weeks to complete).
Stablecoins offer both the benefits of crypto technology and an attempt at maintaining near-constant value regardless of market conditions. That's because stablecoins peg their value through one of four different approaches:
Fiat-collateralized stablecoins:value is tied to a traditional currency
Crypto-collateralized stablecoins:value is tied established cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin
Algorithmic stablecoins (aka non-collateralized stablecoins): stabilize their value using computer algorithms and smart contracts, removing the need for collateral or reserves and use contract codes to manage the token’s circulating supply
Commodity-backed stablecoins: value is tied to commodities such as gold, oil, or real estate
Why Medical Tourism?
According to the Medical Tourism Association (MTA), 14 million people travel to other countries annually to receive medical care, and spend an average of $3,550 per visit. 58% of MTA survey respondents were concerned about making international payments due to lack of cost transparency, secure payment options, and ease of transacting.
Opportunity abounds to improve the international payment experience. Companies like Mastercard are improving the patient-provider payment experience through targeted efforts with virtual cards and a partnership with the MTA. Other companies like Tranglo were built to offer a global money and digital credit hub. But keep an eye on stablecoins joining the fray to support an industry that is growing between 15-25% per year.
The road ahead
Like all cryptocurrency, stablecoins are not without risk. They do not fall under any formal regulation at the present time, and we have seen at least one concerning stablecoin collapse after TerraUSD lost its peg to the dollar. But big changes appear to be on the horizon that bode well for stablecoins, including continued growth and stabilization of the currency (some predictions have it growing from $200 billion at the end of 2024 to $3 trillion in five years), integration with cards (Visa is working on direct settlement with stablecoins), greater transparency and regulatory clarity, and technological advances especially around interoperability.
Lots to look for in 2025 and beyond - including how stablecoins can help drive efficiency and lower cost in healthcare payments.
Further reading:
Stablecoins aren't cheaper; They're better. Stablecoins won't be cheaper for US Domestic payments short term. Long term, they're building a layer above all rails, and *that* will compete out cost. (Simon Taylor, Fintech Brainfood)
How to think about Stablecoins. A framework for thinking about the real value that stablecoins can provide. (Alex Johnson, Fintech Takes)
Exploring a Stablecoin Bank. How the transition to a consumer-scale stablecoin payment network could actually work. (Pirate Wires)
PAYMENTS DATA
Providers adopting digital payments and streamlined billing
A new study from TrustCommerce, a part of Sphere and a provider of integrated healthcare payments and security software, shows that patients prefer providers offering payment methods that can be saved, multiple payment options (cards and mobile wallets), and flexible payment plans. According to the company, key findings from the study include:
96% of healthcare organizations accept credit card payments
69% of providers offer flexible payment plans
4 out of 5 providers are prioritizing updating billing/ payment systems, expanding payment options, and protecting patient data by enabling secure storage of payment information
Sasha King pictured with Co-CEO Callum King (Photo courtesy of Anatomy Financial)
Click here to read our latest CEO Chat with Sasha King, Co-CEO of San Francisco-based Anatomy Financial.
AI IN HEALTHCARE
$500 billion AI investment announced at White House
At a White House press conference on Tuesday, January 21, President Trump announced a new AI company called Stargate that will invest $500 billion in U.S. infrastructure over the next four years. Accompanying Trump for the announcement were SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
According to OpenAI's X post, "the initial equity funders in Stargate are SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX. SoftBank and OpenAI are the lead partners for Stargate, with SoftBank having financial responsibility and OpenAI having operational responsibility. Masayoshi Son will be the chairman." NVIDIA is involved as well.
One of the reasons this is interesting for healthcare is the emphasis placed on the medical field by the tech leaders at the announcement. After touting the massive scale of the investment, Larry Ellison immediately shifted to talking about the promise of AI - and this project - for curing disease. (His comments are consistent with Oracle's continued corporate focus on healthcare, including its purchase of Cerner and move of Oracle headquarters to Nashville.) A quick transcription of Ellison's comments:
"AI holds incredible promise for all of us, for every American. The kind of applications that we're building, to give you an idea, maybe the most charismatic, and the one that I think touches us all, is Electronic Health Records. Not just maintaining Electronic Health Records, but by looking at Electronic Health Records, helping doctors understand the conditions of their patients."
Afterwards, in a comment on OpenAI's X post, Elon Musk said that their financing is actually not secured. Someone else commented that the AI wars are getting spicy!
AI's impact on industries in 2025. Gen AI is ideal for assisting with routine tasks, such as appointment scheduling or processing patient intake forms, creating many opportunities to reduce the administrative workloads on clinicians. (Google)
House Bipartisan Task Force on Artificial Intelligence. Highlights America's leadership in its approach to responsible AI innovation while considering guardrails that may be appropriate to safeguard the U.S. against current and emerging threats. (U.S. House of Representatives)
FMP Deal Tracker. Regularly updated list of healthcare payments related transactions since November 2023.
Conference List. Rolling twelve month look ahead at conferences and other events covering healthcare payments, revenue cycle, fintech and related areas. Updated through September 2025.
FMP Blog. Thoughts from healthcare payments CEOs and investors on their right to win and plans for the next 12 months, as well as data and perspectives on healthcare payments.
Newsletter Archive. News, trends, and insights from the healthcare payments industry compiled in our bi-weekly newsletter. Last six months of newsletters.
Epic MyChart. Excel sheet with full listing of all Epic MyChart instances as of May 2024, categorized by state, provider type and specialty.
All of these resources can also be accessed at the FinMed Partners Insights page.
We'll be at ViVE in Nashville in February and Fintech Meetup in Las Vegas in March - reach out to us here to arrange time to meet!
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward to a friend or colleague.
FinMed Partners is a management consulting and advisory business focusing at the intersection of payments/ fintech and healthcare. Our founders have developed deep expertise from decades of experience with health IT companies, healthcare providers and many players within the payments ecosystem. Investors, boards and executive teams work with us to maximize business value through strategic input and tactical execution.
FinMed Partners LLC, 34 Long Avenue, Belmont, MA 02478, United States
