Cityblock Health has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Homeward Health, a rural-focused Medicare Advantage provider, in an all-stock transaction.
The combination pairs Cityblock’s urban Medicaid and dual-eligible care model with Homeward’s rural-first approach, Cityblock CEO and co-founder Toyin Ajayi, MD, said in an Aug. 21 note published on the company’s website. Homeward serves nearly 50,000 members and holds partnerships with plans including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
“Like Cityblock, Homeward went after a space with the biggest challenges in our health system at a time when the stakes couldn’t be higher, where funding challenges and rural provider access shortages have resulted in a desperate need for care, particularly among the most vulnerable and hard to reach populations,” Dr. Ajayi said in the note. “And they did the work of figuring out how to engage populations in relationships tailored to their needs and capable of improving access, cost, and outcomes.”
Dr. Ajayi said the timing of the agreement “couldn’t be more critical” as federal Medicaid funding is being cut significantly over the next decade, Medicare Advantage reimbursement rates are tightening and healthcare costs are “rising faster than the system is built to absorb.”
Alongside the acquisition, Cityblock announced a $116 million Series E funding round led by General Catalyst. The company said the new capital and the Homeward deal are tied to the same strategy: scaling an AI-native, outcomes-based model across Medicaid, dual-eligible and rural Medicare Advantage populations.
“We think the answer to funding pressures in government programs isn’t to retreat from them — it’s to get radically better and more efficient at delivering outcomes for the people who depend on taxpayer-funded healthcare,” she said.
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