Boston-based knownwell, a hybrid weight-inclusive primary and metabolic care provider, announced it expanded into six clinics across the greater Chicago area and will provide patients across the Midwest with access to virtual care. 

The company touts itself as an empathetic, weight-inclusive in-person and virtual provider that offers comprehensive primary care and metabolic health services, including weight management, nutrition counseling and health coaching. 

With its expansion into Chicago, the company is adding 23 regional employees and its first market medical director and VP of clinical partnerships, Dr. Anthony Auriemma, who previously served as Ascension Medical Group Illinois Weight Loss Solutions' medical director.

"We've successfully laid the groundwork for our hybrid healthcare model in New England. However, in keeping with our goal of bringing obesity care to all Americans, we couldn't stop there – which is why we've opened seven new locations across Texas and now Chicago in less than a year," Brooke Boyarsky Pratt, CEO and cofounder of knownwell, told MobiHealthNews.

"Starting Monday, we will bring our care to those in the Midwest in our next step to provide even more Americans with the greatest possible access to inclusive, bias-free healthcare."

THE LARGER TREND

The hybrid care provider is in brick-and-mortar clinics in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Texas and Illinois. 

In October of last year, knownwell announced the opening of a new clinic in Plano, Texas, and said it would treat patients virtually throughout Texas.

knownwell launched in 2023 with $4.5 million in seed funding led by Flare Capital Partners and secured $20 million in Series A funding in 2023 in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health. 

Last year, the company acquired AI-enabled precision metabolic-health management company Alfie Health to enhance its clinical decision-support offerings. 

Alfie offers an AI-enabled platform dubbed ObesityRx that analyzes medical histories to determine what treatments will most effectively improve an individual's metabolic health.