Is telemedicine the future of joint health and GI care?

Following the pandemic, telehealth companies have become increasingly popular.

Since 2018, the number of physicians using telehealth has nearly tripled, according to research from the American Medical Association. The spike in use has been driven by the need to make care more accessible for patients.

Hinge Health, a telehealth platform that specializes in treating musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, which are those that affect muscles, joints, bones, and connective tissues, was founded in 2014 by Daniel Perez and Gabriel Mecklenburg. The company quadrupled its revenue during the pandemic in 2020, Reuters reported, and then went public in May 2025, raising $502.9 million during its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.

Perez, who now serves as CEO, recently shared with Healthcare Brew via email where Hinge Health stands today and what’s coming next.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What was the impetus behind founding Hinge Health? What inspired you?

Our mission has always been personal. My co-founder Gabriel and I met over 10 years ago as PhD students in the UK, and we’d each dealt with our own MSK injuries. Gabriel tore his ACL in judo, and I broke my arm and leg in a biking accident as a kid. I spent a year going in and out of operating rooms and rehab clinics. A year of physical therapy. And in total, 50+ appointments, copays that piled up, and a lot of added stress for my parents. Gabriel and I both realized that there had to be a better way. We saw a real opportunity where technology could change that by drastically improving how that care was delivered.

Why focus on joint and muscle pain?

People who suffer from back, joint, and muscle conditions make up one of the largest patient populations in healthcare. Orthopedics is…one of the top three cost drivers in healthcare. Despite this, access to the right kind of care is difficult to find. That combination of massive need, poor access, and high stakes is exactly where we thought technology could make the biggest difference, so it made sense to start there.

We started with muscle and joint pain, but our ambition has always been far bigger than that. We’re thoughtfully expanding beyond MSK and into areas of care that are highly comorbid, like women’s pelvic health, migraine, and soon, GI care. Our health is so interconnected, and addressing the holistic needs of each member is necessary for improving their overall wellbeing.

What’s your business model?

Our business model is primarily employer-based. In fact, we currently serve nearly half of Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies. We sell Hinge Health as a covered healthcare benefit to self-insured employers, which pay for the program so their employees can access care at no direct cost. We’re also proud to work with health plans, PBMs, [third-party administrators], and other ecosystem partners, which helps us reach more fully insured employers and Medicare Advantage populations.

How many employers or health plans have you partnered with?

Our client base is made up of nearly 3,000 employers and health plans combined, along with more than 60 health plans, PBMs, and ecosystem partners. Collectively, over 25 million people have access to Hinge Health today.

You recently announced the acquisition of digestive health platform Cylinder Health. What do you think Cylinder will bring to Hinge Health? 

GI conditions are one of the biggest unmet needs we hear about from members and clients. They affect 1 in 4 US adults and drive roughly $135 billion in annual medical spend. At the same time, 69% of US counties don’t have a gastroenterologist. The shortage of specialists means that people who are already in need of support are left to cycle through primary and urgent care without a clear treatment plan. Cylinder gives us a running start on closing that gap.

[Cylinder is] a strong fit for the unified platform we’re building at Hinge Health because digestive conditions often overlap with the MSK, pelvic floor, and migraine conditions we already treat. 

For now, we continue to focus on servicing Cylinder clients and members, but our product teams are also hard at work integrating the Cylinder product into Hinge Health.