Our History
Our Story
Our journey began in 2017 when Founder and President Mike Rawaan launched Little City Healthcare Consulting from his home base in "The Little City" (Falls Church, Virginia)—a tight-knit suburb of Metropolitan Washington, DC that earned the firm its original name. As we grew and our client base expanded across the healthcare ecosystem, we evolved into Covalence Health, a name that better reflects how we approach the challenges facing the U.S. healthcare system.
The term covalence (pronounced kō-ˈvā-lən(t)s) describes the chemical bonds formed when atoms share electrons to create something new and stable. It's the perfect metaphor for how we work: by sharing our experience and expertise with your team, we build solutions that are stronger together than either of us could create alone. We're still that same dedicated firm that started in Falls Church—just with a name that captures the collaborative partnerships we've been building all along.
Our Journey
Since 2017, Covalence Health has grown from a solo consultancy to a 15-person team of former physicians, product leaders, and healthcare operators, completing over 50 engagements across the industry. We've expanded from focused strategy work to comprehensive services spanning M&A due diligence, product development, market analysis, and implementation support. Healthcare investors and executives choose us for our speed, deep expertise, and execution focus—we don't just advise, we help implement. Our track record: every client returns or refers us to others.
Key Milestones
June 2017: Little City Healthcare Consulting (HCLC) is established in Falls Church, VA, with a focus on helping healthcare organizations with product strategy and value-based care implementation.
September 2017: Little City Healthcare Consulting lands its first client.
April 2018: Little City Healthcare Consulting extends its services to the benefits management segment and adds its first regional health system client.
October 2018: Little City Healthcare Consulting adds first investment client - a PE firm interested in acquiring a company in the value-based care space.
May 2019: Little City Healthcare Consulting expands into the post-acute care space, landing a regional Home Health Agency as a client.
August 2019: Little City Healthcare Consulting expands into the healthcare payor space and lands its first national client.
May 2020: Little City Healthcare Consulting extends its deal sourcing and due-dilligence services to VC firms and adds two VC clients.
February 2022: Little City Healthcare Consulting partners with a national pharmacy chain and adds its first Life Sciences client.
June 2022: Little City Healthcare Consulting rebrands as Covalence Health, growing to a 10-person team of healthcare experts.
February 2023: Covalence Health extends its policy support services to support state government and Medicaid programs.
July 2024: Covalence Health reaches 50 client projects while expanding our team to 15 healthcare professionals.
January 2026: Covalence Health welcomes Giovanni (Gio) Infante-Still as its first partner.
50+
Projects Completed
Our team has led projects spanning growth strategy, organizational design, innovation and product development, market analysis and segmentation, M&A strategy, health policy and reimbursement, value-based care, provider network management, and technology evaluation and implementation. We deliver practical insights that move from strategy to execution.
Our work speaks for itself - Every client we've served has returned for additional work or referred us to others.
30+
Happy Customers
We bring deep experience serving clients across the healthcare ecosystem—from national and regional health systems and plans to post-acute care providers, ACOs, pharmacies, life science companies, healthcare services and technology companies, and investment firms, including PE, VC, and investment banks.
We have maintained a 100% client retention and referral rate since our inception in 2017.
8+
Years of Experiance
Since our founding in 2017, we've evolved from a small local consultancy to a specialized healthcare strategy firm. We've deliberately expanded our team with former physicians, product leaders, strategy executives, clinicians, and operators—deepening our expertise and broadening our service offerings. This growth enables us to serve as a turnkey partner, supporting clients from initial strategy through full implementation rather than stopping at recommendations.