In the world of healthcare, physicians and insurers are struggling to meet seemingly conflicting goals: improving patient quality outcomes while reducing the total costs of care. Disrupt NY 2015 Startup Battlefield participant Wellth thinks it has found a solution to this problem, a mobile-first platform that actually pays people to embrace healthier habits.
Wellth focuses on the costly chronic diseases — like asthma, type 2 diabetes and congestive heart failure — and actually gives money to users who do things like taking their daily medications or regularly tracking things like their weight or blood glucose levels. Users track these actions either via a picture or a connected device.
In the same way Amazon has brought customization to e-commerce, Wellth believes that healthcare has suffered from a one-size-fits-all approach to medical adherence.
The company partners with providers and insurers to track patient behaviors, structure a personal care program and ultimately provide financial incentives to patients for prescription adherence. In return, insurance see significant savings down the road by reducing preventable hospitalizations, readmissions and other costs associated with poor disease management.
Wellth ended their Battlefield presentation with an announcement that they were seeking insurers and healthcare systems to pilot their technology. Just two months later, the company completed a pilot with a major insurer where they were able to increase medication adherence in type 2 diabetics by more than 50 percent. Wellth claims that providers and insurers will see, on average, a four-fold return on their investment, in most cases.
Based on promising pilot results, Wellth recently raised a $2 million seed round led by AXA Strategic Ventures. The company has also grown to 10 employees, and they have additional pilots planned for next year.
Wellth CEO Matt Loper tells TechCrunch that the Startup Battlefield was a great experience for him and his company.
“We were able to generate a lot of customer and investor interest from our on stage demonstration,” Loper said. “And now, even a year later people still meet us and say ‘hey I saw you guys on TechCrunch!'”
We’re excited to see what’s next for Wellth, and whether the company will be successful in its mission to ensure the adoption and success of value-based healthcare.
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