Startup Q&A: Solutions for advancing health equity
There are well-documented differences in health outcomes between racial, ethnic, geographic, socioeconomic and other groups. A growing number of startups and organizations in our community have voiced concerns about these health disparities and are actively advancing “health equity,” which the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation defines as follows:
“Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be healthier. This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and healthcare.”
This month, we’ll be exploring what health equity means from the perspective of our community. As part of this theme, we’ll highlight MATTER startups that are working to give everyone a fair opportunity to be healthier, from improving access to care in underserved communities to expanding patient representation in clinical research and addressing the social determinants of health.
Hannah Landes, East Coast Sales Associate at NowPow
What is your company’s mission?
NowPow is a women-owned-and-led technology company that powers communities with the knowledge people need to get well, care for others and manage life while living with disease. NowPow is built on the scientific research of founder Dr. Stacy Lindau, who pioneered the idea of “e-prescribing community”, connecting healthcare to self-care. Our mission is to support health equity, through targeted interventions which focus on high-risk populations, and universal interventions which drive resource awareness across whole communities.
How will your company advance health equity?
NowPow’s theory of change rests on a fundamental premise that access to community resources and behavior modification support are the most potent levers for transforming population health.
CommunityRx, our founder’s original research project, was designed to leverage the patient-physician encounter into a learning moment, connecting the patient to community resources matched to their socioeconomic profile and medical conditions. By systematically delivering high-quality information, CommunityRx increased community resource utilization and decreased ER admission and hospitalization among vulnerable populations, elevating health equity in the care process.
Out of this model of health equity, NowPow has developed a powerful tool for care professionals, community organizations and people, bridging the care information gap and transforming healthcare into self-care. The platform’s analytics support health systems in identifying their population needs and service gaps, supporting informed decision-making in public health and addressing the social determinants of health, community-wide.
What will the world look like if your company achieves everything you hope and dream?
We see a world where the NowPow solution is fully integrated into population health systems such as hospitals, public health departments and community-based organizations. Our vision is to evolve the product to include an “OpenTable” model in which anyone can identify resources that are matched to their needs, gain insight into resource capacity, seamlessly book appointments, and confirm attendance and feedback in real-time. As our founder often says, “It should be at least as easy to find an appointment addressing a basic human need as it is to reserve a table at a restaurant or a seat on a plane”.
Nirav J. Modi, President & Co-Founder of Carium
What is your company’s mission?
Carium enables individuals, supported by their care teams, to chart their own personalized health journeys.
Our core belief is that partnership models of health, enhanced by mobile and digital technologies, will improve upon the current healthcare models, placing people at the center of their own healthcare experience.
Carium leverages connected devices, access to new sources of healthcare data and analytics to improve health outcomes and efficiency. This combination empowers both healthcare providers and patients by generating useful insights and services that translate them into action, making more personalized healthcare a reality.
How will your company advance health equity?
Healthcare needs and preferences vary greatly by population. In partnership with trusted local leaders from traditionally underserved communities, Carium will tailor its services to meet the needs and preferences of particular groups. That might mean collaborating with the head of a faith-based organization, or tapping into the trust people place in their hairdresser.
Smartphones and wearables are increasingly available across populations, though even basic text services can be harnessed to help change health behaviors. Mobile technologies and remote monitoring also offer the opportunity to understand and address the determinants of health that are outside of clinical care, such as environmental and socio-economic factors. This holistic data set can be leveraged to drive awareness at an individual level and to develop highly personalized care plans and coaching.
What will the world look like if your company achieves everything you hope and dream?
Healthcare services will be convenient, on demand and in real time, supported by technology. Individual people and the healthcare providers and caregivers that serve them will have ongoing access to key information about health and wellness, and will receive real-time guidance to ensure they are living the best quality of life possible.
People will have greater agency, transparency and targeted coaching to help them make informed healthcare decisions. Even those unable or unwilling to take on a high level of engagement will be supported in achieving better health on their own terms.
Laura Robbins, COO of Advocatia
What is Advocatia’s mission?
Our mission is to build a better future for the uninsured by connecting them to coverage.
How will Advocatia advance health equity?
Our solutions engage the uninsured and help them enroll in coverage options. More than 28 million people are uninsured and 11.7 million of them qualify for healthcare programs, but they are just unaware. Through multiple levels of coverage assistance, we are the first step for someone to begin to access care and other forms of coverage to achieve a healthier life.
What will the world look like if Advocatia achieves everything you hope and dream?
Knowledge regarding programs and enrollment will increase substantially, minimizing the uninsured rates in the communities we serve.
Brad Becker, CEO of Doc&I
What is Doc&I’s mission?
Doc&I’s mission is to improve both quality and access to care for our nation’s poor and underserved populations.
How will Doc&I advance health equity?
We provide the hospitals and clinics that care for our nation’s most underserved populations with the tools and resources they need to maximize participation in the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program. Our product helps patients save money on their medications, and creates an easier pathway for hospitals and clinics to access much-needed resources so they can provide quality care.
What will the world look like if Doc&I achieves everything you hope and dream?
We envision a world where quality and access to care will be the same for people across the country — regardless of geography and demographics or one’s ability to pay.