Startup Spotlight: Cylinder

Bill Snyder, founder and CEO of Cylinder, discusses the future of digestive healthcare accessibility and the power of holistic branding.

In the ever-evolving healthcare landscape, Cylinder stands out as a beacon of innovation and compassion. Founded by Bill Snyder, Cylinder is revolutionizing digestive health with its commitment to providing convenient, personalized and affordable care. With groundbreaking research and a robust virtual platform, Cylinder is at the forefront of advancing digestive health, ensuring that gastrointestinal (GI) care is within reach for everyone.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

The Startup

Cylinder is a no-cost health benefit that helps members find real relief from digestive health ailments ranging from low acuity symptoms like gas and heartburn, to more chronic conditions like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) or Crohn’s Disease.

The Story

Bill Snyder: Cylinder’s vision is to create a world where people receive convenient, personalized and affordable access to the quality digestive healthcare they need to improve their overall health. GI issues affect 40 percent of people daily, and yet many still suffer in silence because digestive problems can be embarrassing and highly stigmatized.

On top of that, unlike many other chronic conditions, digestive diseases often go untreated or misdiagnosed. This leaves many feeling hopeless, frustrated and unsure where to turn to get the care they need. It also results in skyrocketing healthcare costs for employers and health plans, to the tune of an approximated $136 billion dollars in annual GI spend (which is more than heart disease, trauma or mental health).

The Solution

Bill Snyder: It’s time to bring digestive health to the forefront while providing efficient, affordable and effective solutions to the millions who are struggling and don’t know where to turn. That’s where we can come in. Cylinder is the complete, virtual digestive health care platform that reduces costs and improves overall health. We offer individualized, clinician-backed care for all digestive health needs, all in one platform, improving the accessibility and availability of GI care.

Cylinder is the first digestive health solution to deliver meaningful results for clients across the country. In one case study with a large employer client, we delivered a 300 percent return on investment, including a 15 percent reduction in total healthcare spend, as well as a decrease in emergency room visits and inpatient admissions.

Not only are we helping our employer and health plan clients see improved ROI, we’re also helping members feel better. Ninety-one percent of Cylinder members report improved GI symptoms, and 92 percent report improved quality of life. This has far reaching impacts beyond simply managing GI health – we see members report improved metrics on everything from improved sleep, weight loss and even happiness levels. That’s because gut health is whole health, and we’re proud to help provide relief to the millions of people suffering from GI issues today.

The Rebrand

Bill Snyder: In June 2024, we unveiled a transformative rebrand. We wanted a name and a brand that better represented our mission to revolutionize digital health, gut first. The Cylinder name and brand identity are inspired by the cylinder’s symmetry and balance, symbolizing holistic health with gut health at its core.

More information about the rebrand can be viewed in the video below.

The Impact

Bill Snyder: Our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hau Liu, was invited to present at the annual Digestive Disease Week 2024 recently, showing that our program promotes health equity, significantly aiding diverse and socially vulnerable populations in managing their digestive health.

Knowing that there are significant disparities in access to GI care and digestive outcomes across gender, racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups, Cylinder conducted a study to better understand how diverse populations use Cylinder (formerly called GIThrive) and the program’s effects on patient-reported outcomes. Results showed that participants from diverse gender, race/ethnicity and social vulnerability strata all reported significant and similar improvements in digestive symptoms and patient-reported outcomes when using a digital digestive chronic care program.

Key findings presented include:

• At baseline, 79 percent of participants had at least moderate symptom severity for one or more GI symptoms, and at the end of the intervention, 85 percent reported significant symptom improvement.
• Participants of all genders, races/ethnicities and social vulnerability strata engaged with Cylinder and experienced significant and similar symptom improvement.
• Participants reported feeling greater control over their health, better ability to manage their digestive symptoms, increased happiness and improved productivity.

The Future

Bill Snyder: At Cylinder we’re going to continue to wake up every day thinking about how we positively impact the lives of the members that we serve. Cylinder is creating a world where people receive convenient, personalized and affordable access to the quality digestive healthcare they need to improve their overall health. With new clinical research and developments, we’re at the threshold of discovering more about how digestive health impacts the whole person. Our clinical team is at the forefront of these developments, so we’re excited to continue to advance digestive health and help people see the benefits it brings to their life and health.

MATTER’s Impact

Bill Snyder: We’ve appreciated the partnership with MATTER over the years, specifically our ability to partner and bolster our marketing and networking opportunities through the organization. The partnership with MATTER has provided access to top leaders in Chicago and across the country. MATTER continues to bring together some of the top healthcare innovators from across the word and helps companies like Cylinder to tap into this incredible network for guidance and support.

About Cylinder
Founded in 2021 and offered as an employer benefit, Cylinder (formerly Vivante Health) delivers personalized, clinician-backed care to those suffering from digestive issues through its virtual health platform. Cylinder’s tech-forward, human-first program connects members to the right level of support at the right time through an easy interface, bringing the healthcare ecosystem together to align around member needs. Cylinder’s dedicated care teams help members proactively address their gut health from every angle – decreasing costs, reducing absenteeism, and improving their quality of life, at scale. Cylinder’s vision is to create a world where people receive convenient, personalized, and affordable access to the quality digestive healthcare they need to improve their overall health. Learn more at CylinderHealth.com.

About MATTER
At MATTER, we believe collaboration is the best way to improve healthcare. The MATTER collaborative includes more than 1,000 current and alumni startups from around the world, working together with dozens of hospitals and health systems, universities and industry-leading companies to build the future of healthcare. Together we are accelerating innovation, advancing care and improving lives. For more information, visit matter.health and follow @MATTERhealth.