Isn’t it about time that doctors stopping handing patients packets of instructions before and after a procedure? Wouldn’t more rich and diverse content delivered right when it’s needed be a more effective way to teach and engage patients?
Health IT company Wellbe took inspiration from the ubiquitous GPS in designing a tool that would help patients understand and follow their treatments. The result was a web-based PGS, or Patient Guidance System, which comprises checklists and forms, email reminders, educational materials, videos and decision support for patients.
It’s already launched in a few acute care markets like total joint replacement and sports medicine. Now the Madison, Wisconsin company is raising a $1.4 million round and preparing to launch in the bariatric surgery market. As the market demands, it will also move into other procedure lines, founder and CEO James Dias said, like neurology and cardiology and potentially oncology.
Wellbe works with providers to deliver timely instructions, education and tools to patients throughout an entire episode of care. “We take a provider’s content, ingest that, cut it up, turn it into bite-size chunks and format it in smart checklists,” Dias said. “We’re taking all of these materials which are usually lumped into one three-hour session and moving them to a guided, step-by-step process.”
Patients, family members or caregivers are prompted by email to log in to the Wellbe portal, where they are presented with checklists of items to complete, from watching a video to tracking their medication to completing a feedback survey.
For hospitals – the paying customers of Wellbe – Dias says the value add is managing this process more efficiently and effectively through one online platform. A case management tool gives providers insight into which items patients are or are not checking off. “They can use the rules engine to set alerts, so that if a patient has answered a certain way to a survey question, or hasn’t checked something off, the provider will get a notice.”
Hospitals for their part have been spending more time, money and effort on discharge planning in an effort to curb readmissions and costs. But Dias said it’s about much more than education and data.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“The other thing is, the tool is really designed to bring specialties in your care together,” he said. “We have the capability to also keep a social worker, case manager or physical therapist on the same page. It’s really about building a care team around you,”
