A health IT startup wants to make it easier for patients with neurological disabilities such as spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis to find therapies that could help them with recovery. Utilize Health has raised $750,000 from one angel investor, according to a Form D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Jessica Harthcock, the CEO and founder, started the matchmaking business after she was left paralyzed in an accident and was frustrated with the lack of support in identifying and finding appropriate rehabilitation equipment. Ultimately she found a facility with a rehabilitation program that helped her recovery, according to the company’s website.
In a phone interview with MedCity News, Harthcock likened the Website to OpenTable. Individuals fill out an online form that specifies their disabilities. The platform uses an algorithm that matches each patient with relevant facilities based on their needs. In addition to that free service, it is offering a concierge service that is assigned to each patient. It helps them navigate insurance, how to prepare for appointments, arranging transportation and other needs. They can choose between a three-month and a 12-month subscription. Facilities pay a fee to be listed, but Harthcock did not disclose it.
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The funding will help support the roll out of its matchmaking website.
“No doctor is really navigating post-acute care. Doctors do the best they can, but there’s a huge lack of awareness [of resources that are available.] We are that information resource.”
Every facility we deal with is equipped for neurology patients,” she said.
Harthcock explained that the facilities tend to focus on weight-bearing, activity-based therapies. Asked about the vetting process, Harthrock said: “We don’t say this facility is much better than another. What was best for me is not necessarily what’s best for other patients.” In addition to spinal cord injuries and MS, other disabilities the platform supports are traumatic brain injury, stroke, cerebral palsy, and muscular dystrophy.
She declined to say how many facilities it was working with or how many patients had signed up for the service so far. Its beta test of the matchmaking website is expected to go live in the first quarter of 2015.
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Asked if she thought that patients would hear her story and develop unrealistic expectations for what her company’s service could do for them, she said: “We are really transparent with patients. Everyone’s therapy is so different and everyone’s potential is different.”
The company sees autism as the next logical expansion of its service because Harthcock said she has been contacted by so many parents of children with autism. In a couple of years it expects to expand to cancer.
Although she acknowledges that several companies are helping match up patients with physicians, she doesn’t see other companies going after the niche markets it is pursuing.
