When Peter Bechtel took on the onerous task of examining the Affordable Care Act, he spotted an opportunity. One provision of Obamacare requires Medicare to reimburse primary care practices $180 in exchange for each annual wellness exam they conduct for Medicare patients. He set up an automated platform that handles patient outreach, scheduling and evaluation from small primary care practices to large healthcare organizations. The ultimate goal for his new business, WellTrackOne, is to market the solution to accountable care organizations to help them do a better job of tracking their patients.
Bechtel pitched the company’s business plan at Blueprint Health’s demo day for its fourth class of health IT entrepreneurs.
A nurse could do the actual exam as long as a physician reviews and signs off on the report WellTrackOne produces, Bechtel said. The practice would get $80 and the company would pocket $100. Bechtel estimates it can generate $25,000 in revenue per physician per year.
In order to scale the business it’s raising $1.5 million as part of a growth plan that would add 1,000 physician clients. It’s the first of several tranches towards a goal of $10 million. It signed a distribution agreement with Quest Diagnostics in which it will offer WellTrackOne’s service as a value add. Quest, a channel partner, will use its sales force to generate clients for WellTrackOne. Bechtel emphasized that Quest doesn’t receive any payment for doing that.
One concern with the Affordable Care Act is that there’s a strong likelihood some provisions will change. What if the spigot for these annual wellness exams were to be shut off?
Bechtel, understandably, doesn’t see that happening. “The part everyone likes about the Affordable Care Act is the proactive care of patients and it’s making a difference in healthcare costs as a result.”
He predicts that its best customers will be accountable care organizations that need the revenue and the data to succeed. “Accountable care will only work if it’s done right and we can make it work right.”
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.
Asked why a serial health IT entrepreneur, who has the experience of starting and exiting businesses that include a medical billing service and an electronic medical record software company behind him, would want to be in an accelerator, he answers this way.
“This was the fastest way to raise capital and this is one of the most aggressively positive healthcare environments in the world.”
