Founders’ story is a startup profile that’s part of the MedCitizens membership program. Click here to read about the program and how your company can join.
Why did you start this company?
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
The threshold to entry for quality healthcare is exceedingly high. Health systems and plans struggle to build and maintain longitudinal conversations with their patients and members along their journey to better health. I previously co-founded a medical appointment booking company in Germany, and wanted to go a step further to help people get the care and answers they’re looking for when they are feeling sick. In 2016, I co-founded GYANT to empower physicians and shape the future of how patients find the health services they need — by leveraging AI to improve systematic processes and creating a delightful patient experience. We help healthcare providers quickly and simply diagnose, treat, and prescribe medication as needed, while also delivering ongoing aftercare to ensure patients’ recovery. I wanted to build a layer of software that helps patients and health systems or health plans communicate, during every step of the patient journey. Our software elevates the digital health experience to the standard that patients expect from all digital tools — a standard set by the likes of Netflix, Uber and Whatsapp. I believe that healthcare software doesn’t have to smell like a hospital.
Pascal Zuta
What specific need/problem are you seeking to address in healthcare?
We built GYANT to address two sides of the care problem: directing people to the right level of care, and helping streamline the process by giving doctors the time and tools they need to provide quality care.
Health Benefit Consultants, Share Your Expert Insights in Our Survey
Share some of the trends you are seeing among your clients across healthcare, including chronic conditions, behavioral health, healthcare navigation, and more.
GYANT is a connective layer between patients and their health systems: the first place people can turn to in order to figure out what kind of care they need, where to get it, and what the treatment will look like. We want to guide patients through their care journey, from the moment they feel unwell, to the treatment and interaction with a provider, to the aftercare, ensuring they’re better informed and better cared for along the way.
Today, most payers and providers have websites and mobile apps. GYANT lives within their websites and mobile patient portals: we realized early on that the last thing that our customers want is another app to distribute to their members or patients. We built a platform that serves all patient access needs. Our tech stack can be applied to a wide range of use cases in pre-visit, post-discharge or care management for health systems and payers.
What does your product do? How does it work?
By acting as a digital front door to health systems, GYANT helps patients find the care they need and feel well taken care of all along their journey. For patients, GYANT starts as a diagnostic tool and a hub for information, opening up access to healthcare in a way that’s approachable, engaging, and becomes a long-term resource. For providers, GYANT is a tool that takes over most of the charting — a leading citation for physician burnout — and allows them to focus their time and energy on having meaningful interactions with patients. Using AI to streamline the patient triage and diagnosis process, we enable providers to work at the top of their licenses. Providers can meet and care for patients faster and easier, and ultimately treat more cases. Because patients can interact with GYANT directly, at any time, they receive improved access to trusted, quality care and information in the moment they need it. Post-discharge, GYANT will follow-up with patients to reinforce the treatment plan and automatically re-escalate the case if symptoms exacerbate. We’re reducing the burden on the physician and the healthcare system, making space for more meaningful patient-provider conversations.
Is this your first healthcare startup? What’s your background in healthcare?
I’ve always been an entrepreneur, but mostly in the field of the consumer internet — video games, e-commerce, social networking. I was brought into healthcare when a personal experience revealed significant flaws in the system and moved me to make a difference.
A few years ago, I found a bump on my young son’s chin, and my wife and I didn’t know what it was. This was right after Christmas, when everything closes down in Germany. That meant that we couldn’t get in front of a doctor for days, and grew increasingly anxious about our son’s health. Even though everything wound up being fine, I’ll never forget that feeling of helplessness.
I realized that there was something fundamentally wrong with healthcare, even in Germany. As a result, I co-founded Germany’s largest doctor appointment booking company in 2011, so that people didn’t have to go through the same experience as we did. I built and led one of Europe’s largest video game publishers; co-founded multiple consumer brands in the health space; and drove millions of people to use my games or products. I realized that similar techniques could be applied to something as significant as healthcare, and make a real impact in people’s lives, every day. I wanted to create something that could engage both patients and doctors and deliver better, timely care that would lead to improved outcomes.
What is your company’s business model?
Although we have a consumer-facing app that is free for anyone to use (in the App Store or on Facebook Messenger), we operate on a SaaS business model. We charge a licensing fee to providers and payers, as well as a usage-based fee. We are not a point service, but a technology platform that can be applied to many use cases, and that integrates seamlessly and effortlessly into the physician and patient workflow.
Do you have clinical validation for your product?
Yes, all of our products have been clinically validated. On the pre-visit side, we have completed a substantial study on triage accuracy. On post-discharge management, we have validated both quality as well as contact rates with impressive 50 percent to 60 percent improvements over classical post-discharge management tools. Our screening tools have been used over 1 million times by people all over the world, and in eight languages. Also, our patient-facing symptom tools have been used over 5 million times and show over 70 percent re-engagement.
Photo: Getty Images
