Re: [projectvrm] CareSync

[Bill Nelson < >]

DISCLAIMER:  I will attempt to respond, but keep in mind that I have not been with the company for about a year now.  I still stay in touch with my friends there, but I am not part of the day to day business model or current practices.  I can only respond with what was in place (or what my recollection was) a year ago.

Having said that, here goes....

(responses inline)

On Sun, Sep 14, 2014 at 7:50 AM, Doc Searls < " target="_blank"> > wrote:

Thanks, Bill.

Questions inline below...

On Sep 14, 2014, at 6:50 AM, Bill Nelson < "> > wrote:

> Having worked with the project since the beginning (and watching it grow since I have left), I have been quite impressed.  They have an application (mobile and web) that allows you to aggregate, manage, and make sense of your healthcare information.

I was going to ask them some questions, but it's a Sunday and their LINKS page didn't load on any of my browsers. So I'll ask here.

> They also have a group of agents (all with healthcare backgrounds) that will input your medical data into the database if all you have are old medical records (or want to request PDFs from your physician).  The later is an extremely valuable service if you either don't have time or don't know what you are doing.

They have three offers, including a free sign-up, which I just did. Here is the $99 one:

>       • One-time collection of all your medical records from all of your providers

That alone makes it worthwhile. I have at my left elbow a stack of paper, CDs and DVDs (from CAT scans and MRIs) three inches high that comprises an incomplete record of my time with the Harvard medical system, from 2007-2010. Not included are the medical records from nineteen prior providers that were requested by me (through them) and scanned into their system. $99 for a "one time health history" is mighty tempting, because I have no idea how to put my massive broken Health Humpty together. Or how I'll find the time. Seems like way more than $99 worth of work. Can they do it?

Bill:  Yes they can.  In my previous role, I built a team of excellent healthcare oriented people whose primary role was to take a person's healthcare data, scan it into the system (you have a PDF record of your healthcare data - as is) and then start picking apart the details of their medical records and inputting them into the CareSync application so that you can start seeing the individual results - i.e. BP results for the past 3 years or when you went on/off certain medications. 

 

>       • Meaningful summaries of each past medical visit

If I stick with them on the $19/mo or $199/year plan, how do I (or the providers I've visited, say in an emergency room somewhere) get them the records of each future visit?

Bill:  There are two different ways.  Once you register for an account, you select your providers/facilities from a list (or enter them manually if not in the list).  As you schedule appointments with those providers, you associate your visit with them.  Once the visit has been completed (i.e. you tell the application the visit was completed, or the application sees that the date has passed), it then asks if you would like to request a copy of your records from that visit.  If you say yes, then they request a copy on your behalf (assuming, of course you have completed all the necessary forms to allow them to do so).  If your visit was not planned, you can still get copies of your records by following the same process after the fact - you just don't have the convenience of it prompting you automatically.

 

>       • Comprehensive Health Timeline™
>       • 60-day trial with a CareSync Plus Health Assistant for medical appointment scheduling and care coordination tasks
>       • Easy-to-use web, iOS, & Android application
>       • Medication tracking & reminders
>       • Care Manager medical appointment planner

Can they handle a guy with three current primary care physicians in three different cities, plus the dozen-plus specialists to which he has been sent in the last five years?

Bill:  Yes.  I once remember receiving over 1,200 pages from one CareSync Plus member that covered well over 8 physicians/specialists/facilities.  Some records take longer to request (as they are at the mercy of the providers) and some take longer to transcribe (as they have to cull through the data and sometimes read handwritten notes), but yes, they can do this.

 

>       • Daily dashboards, task management, and notifications
>       • Free access for family and friends
>       • Optional in-app purchase for future records requests

How $much?

Bill:  Not sure how much it is now.  Back when we were talking about pricing models in the past, we were kicking around something like $10/visit, but that was a year ago and it was not finalized before I left, so I do not know the final outcome.

 

>       • Coming soon! Health tracking with journals, pain scales, and integration with wearables and vital tracking devices!

That last item will be a key thing. I don't wear a watch, but I would gladly buy and wear one of the new Apple ones if it flows useful data into my personal health cloud, and CareSync has encrypted and secure access to it.

Bill:  I TOTALLY agree with you on the last one.  I consider myself a relatively healthy guy, but I am a chronic data tracker when it comes to my health and finances.  I weigh myself daily (when I am trying to lose weight), keep track of my running, and gym visits/exercises.  I am a big fan of the Nike running app and was a Nike Fuel band-aholic.  If I could gather that all into one place AND tie it to the results of my physicals then that is my Nirvana.

 

> The one big thing that they have going against them is that they don't have a Silicon Valley office and nor do they have a huge marketing budget.  Most of their growth has been through word of mouth and that has largely been due to Amy's efforts and her participation in chronic disease groups (her own daughter suffers from JM - Juvenile Myositis).

Well, hats off to how far they've gotten on that alone.

Bill:  Agreed.  The CEO, Travis Bond, has largely funded this entire application out of his own project.  He must have guts of steel as it has been a roller coaster ride for sure.  I have faith in the application, itself, and would love to see it succeed.

 

> The other thing that I (personally) believe that has inhibited their growth is the fact that up until recently they did not include any benefits to "healthy people".  Unless I actually went to the doctor, then I had no incentive to use the application.  That has changed, however, in the most recent release as they have added aggregation from health trackers and monitoring tools.

You mean it's not just "coming soon," as the site says?

Bill:  I guess I am privvy to some of the features that others don't have yet.   ;-)

>  No I can aggregate daily information for myself (i.e. trying to lose weight) or use that data to give the doctor a better picture of my holistic health.  That opens their application to a whole new market - a much larger one.

Well, I'd like to help them, if they're as good as all that.

Bill:  I would say, use the application and judge for yourself.  Send in your records to the agents and let them transcribe it for you and see if you enjoy the experience.  When I was there, we had better than a 90% satisfaction rating and we were just starting out.  That says a lot the level of care given to CareSync customers. 

 

Who or what is their competition?

Bill:  Ah, you have hit on one that I cannot answer off the top of my head.  Most of our competition came from applications that catered to the insurance companies and the customer was the real product.  CareSync is the first application (that I am aware of) where the customer owns their own data and selectively shares it with others.

One of the areas I am most proud of being part of was helping to develop the "selective sharing" model.  Users invite people into their "family" where they can view and/or manage each others health care.  When you and I met at the IIW a couple years back (right after the Intention Economy was published) I was working on this model.  It is one of the most important aspects of CareSync and the privacy between spouses (or significant others), siblings, children, parents, or other family members is quite detailed.  It is a critical tool to help manage not only your own healhcare, but that of someone else as well (even your pets).  For that, I don't see any competition out there.

HTH,

bill

 

Thanks,

Doc

> On Fri, Sep 12, 2014 at 8:57 AM, Doc Searls < "> > wrote:
> On Sep 10, 2014, at 7:37 PM, Bill Nelson < "> > wrote:
>
>> Hi John,
>>
>> I ran the services business for CareSync before leaving to start my own company last year.
>>
>> Let me know if you have any questions.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>
> How is adoption going?
>
> Note: Amy Gleason of CareSync is @ThePatientSide, which is a very VRooMy handle. She blogs here.
>
> Doc
>
>> On Sep 10, 2014, at 3:47 PM, John Havens < "> > wrote:
>>
>>> http://maneeshjuneja.com/caresync
>>>
>>> I just learned about this.  Intriguing model, re: having people get access to their health data (US).  Haven't explored all their terms and conditions, but pretty interesting if it works.
>>>
>>> --
>>> John C. Havens
>>> ">
>>> www.johnchavens.com
>>> 917-597-3323
>>> @johnchavens
>>>
>>> Author, Hacking H(app)iness
>>> Founder/Executive Director, The H(app)athon Project
>>> Newsletter, Happiness and Emerging Technology Research
>>>
>>> "More than at any time in human history, we have access to mountains of data about ourselves.  Hacking H(app)iness is the first book to show us how to leverage this information as a path to happiness, rather than a source of misery."
>>>
>>> -Adam Grant, Bestselling author of, Give and Take
>>>
>>>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Twitter:  @billnelson
> Blog:
> www.idmdude.com
>
> LinkedIn:
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/wnelson
> It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness!

--

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It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness!