In our latest interview, we talk with Win Burke, founder and CEO of iGetBetter. His previous experience includes six early-stage companies, most recently as CEO of Incentive Targeting, which was sold to Google. Other early stage companies he was involved in include Bungee Labs (Co-Founder & CEO); ViryaNet (CEO, successful IPO); ViewSoft (SVP of Sales & Marketing, sold to Citrix); ObjectLink (Founder and CEO, sold to SunSoft); and Oberon Software (SVP of Sales & Marketing, sold to OnDisplay). Burke is also experienced in larger company operations, having held senior executive sales and marketing positions at Orbotech, Gentia Software, Applix, Wang Labs, Apollo Computer and Prime Computer.
Following his training as an EE/Computer Scientist at MIT, Win began his career as a software engineer at MIT Draper Labs, MIT Lincoln Labs and Data General. His healthcare IT experience includes selling IT systems to hospitals while at Wang Labs and operational support systems to healthcare system vendors such as GE Healthcare while at ViryaNet, as well as participating as a staff member of the joint Harvard-MIT HST program course HST.921 “Enabling Technology Innovation in Healthcare and the Life Sciences”. Win is a PSIA certified part-time ski instructor at Loon Mountain in New Hampshire.
How would you pitch your company? What’s your elevator pitch?
iGetBetter offers a cloud-based and mobile-based solution designed to help healthcare organizations reduce the costs of unnecessary hospital readmissions and associated clinical care by engaging patients in their treatments and recovery as they transition from hospital to home.
Post-acute care transition and the reduction in hospital readmissions is an essential element of the reform of healthcare driven by the Affordable Care Act, which is attracting 10’s of billions of dollars and is creating a rapidly expanding and vibrant market. Cost reductions achieved by improving post-acute care patient outcomes and reducing costly avoidable hospital readmissions is a key part of healthcare reform, and has resulted in a dramatic change in payment models from fee-for-service to fee-for-value, with providers and payors sharing the financial risk.
Clinicians use iGetBetter, through the use of a library of care plan templates and an easy-to-use care plan editor, to provide patients with their own customized outpatient care plan and educational material. Care plans can be created for virtually any medical condition, including Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS), COPD/pneumonia, joint replacement and others.
Patients receive their care plan for the day via mobile devices with a daily list of clear care plan instructions, teaching points (including videos), and important medical information of which patients should be aware. Patients provide self-reported data (such as medication adherence, pain levels, etc.) as well as biometric data.
Care plans can incorporate remote, wireless monitoring devices that are simple and patient-friendly (e.g., scale, BP cuff, glucometer, etc.). These devices allow clinicians to carefully monitor patients much more closely than can be done via two or three weekly VNA visits. iGetBetter also gives clinicians the ability to set “normal” parameters for each patient, and alerts are sent to physicians only when recorded patient data exceeds these preset parameters, optimizing time management.
What sets you apart from competitors?
Unlike point solutions that offer patient communications, patient engagement, care plans, or telemonitoring of biometric information, iGetBetter integrates all of these into a single solution. It also features a patent-pending visual editor that enables clinicians to quickly build standard care plans for any condition, as well as to customize them for individual patients.
What’s your business model?
iGetBetter is marketed to healthcare providers, including ACOs, healthcare networks and hospitals, who pay monthly subscription fees for patients who have active iGetBetter care plans.
Can you share some numbers? How many users do you have?
There are currently eight provider installations of the iGetBetter system, with hundreds of patients, covering conditions such as congestive heart failure (CHF), acute coronary syndrome (ACS), total knee replacement (TKR) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).
Where do you see the company going from here?
iGetBetter will increase its footprint with providers, and is already extending its reach within provider institution to include chronic conditions, such as diabetes and hypertension.
Where do you see the mHealth industry going?
We see increasing usage of mobile devices and connected biometric devices like Bluetooth-enabled scales, BP cuffs, glucometers, etc., which will be increasingly integrated into outpatient clinical workflows. Apple HealthKit and Google Fit are early indicators of increasing usage.
How long are we from seeing modern mHealth technologies going mainstream?
We already see significant use of mobile and consumer biometric tracking devices, with a rapid ramp-up underway.