Company Grows Two More High-Value Categories: Musculoskeletal Care and Second Opinion Services

DENVER – June 10, 2020 – Welltok, the consumer activation solutions company, announced the expansion of its Connect Partner Ecosystem in two more benefit categories identified by large employers nationwide as high-priority. Seven partners for musculoskeletal care and second opinion services have been pre-integrated into Welltok’s Consumer Activation Platform®.

IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Competitive Health, Inc. (CHI), a virtual health services marketplace, announces the company’s partnership with SimpleTherapy, Inc. SimpleTherapy provides a path to pain relief through accessible musculoskeletal (MSK) care for the whole family.

SimpleTherapy delivers virtual, best-practice care to help members overcome pain and MSK disorders. Created by orthopaedic surgeons and physical therapists, SimpleTherapy is a low cost, 24/7 solution that helps members avoid unnecessary surgeries, addictive opioids, and needless doctor visits associated with pain and recovery.

Dreamit Ventures has selected seven organizations for the spring 2019 cohort of its HealthTech program, which focuses on digital health, medical device and diagnostic startups.

The companies, which are located across the United States, zero in on everything from physician notes to medical education to hand hygiene compliance. Here are the seven that made the cut.

AMOpportunities has a web-based platform that lets U.S. medical education programs offer on-demand clinical rotation opportunities — like clerkships, observerships and externships — to international medical students. The Chicago-based company’s tool can vet credentials and process payments.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Digitize.AI offers artificial intelligence solutions. Its tool for providers enables faster prior authorizations, while its tool for health plans works on faster utilization management.

NEW YORK CITY, NY — April 2, 2019 — Dreamit Ventures, an early stage venture fund and growth-focused accelerator, announced its latest batch of startups this week.

Dreamit works with top healthcare, cybersecurity, and urban technology startups, providing access to extensive customer, industry, and investor networks during its 14-week acceleration programs. Dreamit incorporates the intelligence, data, and new relationships gained during acceleration into its venture investment process to build a high-potential, diversified portfolio.

Since 2008, Dreamit has worked with over 320 companies. And over the last six months, the fund has seen over $600m in exits of companies that got their start at Dreamit, including LevelUp (acquired by GrubHub), Trendkite (acquired by Cision), and Adaptly (acquired by Accenture). Other well-known Dreamit startups include SeatGeek, HouseParty, Wellth, Biomeme, Tissue Analytics, Redox, Eko Devices, Raxar, Elevate, Cylera and many others.

The Tech Tribune staff has compiled the very best tech startups in Fremont, California. In doing our research, we considered several factors including but not limited to:

1. Revenue potential
2. Leadership team
3. Brand/product traction
4. Competitive landscape

Additionally, all companies must be independent (un-acquired), privately owned, at most 10 years old, and have received at least one round of funding in order to qualify.

The Swiss Re Foundation’s 2016 “Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award” focused on our ageing population and ways to help people live more independently and longer at home.

The winner was SimpleTherapy, whose invention addresses gradual musculoskeletal deterioration, an issue that affects many elderly people and often results in falls, expensive hospital visits, and even fatal injuries. Physical therapy can help, but it is expensive, and often involves leaving the house for specific appointments. SimpleTherapy offers an online platform that uses artificial intelligence to assess patient needs and enables them to exercise anywhere and anytime by watching a personalised and adaptive rehabilitation video. It then adapts exercises based on user feedback, essentially inviting a virtual “physiotherapist” into the user’s living room.

Canary Care, the first runner-up, has developed an affordable home and personal activity monitoring system. Wireless sensors placed around the home record movement, door activity, temperatures and care visits, alerting Canary Care and relatives if there are concerns.

In third place were Care.com — a company that, through the “virtual assistance” of a pet avatar, engages patients and health providers to discuss health issues — and Kompaï, which developed an assistant robot to help the elderly, both in-home and in assisted living facilities.

The award program involves a financial grant of CHF 800 000 from the Swiss Re Foundation and, depending on the initiative’s nature, scope and needs, non-financial contributions from Swiss Re employees such as coaching and technical advice. The award is divided between the winner and the runners-up.

The Swiss Re Foundation Entrepreneurs for Resilience Award recognizes entrepreneurial initiatives that take innovative approaches to building resilient societies and realizing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. While resilience is the core theme of the annual award program, its specific focus will change depending on current trends and developments.

The 2016 award focused on innovative solutions that enable the elderly to live independently at home. The following topics were in scope: smart homes, intergenerational support, health care delivery redesigned, healthy aging & preventive health, long-term care intervention, and financial solutions. You can download a more detailed overview on areas and different aspects here.

The award program involves a financial grant from the Swiss Re Foundation and, depending on the initiative’s nature, scope and needs, non-financial contributions from Swiss Re employees such as coaching and technical advice. The total prize money of CHF 800 000 was divided among the winner and the three runners-up.

One of the most striking characteristics of the Health 2.0 conference has always been its focus on disruption. (For this we owe Clayton Christensen a debt of gratitude.)

In rapid succession, startups take the stage to present their vision for disrupting healthcare through the use of information technology that, one way or another, has already crept into every other facet of our everyday lives. In rooms filled with like-minded techies, forward-thinking healthcare organizations (HCOs), and eager investors, demoes are met with applause and an occasional question, which may or may not be directly answered. Laudably, patients are invited, encouraged to participate, and found at the tables right near the stage.

This year, the event took on a more somber tone. And while that sounds disheartening, it should mark an important shift in the way new companies address healthcare’s old problems.

Past events discussed “the unmentionables” of healthcare – topics such as sexual health, stress, and sadness that might get covered in the seventh conference room on the left at a more traditional, buttoned-up conference but are far too taboo for the main stage.

One of the biggest mistakes employers can make is selecting an innovative app or platform without considering what end users are willing to sustainably integrate into their daily lives. Even the coolest technology will be ineffective if employees aren’t willing to use it.

When selecting which of these solutions to introduce for employee populations, health benefits leaders can evaluate the myriad options along five key criteria: Prediction, Proof Points, Personalization, Participation, and Practicality, or “The Five Ps Framework”:

Physical Therapy At Home, Free for All Veterans

November, 2015 – NEW YORK – Over 50 percent of veterans report that bodily pain interferes with work performance, social activities, and daily living, according to data released in the Wounded Warriors Project’s 2015 Annual Survey. Physical therapy is the most commonly prescribed remedy for musculoskeletal pain, but the need for frequent appointments and multiple in-person visits to health clinics inhibits its accessibility for many veterans.

To address veterans needs, New York City-based SimpleTherapy, a faster, online alternative to traditional physical therapy, is collaborating with Aetna Innovation Labs to make its personalized pain recovery program available to all of America’s 22 million veterans, at no cost.

Veterans can begin SimpleTherapy immediately, with no wait times, no paperwork, and no prescription, by completing a quick personalization questionnaire, and starting the first 15 minute exercise therapy session at www.simpletherapy.com/veterans. The range of programs available includes those that address pain in the lower back, hip, knee, shoulder, neck, foot and more, with 18 program options in all. Veterans who enroll before December 31, 2015 will receive access to an unlimited number of personalized video-guided exercise therapy sessions for up to one year, for free.

After national attention on the long wait times for health services many veterans endure,New York City-based SimpleTherapy, the only fully online alternative to traditional physical therapy, is working with Aetna Innovation Labs to make its pain recovery program available to America’s 22 million veterans, for free. Aetna Innovation Labs is an organization within Aetna that improves healthcare quality and reduces costs for customers and members through unique ideas, programs, and market-leading capabilities.

Founded in 2011 by a team of orthopedic specialists, SimpleTherapy uses a proprietary algorithm that learns from user input and feedback to create personalized video-based pain recovery sessions that guide users along their pain recovery path. There are 18 starting points for the programs ranging from neck to lower back to foot. Thousands of users with lower back pain, osteoarthritis, and sports or work injuries have reported extreme satisfaction with a considerable decrease in pain.

NEW YORK, NY.  SimpleTherapy Inc., a New York City-based company that has been pilot testing its online exercise therapy programs for a year, has emerged from beta with two large health insurance companies as customers and $1.3 million in angel backing.

The company is already in talks with east and west coast venture funds as it prepares to raise an additional $3 million in early 2015, says Chief Executive Officer Helena Plater-Zyberk.

SimpleTherapy is algorithm-driven, allowing each user to instantaneously embark on a video-based exercise therapy program that’s customized to his or her pain needs. The programs, covering head-to-toe pain points, are comprised of a series of 15-20 minute video sessions that are generated on demand for each user after a series of inputs. Upon each subsequent login, the user’s program adapts to his or her feedback. Users progress along a personal path to pain recovery, which typically takes a matter of weeks.

SimpleTherapy Inc., a company that has been beta-testing its video physical-therapy regimens for nearly a year, is coming out of stealth with two large customers and $1.3 million in angel funding, the company said.

New York-based company is in talks with venture firms as it raises $3 million to $4 million in Series A financing, Chief Executive Helena Plater-Zyberk said…

As CEO of SimpleTherapy, Helena Plater-Zyberk’s mission is to make the benefits of therapeutic exercise accessible via online video to anyone who can’t get to physical therapy. Customized exercise therapy sessions are queued from SimpleTherapy’s vast video library, and programs adapt intelligently to individual needs. Participants gain the convenience of anytime, anywhere exercise therapy at a small fraction of the cost of traditional in-person physical therapy services.

Prior to joining SimpleTherapy, Helena was executive director of Scholastic Inc.’s professional learning business unit, Scholastic Achievement Partners. Before Scholastic, she served as vice president of marketing at Alacra, a data-integration software and solutions provider for the financial services industry. She was also a former director of strategy and consumer insights at Condé Nast.

The amount of venture capital money being pumped into start-ups is at its highest level since 2001, but it’s still nowhere near what it was like at the heyday of the tech bubble era. Raising money is hard to begin with, and it’s the lifeblood of a new business. On the other hand, you also have to be careful what you wish for. If you are one of the lucky companies who makes it to the level where big investors want a piece of you, then…you have a whole new problem to think about.

Wendy Nguyen and a couple of friends founded HealthyOut, an online and mobile app to help people find healthy restaurant food. As Nguyen puts it: “We want to get people healthy restaurant food in two clicks, to make that choice really convenient and easy to do every day.”

Contrary to popular belief, football isn’t the only major sport destroying the bodies of its players.

Major League Baseball (MLB) is taking precautions to limit various types of player injuries, which amounted to a collective 29,094 days spent on the disabled list last season. In a controversial decision this December, the league announced plans to ban “the most egregious” collisions at home plate, in an effort to stem off concussions and other brain and head injuries.

Opening Day of Major League Baseball is right around the corner, but there are already some players headed to the disabled list. For instance, Texas Rangers ace Yu Darvish won’t be available to open the season up, meaning fans will miss out on an intriguing match up against former Ranger Cliff Lee.

The folks at SimpleTherapy came up with an interesting infographic breaking down injuries between pitchers and hitters and by body part. The motive for the survey used to collect data was the new MLB rules in the 2014 season to help protect players from head injuries.

Many people in need of physical therapy don’t get it because of logistical or financial reasons. Our elevator pitcher developed an online business to help them out. Find out what our panelists think of SimpleTherapy.

Technology that aims to be practical and efficient.

About $27 billion is spent on physical therapy each year in the United States. SimpleTherapy is an online PT service created by a team of orthopedic surgeons that offers customized, in-home exercise therapy focused on joint aches and pains. Users can log on and engage in a therapy session designed specifically for their phycial ailment.

IMAGINE A FACE-TO-FACE interaction with your doctor without haggling over the time of your appointment, avoiding the waiting room and avoiding exposure to other patients. Although this is not sufficient for acutely ill patients, many patients do not require an in-person evaluation by their physician.

As the notion of the healthcare consumer evolves, the long-delayed application of modern technology that allows a doctor-to-video conference with patients is finally being applied, and even accepted as a proper form of care. In parallel, smartphone attachments are turning cell phones and “wearables” into traditional doctors’ tools that allow vital-sign recording, activity logging, heart-rhythm tracing and many other forms of in-depth physical examination.

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Terrance Knighton, a 6-foot-3, 335-pound defensive tackle for the Denver Broncos, has the sumptuous nickname of Pot Roast. Perched on such a massive frame, his shoulder pads appear almost decorative, as if they were tassels on a drum major.

If they turn on the Super Bowl on Sunday, casual football fans who have not watched a game in a few years might wonder, “Who shrank the shoulder pads?” As players have grown heavier in the N.F.L., shoulder pads have become lighter by as much as 50 percent over the past 10 to 15 years, manufacturers said. Gone the way of other fashion excesses of the 1980s are enormous pads that once cantilevered out from the shoulders and seemed to engulf a player like a treehouse for the head.

NFL players are more worried about knee injuries than concussions, and recent data suggests that their concerns may not be unfounded.

An infographic by Simple Therapy via the Huffington Post details every injury reported this season up to Jan. 14. The knee was the most common culprit of the more than 1,300 injuries, consisting of 22.4 percent with 294 reported cases. Ankle injuries were next, with 201 reports, or 15.3 percent. 93 head injuries were reported, making up 7.1 percent.

Head injuries may have generated the most headlines, but they were hardly the most frequent type of injury suffered by NFL players this year.

That distinction belonged to knee injuries, which accounted for 22.3% of the more than 1,300 injuries players incurred on the field, according to an analysis of NFL injury data by SimpleTherapy, an online home exercise therapy service.

During the regular season and through the postseason so far, ankles haven’t fared much better. They accounted for 15.3% of all injuries. All told, lower-body injuries accounted for 63% of all injuries, while head injuries accounted for just 7.1%.

As we suspected, playing professional football is a pain in the everything.

SimpleTherapy’s Dr. Nic Gay, an orthopedist based in Oakland, Calif., delved into a world of hurt by charting every reported NFL injury up to Jan. 14 in the 2013-14 season. That’s more than 1,300 published by the league.

Knee injuries were the most common, taking up 22.4 percent of the injuries, followed by ankle at 15.3 percent, according to the infographic below.