By Spencer Campbell | JAN 2018
Medical care is no longer confined to the doctor’s office. Or even, sometimes, to an actual doctor. That iPhone in your pocket now has the capability to diagnose your cough, answer insurance questions, and get you pregnant…or at least help the process along. Digital health (think: smartphones, social networks, and internet applications that provide patients with health information and better access to physicians) encompasses everything from Fitbits to electronic medical records to telehealth—and the trend is booming in Colorado. Employment in the medical device and diagnostic industry alone increased by 10 percent between 2012 and 2016 in the Denver metro area, which boasts the 11th-highest concentration of digital tech workers in the country. Here, we examine the Colorado companies harnessing cutting-edge tech to deliver more personalized treatment to patients all over the world.
Good Behavior
These local companies strive to reduce medical costs (and boost patient care) by curbing your poor decisions.
We have some bad news: You know the ever-spiraling, prohibitive cost of health care? It’s your fault. Well, not yours, specifically—it’s collectively the fault of all patients. Why? Because we make some really dumb decisions when it comes to our health. We smoke, we eat at McDonald’s, we accidentally see doctors outside our networks. Unnecessary emergency room visits alone add $38 billion annually to the national health care bill. But don’t get defensive. Atrocious policymakers and greedy corporations share the blame. Still, if we want to cut costs, one way is to improve our behavior.
Fortunately, digital platforms designed to help individuals make smarter, healthier decisions are all the rage in Colorado. So how are these startups getting patients to be good? With bribes, of course. Welltok, a Denver-based pioneer in health-optimization software, hosts a digital platform called CaféWell that covers everything from resilience training for your mind to daily flossing for dental hygiene. Welltok’s clients are insurance companies, hospitals, and employers who want to goad their staffers or consumers toward specific health goals. The Colorado Division of Human Resources, for one, distributes points to employees who participate in walking campaigns, complete online health assessments, and receive flu shots. If workers accumulate enough points in one year, they get a $240 premium reduction on their health insurance the following year.
RiNo’s Spoke Health, founded in 2016, also doles out rewards, but for making smart decisions about surgeries. For example, the median cost (paid by insurance and patients) for a knee joint replacement in the northeast region of Colorado is $51,900, according to the Center for Improving Value in Health Care; in the Denver region, it’s $23,100. Cost isn’t reflective of quality, so why not travel a few hours to save nearly $30,000? Spoke’s online platform crunches data to find the best surgeons at the lowest prices. Although Spoke’s clients are typically employers or insurance carriers, it interacts directly with consumers by enticing them to choose a less costly, though just as skilled, surgeon with bonuses paid by the employer that go toward out-of-pocket expenses.
Ultimately, though, digital health companies need to know their users to influence them. For that, they rely on big data. Welltok’s CaféWell mines biographic, demographic, and medical data to deliver dizzyingly personal advice to its users. For instance, it will pick up on the fact that your hometown has a high density of fast-food chains and then provide increased support for healthy eating.
Meanwhile, NextHealth Technologies, founded in 2013 in Denver, enables health insurers to sift through client data to identify folks with the greatest opportunity for change. Simple correlation: People who are overweight can reduce their chances of heart disease by shedding pounds. The company also uses analytics to determine the best manner to reach those people—a phone call, mailer, text message, email, or combination thereof—with important information. (An elderly person may respond better to a mailer than a text.) Finally, NextHealth analyzes millions of claims to determine if its communication altered patient behavior. If not, it tries another strategy. Over time, NextHealth learns your preferences, just as Google does. Which, sure, sounds creepy. Thankfully, you’ll have more time to complain about it during your much longer life.
The Price We Pay
- $6,804: Coloradans’ annual per capita spending on health care in 2014—the fifth-lowest in the United States.
- $14.7 billion: Portion of the Centennial State’s health care outlay that went toward hospital care in 2014—the most of any health-related service in the state.
- 6.5%: The average annual increase in health care costs in Colorado from 1991 to 2014, the 18th-highest jump in the country.