David S. Williams, Founder and CEO, Care3 The U.S. healthcare system aims to meet the healthcare needs of the entire population. The reality, however, shows a different picture with underserved populations—seniors, the poor, and disabled—trailing behind the general population across all measures of healthcare access, quality, and outcomes. LA-based Care3 is looking to change that by providing ways to ‘‘best serve the underserved,’’ in the words of David S. Williams, Founder and CEO of the company. “Care3 is built to reduce health disparities and make healthcare better.’’
Prompted by personal experience, the founding of the company has created a new opportunity for society’s most vulnerable to benefit from digital health technology for the first time. Care3 enables collaboration between providers, patients, and family on a single integrated care plan to ensure compliance and improve outcomes in the home and community. The Care3 planning module breaks down each care plan into individual tasks and communicates via the Care3 mobile messaging app. Access to the Care3 planning module is offered as a subscription. The Care3 mobile app is free for all users and available in iOS and Android app stores. The proliferation of wireless broadband and the ability to drive content and applications to mobile devices enables people in underserved communities to get tools and solutions in their hands at no additional cost to them.
‘‘By any measure, U.S. based hospitals and health centers are the best in the world, so there is no excuse for widespread health disparities,’’ Williams claims. Care3 is focused on ensuring that members of underserved communities can achieve improved health outcomes by distributing care instructions and educational materials to people where the healthcare system doesn’t easily reach. “Many U.S. States have high health care quality yet provide the lowest quality care to the most vulnerable communities,’’ he adds.
Consumer-driven healthcare will help us maintain our lead in this space, and Care3 is the only healthcare communication platform meeting the needs of both consumers and providers
Advancements in cloud-based services allow Care3 to meet HIPAA privacy and security regulations while being consumer-centric. “Care3 empowers the consumer to control information access rather than only being restricted to one provider. This means that more than one provider can have access to highly relevant information in the time the patient needs it, and won’t be hindered by the current painfully slow data-sharing processes,’’ explains Williams. Moreover, Care3 providers get notified if a patient is not adhering to the treatment plan whether the problem is with medications, rehabilitation exercises, or even failure to engage in activities of daily living.
‘‘Consumer-driven healthcare will help us maintain our lead in this space, and Care3 is the only healthcare communication platform meeting the needs of both consumers and providers while capturing structured data for all care delivered in the home and community. No other platform has this capability,’’ Williams extols.
The Care3 mobile app is centered around the messaging, calendar, and task reminder features because those are the most used features on mobile devices. “No one in a caregiving situation can spend a ton of time trying to learn a new app. Technology has to be simple, and it has to be intuitive, with no new behavior. Caregiving is about getting it done, getting it done right, and getting it done on time.’’
The discrepancies affecting underserved communities continue to need solutions. Care3 is up for the challenge. “We built Care3, not for the wealthy, but for society’s most vulnerable. All the stars are aligned, and we believe we can completely change healthcare for the underserved,’’ concludes Williams.
