B. Well Connected Health gathers users’ health records in one place and uses this information to help them understand their own interests. Image source: B.Well Connected Health
Defending her daughter prompted Kristen Valdes to start his own company. Her start-up company aggregates the health records of patients from different sources and helps them complete the follow-up care steps.
It took more than seven years to find Valdes’ daughter before he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. They went from one expert to another, and they all ordered the same laboratory work and procedures.This process is very cumbersome, even the former UnitedHealthcare executive Valdes finds it difficult to control
“My daughter has 17 patient portals. None of them talk to each other,” Valdez said in an interview with Zoom. “When I started to see all her data flow into a vertical timeline, my eyes shed tears. Because this is a challenge, I feel that every doctor we go to is starting again. We have to tell her. Story, and remember all the highlights of that story, so that the doctor can have a complete picture.”
Valdez has had enough after a near-fatal accident because the two electronic medical record systems were unable to communicate with each other. She asked for all her daughter’s records and gathered them in one place to share with her doctor. This led them to order the test that eventually led to her diagnosis.
“Without seeing that picture, I can honestly say that as a caregiver, I was treated like a mother who knows too much about health care. She tried to find out what a perfectly healthy child had Question,” she said.
While talking to other families with their own stories, Valdes turned what she had built for her daughter into a broader platform. The startup called B.Well Connected Health recently raised $32 million in a round of financing led by HLM Venture Partners. Some of its other backers include Walgreens and UnityPoint Health Ventures.
The Baltimore-based company can aggregate data from healthcare providers, insurance companies, pharmacies, laboratories, and wearable devices, and use this information to provide personalized guidance.
For example, it may send an alert when it needs to replenish medication or regularly test blood sugar levels. Lab results are plotted over time, and people can view information about each test, the time of the test, and who ordered it.
B. Well can also use this information to help people understand their benefits and providers in the network. Users can choose to share it with their provider or other people they trust (such as family members).
“When we think of some of our seniors, especially those with chronic diseases, who take 11-14 drugs a day, this is a more comprehensive way of sharing healthcare data,” Valdes said.
Valdes said that last year, as more and more companies implemented its services, B. Well’s business doubled. Its users include self-insured employers, insurance companies, health systems, and retail pharmacies, and they offer it as a white label benefit.
B. Well plans to use the funds to build its commercialization team to help support the pace of growth. It also plans to connect more types of data sources, including visual, dental and imaging records.
