Caspar Health, a start-up launched today at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin, wants to make access to rehabilitative care more accessible and accessible. The digital platform allows physicians to assign customizable therapeutic plans to patients as a result of an injury, surgery or other medical event, such as a stroke, which patients can access by using an app on their mobile device.
The company was founded two years ago by longtime friends Maximilian Michels and serial entrepreneurs Benjamin Pochhammer and Maximilian von Waldenfels who sold their latest Food Express company to Takeaway.com.
Michels, who has a background in health care, came up with the idea of Caspar Health because he saw a need to make first-class health care accessible to all, even if it was a health care provider. they are limited by geography or lack of caregivers. patient area.
"He realized, through a research study [the hospital he managed] with a large stakeholder reimbursement, that the way in which the rehabilitation was performed is still very inefficient and that no digital component is integrated in the treatment procedure, "von Waldenfels explains.
To use the system, a doctor or therapist would connect to the platform after seeing the patient and confirming his diagnosis. For example, they may want to assign specific treatments or therapies to someone who is recovering from knee surgery, back pain or a heart attack. After entering the patient's information and medical conditions, Caspar Health automatically generates a treatment plan for the patient, which the physician can then customize to meet the patient's needs.
These treatment plans are created in-house and offer everything from educational videos (eg, physical therapy / exercises, tutorials on the use of crutches, etc.) to information about the disease or the injury itself. Patients can read the information and watch videos from a mobile application running on their phone or tablet, and give their opinion on how exercise or other therapy has allowed doctors to get started. adjust the plans accordingly.
At launch, there are about 1,000 videos available and the system is used in 64 hospitals in Germany, including some of the largest hospital groups. This makes Caspar Health accessible to more than 100,000 potential patients. So far, 6,500 have signed.
Caspar Health is sold in the form of a business software as a service, where institutions pay a monthly subscription fee as well as a fee per patient. Notably, Caspar Health's treatments are reimbursed by the largest reimbursement stakeholders, meaning that medical facilities receive the same amount of money per session as a face-to-face treatment.
The main objective is to put Caspar Health at the disposal of other markets outside of Germany, especially those who do not have access to therapists and doctors for their illness or who can not afford to go to the office.
Today, Caspar Health is also launching internationally and is available in four languages: English, German, Mandarin and Cantonese.
The start-up is supported by a funding of 3 million euros from Atlantic Labs (Christophe Mayor), Think.Health and other family offices.