PreparedHealth, a Chicago-based startup that helps healthcare providers deliver better care to patients in their homes, announced on Tuesday that it has raised a $4 million round of funding led by Chicago Ventures.
[Note: The company rebranded as Dina in 2020. This article’s headline has been updated to reflect the new name.]
“There’s 10,000 people turning 65 every day, and 90 percent of those people want to be able to age with dignity in their homes, and a lot of them get forced into places they don’t want to be, like hospitals and nursing homes,” said co-founder and CEO Ashish Shah. “We’re finding a way to get consumers, hospitals, family caregivers and suppliers of medical equipment all connected, and really turning the home into a care setting.”
The company’s core product, enTouch, is a HIPAA-compliant tool that lets a patient’s caregivers and loved ones update each other on the patient’s status in real time. Inspired by social media networks like Facebook, the app presents information in a timeline format.
“Part of what we’re doing here is to collect social, behavioral and clinical insights that are captured in the home to really round out the picture of what someone needs to stay healthy,” Shah said.
The app also has a built-in care recommendation engine that helps caregivers optimize treatments for each individual patient.
According to Crain’s, the solution halved the number of readmissions during testing at a Bayada Home Health Care facility.
Shah said the funding will allow PreparedHealth to double its 13-person team and provide more professional development resources to the people who already work there. The company will also be adding new features to its product and accelerating its efforts to establish itself in five to seven new markets.
“We have been very focused on proving the concept and getting good innovation partners, and now we’re getting ready to scale and start helping millions of families across the country,” said Shah. “Sales and marketing will have to be built up virtually from scratch … and we will be looking to scale the company across the board.”
Pritzker Group Venture Partners, Beverly Capital and Meridian Street Capital also participated in the round.
Image via Shutterstock.
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