A New York-based startup called AbilTo is among the most well-funded in that group. And the company just landed an additional $6 million in financing for its technology that remotely delivers "behavior interventions to high-cost medical populations."
The funding comes from the Blue Cross Blue Shield venture capital fund, which holds $305 million under management, and Chicago-based venture firm Sandbox Industries. 406 Ventures, which led the first round institutional funding, also participated in the round.
*"One in four heart patients will leave the hospital with untreated depression," CEO Michael Laskoff told MobiHealthNews. "Left untreated, they will cost twice as much to care for on an annual basis. So we came up with a very simple notion and started partnering with Aetna saying, if we can identify these patients, find those people who have both the greatest need and the greatest propensity for change, engage them remotely - which means that we can provide service to anyone, anywhere - and then actually quantify their improvement in terms of behavioral health, medical health, and financial savings, that would seem to be pretty interesting."
* Laskoff founded the company in 2008. Then those patients are invited to an eight-week video messaging program with a therapist and health coach. The company is seeking to expand and improve its call center and also improve the sophistication of its reporting technology, to make it easier to provide payors with their cost savings and return on investment.
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