In this episode of Friends of Project Healthcare…
Devin Carty, CEO of Martin Ventures and Founder of Reimagine Care, and CEO Dan Nardi of Reimagine Care, the nation’s leading provider of cancer care services in the home, joined host Eric Thrailkill and Project Healthcare colleague Lauren Hatcher, to discuss the formation of the company and its vision for the future of care at home oncology models.
“Could death have been prevented? I don’t know,” Devin shared in his interview, recalling a personal history with a friend’s battle with stage four colorectal cancer, one he ultimately lost. “Could his life have been elongated? I absolutely believe that.”
It was this experience, he said, that highlighted for Devin the need for better care options and eventually led to the creation of Reimagine Care. In this episode, Devin and Dan highlight some of the technology-enabled services they offer to extend and improve the lives of cancer patients through personalized and convenient care.
Entrepreneurs, investors, and operators like Devin and Dan often play a crucial role in driving healthcare innovation and improving patient care, constantly seeking new ways to provide better services, enhance the patient experience, and lower costs.
Reimagine Care focuses on providing support to patients in their homes, especially during times when a hospital visit could be unnecessary. By offering care in a comfortable, clean environment, patients can avoid unnecessary emergency room visits and receive personalized attention.
“Number one, we should be supporting patients in the home when they aren’t feeling well,” Devin said. “In a lot of the research that we did, both on the business plan and the continuation of Reimagine Care, where do patients want to be? They want to be in a comfortable place. They do not want to go somewhere. They want it to come to them.”
That led Devin to ask how they could provide the most optimal experience for patients that want to receive care in their home.
As Devin and Dan explained, Reimagine Care utilizes a combination of proactive technology like AI-based chatbots, text messaging, phone calls, and video visits to provide patients with multiple channels to ask questions and seek support.
The company aims to meet patients where they are and provide a seamless and cohesive care experience. “We’re there for all of that,” Dan offered. “We’re trying to meet the patient where they are.”
The innovative care model developed by Reimagine Care has the potential to revolutionize the way oncology services are provided. One of the key advantages of proactive technology is the ability to prevent patients from becoming severely ill and needing emergency department visits.
Devin explained that his friend who passed, a marathon runner in his thirties, though diagnosed with cancer, ultimately died from other complications. “He actually ended up getting pneumonia. He got a hospital-based infection, then he got pneumonia, and then it ultimately took him down.”
With Reimagine Care, patients can receive attention before their conditions worsen to the point where they feel they have no other option but to go to the emergency room. This not only saves the patients from unnecessary suffering and potentially exposing them to further illness, it also reduces the burden on emergency departments, which are often overcrowded and costly.
“About 50% of oncology patients that enter into an emergency room ultimately will end up in an inpatient setting. So you got cost, cost, cost,” Devin explained.
By partnering with health systems and physician practices, Dan said, they eliminate a need for frequent hospital visits but also help the hospitals and their staff focus on patients who need the most care right away.
“We’re not eliminating jobs,” Dan offered. “Hospitals are now able to take talented clinical team members and apply them in other areas of the clinic, helping patients in person and allowing them to practice at the top of their license as well.”
“I think that’s the exciting part,” Dan continued. “We are replacing a function that they do, but we’re doing it because with the technology and our team, we’re able to do it at a higher scale. We’re doing it across multiple locations at once. And we’re freeing up their teams to go focus on other things.”
This model also allows for more personalized care, tailored to the specific needs of each patient. Through the use of technology, such as telehealth, remote monitoring, and data analytics, Reimagine Care can deliver exceptional patient experiences by providing proactive symptom management and support. The company aims to remove barriers and make the patient journey as seamless and comfortable as possible.
“That’s really core to what we’re doing,” Dan said of the unique wraparound services they provide. “We’re here to deliver great experiences to these patients. They’ve got enough on their mind, enough on their plate. And so we don’t want to give them more hurdles that they have to be jumping over.”
Based in Nashville, Reimagine Care is leveraging both the technology and strategic partnerships with health systems and physician practices to pave the way for a future where cancer patients can continue to receive high-quality care in the comfort of their own homes.
Finally, Devin comments on the unique healthcare ecosystem in Nashville – “I think that’s one of the things I am most proud of about Nashville is how collaborative this city is to support one another, whether it’s companies, investors,” Devin shared. “There just aren’t sharp elbows. It really is an authentic culture where people do want to support each other, and I absolutely love that about this place.”
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