Many of us would feel better if we ate better. But for chronically ill patients, the problem is more pressing. Improving diet is often the key to controlling the condition.
According to the CDC, 6 out of 10 adults in the United States have chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. While millions of these people could benefit from professional nutritional guidance, they do not always have the time or means to seek care.
Nourish, a US startup, connects users with registered dietitians (RDs) via telehealth to help them get consultations covered by their health insurance.
Telehealth is part of the appeal for both patients and nutritionists, but RD certification is also a key point.
“All registered dietitians are dietitians, but not all dietitians are registered dietitians,” warns the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Unless you seek an RD or RDN (Registered Dietitian Dietitian), you can’t be sure that a dietician is qualified for the job, and insurance doesn’t cover it.
Insurance coverage is a big part of Nourish’s added value. Aidan Dewar, his CEO of the startup, told TechCrunch: Most of the rest have a small out-of-pocket expense. ”
This is because since 2002, medical nutrition therapy has been included in Medicare coverage based on certain criteria.
On paper, eligible patients who are aware of this can be reimbursed after seeing an outpatient RD, whether online or offline. The process is cumbersome for practitioners and many end up not accepting insurance.
By contrast, Nourish’s RD is employed by the company and has entered into partnerships with Medicare and major US healthcare companies Aetna, BCBS, Cigna, Humana and United Healthcare in exchange for commissions.
Nourish currently employs 50 RDs, but has a waiting list of more than 400 RDs interested in joining the team, Dewar said. The startup, which launched in November 2021, is doing well but is already reporting “millions of revenue” from “thousands of patients who see a nutritionist each month.” And by the end of the year, he plans to employ 200 RDs and grow the non-RD team from his 18 to about 30.
Nourish’s growth plans were funded in a recent $8 million seed round, bringing the total to $9.3 million. Led by Thrive Capital, with participation from Susa Ventures, Operator Partners, Box Group, and the startup-graduating accelerator Y Combinator in his 2021.
Dewar also noted that some of Nourish’s angel investors have invested in exciting healthcare companies, including Alt Pharmacy (Jamie Karaker), Headway (Andrew Adams), Lightway Healthcare (Jordan Feldman) and Spring Health (April Coe). He also emphasized that he had established
“Nutrition, despite its importance and relevance to people’s health, has been largely excluded from the healthcare system. We love that we’re changing that by building a healthy nutrition program.”
Expansion of nutrition therapy
Nourish has big goals. By helping people eat well, the startup hopes to help solve America’s healthcare crisis. “More than half of Americans have a chronic condition related to what they eat, leading to rising health care costs and lower quality-adjusted life expectancy,” said the founders.
Dewar and Nourish COO Sam Perkins, childhood friends, embarked on the Nourish mission after suffering from chronic illnesses (migraines and irritable bowel syndrome, respectively). After experiencing the positive impact of nutritional care, they co-founded the startup with his CTO, Stephanie Liu, who became close friends with Perkins at Princeton.
The founders knew firsthand that working with a nutritionist was a long-term process, but this vision is also bolstered by the startup’s chief clinical officer, Adrien Paczosa. “We are focused on a long-term, sustainable approach, really a lifestyle change,” she said. “We put them on fad diets that are impossible to maintain, tell them to eat only salads at every meal, keep track of everything they eat, and give them general, one-size-fits-all meal plans. never will.”
Because of this approach, we don’t see this startup as directly competing with weight loss apps. However, it plans to use its seed round to launch its own app by the end of the quarter, but with a different goal in mind.
“The mobile app enhances the core experience of meeting a nutritionist with features that include high-quality nutritional content and resources, clinical outcome tracking, and features that help with food acquisition such as integrated grocery delivery,” said RD. allows MDs to prescribe foods (in the same way MDs can prescribe medicines),” explained Nourish.
The goal of the app is to ensure patients are achieving their desired outcome. In fact, Nourish has two priorities for her 2023. growth and results. This roadmap is about how Dewar and his team define success. “this is [both] About how many people we helped and how much we helped them.”
Nourish still has plenty of room to grow on both fronts. Currently, the majority of chronically ill patients who might benefit from seeing an RD do not see an RD. Will the app help make their journey easier? Only time will tell.
