While Silicon Valley’s technological breakthroughs have transformed the way people live, work, and play, health care remains an arena bogged down by archaic technology and inefficient paperwork. At the 2017 Forbes Healthcare Summit, executives from startups Color, Virta Health, Honor and Collective Health gather to discuss how they apply the hallmarks of their industry — user-friendliness, big data, virtual communication — to everything from caring for elderly parents to managing your employees’ health insurance plans.
Seth Sternberg, who cofounded non-medical homecare company Honor, recalls getting the idea for the startup during a visit with his mother. The California transplant, whose mom lives in Connecticut, noticed that she was driving much slower than he’s used to. “Mom, why are you driving so slowly?” Seth remembered asking. “Well, driving is harder than it used to be,” his mom replied.
The incident got him thinking about his mother’s future, when she may not be able to drive at all. “I don’t want to be the kid that says, mom, sorry, you now have to move to California to be with me,” Sternberg says. As it stands, if a person loses the ability to perform a few necessary tasks — such as cooking, bathing or getting groceries — they will no longer be able to live independently in their homes. Sternberg started to look into non-medical homecare for seniors — services that provide caretakers who help with daily activities — and found an extremely fragmented industry that has over 30,000 players but no one owning more than 0.5% of the market.