GreenLight Invests $600,000 to Launch CareMessage in Boston

Contact:

Kate Barrett, Executive Director
GreenLight Fund Boston
200 Clarendon Street, 44th Fl.
Boston, MA 02116
617-912-8982
[email protected]
greenlightfund.org

August 30, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The GreenLight Fund invests $600,000 to launch mobile health platform, CareMessage, in Boston and improve health outcomes for low-income patients with chronic conditions

Boston, MA – The GreenLight Fund (GreenLight) has announced its selection of CareMessage, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, as its tenth portfolio organization in Boston. CareMessage empowers healthcare organizations with mobile technologies to improve health outcomes and reduce the cost of care for the most at-risk patients. CareMessage particularly focuses on patients who are low-income, managing behavioral and chronic health conditions such as depression, diabetes, and hypertension, and face multiple barriers related to the social determinants of health (e.g., food security, access to housing).

CareMessage is an intelligent cloud-based software that transforms communication for patients by providing personalized, interactive messages designed to educate, remind and motivate. Community-based healthcare providers use CareMessage programs to guide their patients through the difficult process of managing chronic health conditions. CareMessage’s disease management programs provide patients with individualized educational information tailored to their current health needs and empower patients to take control of their own healthcare. In the United States, the chronic conditions targeted by CareMessage programs, such as diabetes and hypertension among others, account for 70 percent of deaths and 75 percent of all healthcare costs. Patients with these conditions served by CareMessage face an 80 percent greater risk of premature mortality and use twice the amount of emergency services than the general population resulting in $238 billion in annualized preventable costs. At the same time, text message use is two to four times higher among lower-income and less educated populations and has a 99 percent open rate – a trend leveraged by CareMessage’s technology.

CareMessage helps community-based healthcare providers achieve goals for specific patient populations. In one example, 94 percent of sedentary patients increased their physical activity and, in another, 94 percent of diabetic and hypertensive patients reported that CareMessage helped them better manage their health. CareMessage also partners with providers to conduct research on clinical outcomes for these patient populations. Providers using CareMessage are increasing efficiency by reducing no-show rates for primary care appointments, increasing preventive screenings and filling gaps in care. They have reported significant reductions in no-show rates, ranging from 27 to 41 percent relative to baseline.

Since its founding in 2012, CareMessage has grown significantly. As of July 2016, 189 healthcare organizations across 36 states used the CareMessage platform to reach nearly 750,000 patients. In Boston, CareMessage will build on the city’s rich history of community-based healthcare. CareMessage has already conducted successful pilots with local organizations such as Boston Healthcare for the Homeless and Crimson Care Collaborative. “We really enjoyed partnering with CareMessage and many of our patients felt the program was a valuable source of additional support and knowledge to help them better manage their health conditions” said Melanie Racine, a Project Manager at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless.

Over the four years of GreenLight’s investment, CareMessage will partner with community health centers and other providers to reach at least 200,000 of Boston’s most vulnerable patients. “Massachusetts has long been at the forefront of healthcare reform, and Boston is known as a global hub of innovation and academic excellence. This is a natural place for CareMessage’s first East Coast expansion, and with GreenLight support, is poised to be one of our most successful sites,” said Vineet Singal, CEO and co-founder.

“GreenLight is supporting CareMessage because of its track record of results and the potential for impact here. Having CareMessage infrastructure on the ground in Boston will allow it to bring its proven approaches to helping underserved patients manage chronic health conditions at a significant scale,” said Kate Barrett, GreenLight Fund’s Boston executive director.

To date, CareMessage has garnered the support of leading philanthropic investors and social enterprise incubators, including Google.org, Pershing Square Foundation, William K. Bowes Jr. Foundation, Y Combinator, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, CVS Health Foundation, Echoing Green, and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

About the GreenLight Fund:

The GreenLight Fund transforms the lives of children, youth and families in high-poverty urban areas by creating local infrastructure and a consistent annual process to: identify critical needs; import innovative, entrepreneurial programs that have a significant, measureable impact; and galvanize local support to help programs reach and sustain impact in the new city. Working in Boston since 2003, Philadelphia and the San Francisco Bay Area since 2012, Cincinnati since 2015 and most recently Detroit in 2016, GreenLight aims to grow a national network of GreenLight sites that learn and work collaboratively to find and spread proven nonprofit solutions that achieve meaningful and measurable impact in our communities on the issues that matter most. Learn more at: www.greenlightfund.org

About CareMessage:

CareMessage is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, CA with a mission to empower healthcare organizations with mobile technologies to improve health outcomes and and reduce the cost of care. CareMessage offers healthcare providers a powerful cloud-based HIPAA compliant web platform and interactive mobile programs to streamline care management. CareMessage currently works with 189 healthcare organizations across 36 states nationally. Learn more at: www.caremessage.org