Patient-Focused Treatment Decision Support Tool Nets $9M

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

WiserTogether Finds Strong Investors for A Bullish Future.

WiserTogether, a digital health company providing guidance for patients with costly health conditions to better understand what they need to do to improve and maintain their health, has announced it has raised fresh capital to expand its customer base across “key sectors of healthcare.” New investors Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Martin Ventures led the $9 million Series B round, according to a company statement.

“With the addition of Merck GHI and Martin Ventures and our existing investors, WiserTogether is thrilled to have some of the smartest and most sophisticated investors from every major category of the healthcare industry represented and working together to achieve our exciting vision,” said Shub Debgupta, Chief Executive Officer, WiserTogether.

WiserTogether is designed to give patients a better understanding of their treatment options in the context of their condition. For example, its treatment decision support tool Wiser Health helps users assess potential treatments to determine their best options. It factors 22 pieces of data it says have been proven to influence decisions such as clinical evidence, personal and popular preferences, cost and coverage. It focuses on 250 of the costliest health conditions by spend – particularly conditions for which patient choices can tip the balance between an expensive care option to a cheaper option. It also highlights some of the tests that are administered for patients who share their condition and the kind of questions they should be asking their physicians.

Charles Martin, Chief Executive Officer of Martin Ventures, stated “We believe that WiserTogether’s consumer decision support platform will help consumers more fully understand the impact of health treatment options, and ultimately drive healthcare providers to better focus the delivery of services around these patient-centered needs and preferences.”

The company is planning to add other conditions to its platform, such as hip replacement to give users a better sense of what to expect for different treatments. It will also be adding gastrointestinal care since there are a lot of options and variations around, as well as colon cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer and infectious diseases.

Debgupta added, “This is an exciting time in healthcare and for WiserTogether. To win in healthcare today, and in the future, you must support and enable better decisions. Those who better understand (and predict) those decisions will have a substantial advantage over the competition and will benefit from the emerging payment structures.”