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AgeTech Collaborative™ startup participant Careteam Technologies is a patient success solution for person-centered engagement, care coordination, and collaboration for complex chronic care. With Careteam, patients, family members and healthcare providers work together as a team to ensure the best outcomes possible, for patients and caregivers alike. 

To learn more about Careteam and its philosophy, we spent time talking with CEO and chief medical officer Dr. Alexandra Greenhill. 

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. 

Can you describe Careteam for us? 

Careteam is a digital health company focused on improving patient success, including better outcomes and better experiences in the complexity of the healthcare system. 

In my 20 years as a practicing physician, I’ve seen all kinds of innovation and technology. But the complexity and fragmentation has gotten worse, not better: Everyone has a tool or an app that they recommend using, but as a patient, I’m not sure how it all fits together. This means we miss out on the opportunity to have a better set of experiences and outcomes. There’s a gap between what is possible and what actually happens. 

How does Careteam help close that gap? 

Careteam works with health organizations that have a research- and science-based approach, and organizes everything in a way that makes it easier for people to follow care instructions and to ensure the whole family is on the same page. 

For example, my patients who are diabetic don’t get better until somebody buys the right food and cooks it the right way. Typically, there are caregivers who are willing to do that, but they aren’t quite sure exactly how to. Careteam closes the knowledge gap, so patients can better adhere to directions.  

Sometimes, my colleagues blame the patient and say, “They didn’t do what we told them to do.” But I reply, “They only had a brief verbal encounter with you. You gave them a whole set of instructions, really fast, and maybe they weren’t clear on what to do. And there was no mechanism to follow up with them until their next visit.” That makes no sense — and that’s what Careteam is built to solve. 

Why did you start the company? 

In my practice, I saw how all the research and findings on improving how care is delivered often doesn’t make it to the bedside, because clinicians were too busy to read it, or they didn’t have a tool to disseminate it effectively.  

For example, say I attend a conference and discover that there’s a new nutrition protocol for people who have early signs of dementia. In the olden days, I would have to wait until every patient who fits those requirements came to my clinic, then remember that the information is available, then hand out a pamphlet to give to them, then hope they remember to read the pamphlet when they get home. 

But in the Careteam universe, I can look up which of my patients fit that description and I can send that information to them directly. And I can see whether they opened the information, activated it, and assigned somebody in the family to look at these new nutritional guidelines and explain them to their loved one, if necessary. So Careteam forms a loop of distributed information, and gives you hard data about how it worked. 

It sounds like it’s helping everyone be more proactive. 

It’s allowing everyone to be maximally effective, and also distributes the workload away from the main caregiver. In our system, you can say, “Hey, cousin, can you please look into this one thing?” That distributed support network reduces caregiver burnout. 

We've discovered through user design principles that people who are aging don’t love the word “caregiver” at all. They don’t see you as their caregiver; they see you as their son or daughter. The healthcare system has given you that label, and only because the older person has a health problem. So we’ve been experimenting with other words to use, and “support team” is something that most patients love. People also don’t love the idea of a “care plan,” because they want to stay independent — they prefer the term “action plan.” 

What’s one of the biggest problems you’ve had to overcome as you’ve built Careteam? 

The biggest one, especially since COVID, is the overall fatigue and burnout that clinical providers have, and how difficult it is for them to adopt a new way of doing things. They face concerns over privacy, funding, regulatory changes, and new integrations. 

An innovation may be a great idea, but it’s never a standalone idea. You need to figure out how it fits into overall workflows, patient portals, billing codes and other things. When people are faced with that kind of complexity, plus the fatigue and burnout of practicing, it’s hard to get them to start something new. One of the things Careteam works to do is support the workflow changes that clinical teams make in order to use our platform. 

What’s next for Careteam? 

When you or a loved one is diagnosed with a major disease, your life changes, and it can be very confusing to navigate the healthcare system with all its medical terms and professions — you almost need a Lonely Planet guide to the healthcare system. 

We’re considering adding an overall action plan for family and caregivers to help them be better prepared for the new situation they’re facing when they receive a diagnosis. The problem is that just going online for information can be vague, confusing, or yield unhelpful platitudes. Careteam’s approach would give people a set of simple, concrete things to do that can make a big difference for people, immediately. It would point them to resources they might not even know exist.

Vist Careteam’s website to learn more.