Two years ago, Joshua Reischer was an Internal Medicine physician at Iora Health in Tucson, Arizona. Today, he is the founder and CEO of Health Note, a San Francisco-based startup working to reduce the physician administrative burden. Dr. Reischer left his job in October 2018 to pursue Health Note full-time and hasn’t looked back.
While Dr. Reischer was working with elderly patients, he noticed a number of inefficiencies within his practice. These inefficiencies mainly stemmed from the doctors not having all of the information they needed, at the time that they needed it. Essentially, not all of the information collected from patients was going to where it belonged. There was clearly room to provide an even better patient experience and to decrease physician burnout.
Seeing these issues within his workplace, Dr. Reischer became passionate about finding a solution. For months, he developed the idea for Health Note while also working as a physician, and finally he took the leap and ventured into the startup world. “Making the leap was the hardest part,” Josh shared. “You have to do the research and understand if the problem you want to solve is worth solving.” The way he sees it, only someone with a clinical background could truly understand this issue and know how to solve it.
Health Note is an AI chatbot platform that collects patient information and automatically writes physician notes, reducing intake and note writing time by up to 90%. Patients can input information securely on their phones before even entering a doctor’s office, and this information is automatically integrated into the EMR. Health Note is determined to make a platform that’s easy to use for patients of any age. The goal is to eventually eliminate paperwork in doctor’s offices and clinics and efficiently record information in a clear and concise way.
Through Health Note, Dr. Reischer is still able to play a role in helping patients even if he is not directly treating them. By helping other physicians see their patients more efficiently and potentially collect more complete and accurate data, he tells me, he is “involved in helping more patients through the platform than he ever could in an entire lifetime.” Health Note is used by over 1000 patients a day in seven states, and by the end of the year, they will have assisted over a quarter million doctor’s office visits.
Health Note also plays a role in involving patients in their own care and enabling them to understand how their information is being collected. Doctor’s offices are able to stay engaged with patients and provide support after a visit through text reminders and follow-up communications. The simple and streamlined interface has been proven to work for older populations, and can be used on any smartphone, tablet, or computer. Overall, Health Note is able to improve patients experience with their healthcare providers.
Dr. Reischer found out about MassChallenge HealthTech through a MassChallenge HealthTech alum. He applied last year and joined the MassChallenge HealthTech 2020 cohort in January after making it through multiple rounds of intensive judging.
Health Note has been involved in accelerators in other parts of the country, and Dr. Reischer saw the value in joining MassChallenge HealthTech because it offered opportunities to create connections and better understand health markets around the country through various partnership opportunities.
In addition, Boston is an important area to gain connections and eventually extend to since it is a key digital health hub within the US. He and his team are very excited to be working with the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission as their Champion throughout the program. The opportunity to work with an organization that helps bridge the gap between government, policy, providers, and startups is the unique value that only an organization like the MassChallenge can provide.
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