Imagine you have a chronic illness like diabetes (maybe you don't have to imagine). Now, imagine your next doctor's appointment. And imagine that instead of seeing the doctor first, you see an on-site pharmacist who evaluates the tests you've been given, asks you questions and then walks with you to visit the doctor -- together.
Tim Schramko, president and CEO of Toledo-based Ceuticare, says that vision is exactly the kind of medical collaboration toward which his four-year-old company is working.
The Ceuticare scenario becomes possible under a set of proprietary algorithms developed by founders Allen Nichol and Kenneth Bachmann, Schramko says. Combined with a pharmacist's intimate knowledge of medications and access to a patient's complete medical profile, the data allow him or her to tell whether a chronically ill patient is following doctor's orders or fibbing. Few physicians are equipped with such tools and must base prescribing decisions on what the patient says -- which may or may not be accurate, Schramko says.
Ceuticare provides data for diabetes, blood lipids, hypertension, asthma, chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. While Schramko says "I haven't talked to one doctor yet who did not like it," he says a reluctance to change long-time business and office models has kept participation low.
He expects acceptance to rise with more education and as doctors become more attuned to the collaborative "medical home" concept promoted under the National Healthcare Reform Act. Schramko says one Ohio insurer has already perked up its ears based on the results of a small study that showed Ceuticare patients went to the hospital and the emergency room far less frequency than a control group -- whose costs rose 200 percent.
The five-employee company also has the attention of Rocket Ventures, which invested $175,000 in Ceuticare.
Source: Tim Schramko, Ceuticare
Writer: Gene Monteith