LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dr. Renee Dua and Nick Desai — who previously founded and built visionary doctor house call company Heal — today introduced Together by Renee, the first app to use generative AI to complete and manage cumbersome healthcare tasks for aging adults, those with chronic diseases and their overwhelmed caregivers. Together requires no typing or data entry and uses just the smartphone camera and AI to “magically” remove the myriad obstacles — such as medication refills, scheduling appointments, complex forms, opaque insurance benefits and more — that stand between Americans over 50 and better health outcomes.
In fact, Together is the first U.S. app that measures vitals including blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate and blood oxygen just by having users smile for a selfie, a breakthrough in ease and usability. This deviceless, hassle-free “always with you” ability to track vitals is invaluable both for those with chronic diseases and worried caregivers, who can make sure their loved ones are doing well from far away.
“As a practicing physician, every day I see patients and caregivers overwhelmed by follow-up steps, care plans and medications. Together makes otherwise cumbersome healthcare tasks magically easy, so people follow my care plans and actually achieve better outcomes," said Together by Renee co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Dr. Renee Dua.
"In healthcare, the biggest impact on the most people comes from solving the most mundane problems," said Together by Renee co-founder and CEO Nick Desai. “The 80 million Americans with more than two chronic conditions — myself included — consume 92% of the U.S. healthcare budget. Despite all the healthtech ‘innovation,’ most people don’t take their meds, get preventive exams, track their vitals or see their doctors in a timely manner. Together fixes that by making the most routine, annoying parts of healthcare as easy as ordering a pizza.”
The numbers bear out Desai's statement. The Annals of Internal Medicine reports that less than 50% of adults take all their medications correctly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that less than 10% of adults get necessary preventive exams and stunningly, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reveals that less than 15% of adults even have the health literacy to assist in their own care.
One reason is the broken quagmire that means healthcare is perhaps the last place consumers still have to wait on hold or stand in line for anything. In fact, the 2023 annual State of Patient Access survey by Experian revealed that the number one digital health wish of 76% of healthcare consumers was just the ability to make doctor’s appointments online.
Together makes that wish come true. Even better, users just take a picture of their pill bottles, from which Together uses AI to know their doctor’s name, determine when the user needs an appointment and then uses voice AI to automatically call the doctor’s office, schedule the appointment for the user and add it to their calendar.
Together uses the same pill bottle pictures to also automatically call in refills and determine the preventive exams that the user is most likely to need. Similarly, Together eliminates all the “paper” and writing and — yes, still — faxing in healthcare. When users leave their doctor — or dentist or optometrist — with that little appointment card, again, they just snap a picture. Together immediately adds the appointment to their Google or iPhone calendar.
With face-based selfies that measure vitals; automated refill and appointment scheduling; recommended preventive health and more, Together helps adults follow their care plans to better health, while providing peace of mind to caregivers who are otherwise caught between the desire to help older loved ones and the frustration of not knowing quite what to do in the first place.
“I use Together for myself and to manage my dad’s medications and appointments, and I know his vitals, so I breathe easy,” said Nick Desai, whose father is 86. “In fact, that is where the app name comes from; when it comes to healthcare, we’re all in this…Together!”
Together is available for free for Apple smartphones on the Apple App Store and soon also will be available for free for Android smartphones on the Google Play Store.
About Together by Renee
Together by Renee was founded in 2021 by veteran health-tech entrepreneurs Nick Desai and Dr. Renee Dua – the husband-wife team that created doctor house-call industry leader Heal in 2014. Together by Renee creates personal healthcare assistants designed to help everyone, especially aging and polychronic Americans and their caregivers, manage and complete their most essential healthcare tasks. The company’s flagship product, Together, is a groundbreaking intelligent mobile health assistant application that supports patients throughout their healthcare journey. Together by Renee has been doing R&D on Together for 18 months to understand real aging Americans and their needs. Together by Renee piloted the Together approach and has seen dramatic improvements in patient health and has tested and vetted the Together approach through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services PandemicX and the AARP's AgeTech Collaborative accelerators. Together by Renee is supported by venture investments from Quiet Capital, Tau Ventures, Mucker Capital and the AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative. For more information visit https://together.renee.com.
