Transforming healthcare delivery

OneHealth+ is addressing a significant problem in emerging economies: poor primary care infrastructure and low-quality care delivery. This problem affects millions of people globally, with 50% of the world's population lacking access to essential health services, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition to the lack of essential health services, low and middle-income countries face an emerging dual burden of diseases as these countries contend with infectious and chronic diseases. Chronic diseases account for the majority (80%) of deaths globally, and their burden is disproportionately higher in low- and middle-income countries, with 1 in 3 individuals in the global south experiencing chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, COPD, and/or HIV as more individuals have access to ART treatments. These emerging economies often do not have large-scale, high-acuity tertiary centers to deal with the complications of chronic diseases. In Ghana, for example, only 35% of the population has access to basic healthcare services. Poor infrastructure, shortage of healthcare providers, and the lack of access to high-quality, low-cost diagnostic services are major factors contributing to the poor primary care infrastructure and quality care. It is essential to develop robust primary care infrastructure and systems that not only deliver care but also serve as structured data repositories to inform public and private health organizations of disease and treatment trends in emerging economies.

In addition to these challenges, traditional healthcare financing options, which are primarily cash-based in emerging economies, are insufficient to address the increasing trend of mobile payment systems used in the global south today. Remittances from families abroad play a significant role in enabling individuals and families in emerging economies to access healthcare. In 2021, $605 billion was remitted to lower-middle-income countries (LIMICs); specifically, in Africa, over $94 billion was remitted, with 30-75% of remittances used for healthcare-related expenses. However, the absence of direct payment options to healthcare providers from families in the diaspora is a major challenge. This leads to a complex system of cash exchanges between various parties before their loved ones can access the remittance and utilize it for care, causing delays in care

OneHealth+ is a hybrid, digital health primary care service with on-site lab diagnostics designed to improve access to high-quality healthcare in emerging economies. Our solution combines distributed technology infrastructure and low-cost, AI-backed laboratory diagnostics to enhance care delivery and quality. We do not build new clinics but rather renovate existing infrastructure and utilize a lean and agile 5-person staff model for each clinic, enabling rapid scalability across different regions in the global south.

Our services consist of primary care, chronic disease screening and management, comprehensive memberships, and maternity and child health. These packages are data-informed to address the dual burden of diseases and ongoing challenges in maternal and child health in emerging economies.

Our competitive advantage lies in three key areas. Firstly, we have developed a proprietary blockchain-backed, direct-to-provider mobile payment platform. Using this platform, patients can purchase a health pass/care pass online, which provides them with immediate access to care at our clinics. The health pass can also be transferred to friends and family members or held onto for future use within a six-month period. Employers, governments, and other organizations can also purchase health pass bundles for their populations, ensuring flexible and accessible healthcare financing options from the traditional cash and insurance-based systems.

Secondly, we employ data-driven operations. Through our retrofitting of an electronic medical system, we track all aspects of clinic and administrative operations and utilize analytics to inform decision-making. We have redesigned our clinical and operational workflows and upskilled community health workers into medical assistants to play a greater role in care delivery, reducing the burden of care provision on nurses and physicians.

Thirdly, we are developing a data repository architecture that allows OneHealth+ to capture and process structured clinical and operational data in HIPAA compliant manner. The data collected would be vital for research partnerships. Through these data repositories and research partnerships, we aim to aggregate and utilize de-identified data for public health studies, epidemiological research, clinical trials population selection, and support collaborations with researchers developing novel, context-specific tools

In summary, OneHealth+ combines digital health, AI-backed diagnostics, innovative financing models and research-focused data repositories to revolutionize primary care delivery in emerging economies. Our solution addresses the challenges of access, affordability, and quality improvement research, ultimately improving healthcare outcomes for millions of people.

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Our initial target populations include middle-to-upper-class individuals living in emerging economies, individuals living in the diaspora with family members in emerging economies, and established organizations/employers/governments who support populations in the global south in areas where the healthcare system is not yet equipped to handle the dual burden of acute and chronic disease.

Our solution will directly impact the lives of individuals, families, communities, and populations by providing affordable, convenient, and high-quality primary care services through a hybrid digital platform and on-site diagnostic center. Patients will have access to virtual consultations with trained healthcare professionals, as well as on-site lab diagnostics, ensuring timely and accurate diagnoses. Our innovative blockchain-backed mobile payment method will also provide a more efficient and direct-to-provider payment option for healthcare services.

By targeting middle to upper-class individuals and families, as well as organizations and employers, our solution will generate revenue that will enable us to support our current mobile medical clinic outreach that utilizes a mobile health van to provide care for underserved populations in rural communities free of charge. This will ensure that we can meaningfully improve the lives of all individuals, regardless of their socioeconomic status or geographic location.

Our team is uniquely positioned to design and deliver this solution to the target population. Both founders were born and raised in Ghana and have personally experienced the challenges of limited access to basic healthcare in an economically developing country. With over ten years of experience in healthcare administration, digital health, biomedical research and business development, we have the expertise to develop and implement our proposed primary care solution. We currently operate a mobile medical clinic van in collaboration with the OKB Hope Foundation, providing care to over 4000 patients in 30+ communities and training over 20 community health nurses into medical assistants in Ghana. As a result, we use Ghana as a case study and site of the initial pilot of OneHealth+ before expanding into sub-Saharan Africa and other regions in the global south (e.g., South/southeastern Asia, Latin America).

To better understand the needs of the communities we serve, we have informally surveyed patients during our mobile medical van visits. We also engage with patients and community members to gather feedback and insights on improving our services. In addition, three of our advisors are physician leaders at one of Ghana's premier hospitals, providing valuable guidance on developing and rolling out our digital primary healthcare center.

As we continue to develop our solution, we have begun to deploy more formalized surveys to capture information and insights from the Ghanaian community. We are also piloting small changes, such as the use of appointment booking, to understand patient preferences better and care delivery workflows in Ghana. Our design and implementation are meaningfully guided by the input, ideas, and agendas of the communities we serve. We will continue to collect data and feedback to ensure that our solution is responsive to the evolving needs of the community.

Although we have partnered with the OKB Hope Foundation to pilot aspects of the OneHealth+ care delivery model, we are not fully live yet. The unofficial launch date for OneHealth+ to be operational is August 2023

Solve will provide us with the technical and legal resources and guidance to improve our solution's scalability and impact. We believe our workflows and innovative payment platform can be patented and would appreciate legal help to understand the process.  Additionally, we would benefit from access to Solve's network of experts and mentors who can provide valuable feedback and insights to help us refine our solution and navigate legal and cultural barriers as we expand to new markets. Although our solution is slated to start in Ghana, we believe many emerging economies globally (e.g., Latin America, Asia, and parts of Europe) could benefit from different aspects of the OneHealth+ solution. Furthermore, Solve can help us with fundraising and connect us to potential investors and partners.  Ultimately, we believe that Solve provides us the space to further incubate, experiment, build, and achieve our goals of providing affordable and accessible healthcare to underserved communities in emerging economies.

As a blockchain and AI-enabled healthcare system, our approach is innovative in several ways. First, our use of high-quality, low-cost medical and diagnostic technologies (e.g., Portable ultrasounds, EKGs, etc) enables us to deliver low-cost, high-quality primary care to underserved populations in global health settings. Second, our proprietary clinical and operational workflows are designed to optimize patient care and streamline operations, leading to increased efficiency and scalability in knowledge and resource-poor settings. Third, our blockchain-based payment system provides a novel, transparent, secure, and efficient option for healthcare payment, eliminating issues related to traditional payment methods.

Our payment solution could catalyze broader positive impacts in the global south by inspiring other healthcare providers to explore and move towards a bundled and value-based healthcare financing system in the global south. Additionally, with global supply chain disturbances, the purchase and use of health passes by patients also enable providers to collect data on and better understand the volumes and types of care utilized by patients and plan for supply chain disruptions based on outstanding health passes not yet utilized.

Over the next five years, our impact goals are to expand our healthcare solution from Accra to other regions in Ghana and neighboring countries, eventually expanding into southern and eastern Africa. In year one, we plan to launch our clinic and begin collecting data. In year two, we will expand from Accra to Kumasi and the Volta region, expanding our reach to four regions in Ghana. In year three, we plan to expand into neighboring countries such as Nigeria. In year four, we will expand into eastern Africa, including countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. Finally, in year five, we aim to expand into southern Africa, including countries such as South Africa, Angola, Namibia, and Botswana. We will achieve these goals by leveraging our experience and partnerships in the healthcare industry and by continuing to develop innovative and cost-effective solutions that utilize high-quality, low-cost technology to provide data-driven, quality care in emerging economies. Additionally, we will utilize our novel payment platform to engage those in the diaspora to finance healthcare services for their families, making our solution more accessible and sustainable for the communities we serve.

We aim to measure progress by

Number of patients receiving care from health centers

Number of people receiving care in rural communities

Number of individuals with chronic diseases being managed

Change in physiological markers such as blood pressure and diabetic markers

Number of communities where the organization operates

Percentage of individuals receiving free healthcare versus those who pay for care

Revenue 

Inventory comparison with outstanding health passes

We aim to utilize Lewin's Three-stage Change Model to address the problem of underutilization of primary care in emerging economies. We hypothesize that by using this model, we can unfreeze the current behavior of seeking care only when an illness is most severe, change behavior towards utilizing continuous, longitudinal primary care for both chronic and acute conditions, and then refreeze the new behavior to maintain and sustain the use of primary care.

Our approach is based on the idea that providing access to high-quality, low-cost primary care will lead to better health outcomes and a reduction in the use of high-cost care for preventable illnesses. By implementing Lewin's Three-stage Change Model, we hope to create a sustainable shift in behavior toward utilizing primary care as the first line of defense for health concerns.

To measure the success of our theory of change, we will collect data on the number of patients receiving care, the number of communities served, the percentage of individuals receiving free healthcare versus those who pay, and changes in physiologic markers such as blood pressure and diabetic markers. We will also conduct evaluations to assess the impact of our solution on health outcomes and overall quality of life for our target population.

With a focus on these metrics, our outputs will lead to longer-term outcomes, including improved health outcomes for individuals in rural communities, better management of chronic diseases, and overall improved health and well-being for underserved populations.

Our solution is powered by a combination of low-cost, AI-enabled medical and laboratory diagnostics, proprietary clinical and operational workflows, staff training (upskilling community health nurses into medical assistants), and a proprietary blockchain-based health pass payment system. In addition, our EMR system, health manager, allows us to easily track patient information, monitor chronic diseases, and provide continuous care. We also utilize SMS technology to communicate with patients and provide health education. These technologies work together to enable us to deliver primary care in global health settings, making it more accessible and affordable for communities in need in the global south.

We are proud to have a diverse team in our organization. Our founders are people of color who were born and raised partly in Ghana, and our board of advisors consists of individuals from diverse backgrounds in both profession and heritage, including Ghana, Italy, and the United States. Our leadership team consists of 40% women, and we are committed to continuing to build a team representative of the communities we serve.

We believe that equity is about access to opportunity and advancement for all members of a group. We continue to create a culture of inclusion where all team members are welcomed, respected, supported, and valued. To achieve these goals, we have taken several actions, including actively seeking out and recruiting diverse candidates, partnering with local Ghanaian organizations to support underrepresented communities for our clinic furnishings, providing ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion training for our staff members, and soliciting feedback from our team and stakeholders to ensure that our efforts are effective and impactful. Additionally, our board of advisors includes local Ghanaian physicians at premier hospitals to ensure that our work is culturally sensitive and responsive to the needs of the communities we serve.

Our business model is focused on providing clinical care for middle and upper-class Ghanaians through four different care packages: urgent primary care, chronic disease screening and management, maternal and child health, and membership packages. The revenue generated from these care packages enables us to sustain our core business of care delivery and expand into other markets.

Additionally, our proprietary payment platform allows us to obtain a 1% transaction fee for every health pass purchase and use, providing an additional source of revenue to sustain our business. Beyond our operational expenses, proceeds from the health passes are invested in short-term investments for additional financial return. Furthermore, we license and sell access to our payment platform to clinics and health systems in emerging economies to encourage the use of bundled payment health passes with one flat fee for care provision. Moreover, we also aim to sell access to our de-identified healthcare data repositories to clinical research organizations, governments, and population researchers. In the longer term, we aim to connect our patient populations with clinical trials as a means for additional revenue and to help facilitate the development of therapies effective for African populations. 

Lastly, we also operate mobile medical clinic vans, a non-profit aspect of our business, which focuses on providing care for patients in rural areas free of charge. We subsidize the care of patients in rural areas through the revenue garnered from middle and upper-class Ghanaians. 

Overall, our business model is focused on providing quality care to those who can afford it while also using part of that revenue to serve underprivileged communities through our non-profit mobile clinics.

We plan to become financially sustainable through a combination of revenue streams. First, we provide clinical care for middle and upper-class Ghanaians through various care packages. 

Second, our proprietary payment platform allows us to obtain a 1% transaction fee for every health pass purchase, providing us with an additional revenue stream.

Third, we plan to invest any proceeds from our health passes beyond operational expenses in short-term investments, to generate additional revenue in the long term.

Finally, in the longer term, we aim to sell access to our de-identified data repositories and connect our patient populations with clinical trials as a potential means for additional revenue while facilitating the development of therapies effective for populations in emerging markets.

By diversifying our revenue streams and investing in sustainable practices, we believe we can achieve financial sustainability while continuing to provide high-quality healthcare to our patient populations.

Our approach to financial sustainability has been successful so far. We received technical expertise investment in the development of our payment solution, which enabled us to develop a working prototype of our payment system. We also received web design and development expertise to develop our website. Additionally, we were recently selected for the John D'Silva Incubator, which provides an initial investment of $2000 with the potential for more at the end of the program. Furthermore, we are applying for Y Combinator, Techstars, Mass Challenge, and other incubator programs and have been selected for the second round of the Mass Challenge thus far. We are also in conversations with several impact investing companies to discuss our approach and company. These investments and opportunities will help us manage our startup costs and achieve our goal of financial sustainability and independence.