Boston-based Cake, an end-of-life planning platform, has partnered with Providence Institute for Human Caring in California to streamline an effective way for users to communicate health care preferences with doctors and loved ones. This move comes as the number of COVID-19 deaths in the country surpasses 26,000.
In the absence of an advance legal directive, notary, witnesses or even a printer, the startup has released what it calls a trusted decision maker form, which allows patients to appoint someone, like a family member or close friend, to communicate medical preferences and directives to doctors.
"The idea is that we know it is hard for people to do planning, and we felt like this is the next best thing we can give them," said Cake co-founder and CEO Suelin Chen. "In this situation where you cannot speak for yourself, any guidance that they have will help."
Chen said the company recommends its customers who use the form to email it to their extended family members.
"We're asking people to send it to anyone and everyone they know," Chen said.
A 2015 MassChallenge finalist, Cake was founded the same year by Chen and Mark Zhang. The startup began with an aim to help people and their loved ones think about their final wishes by asking simple questions about life and death in an almost Tinder-like format. Using the answers, the platform creates a “living document” that can be easily updated and shared with others.
Users are asked questions in the form of statements — such as “I have a health care proxy” or “I have a living will or advance directive” — that can be answered with a green checkmark or a red X. Questions can include matters that don’t directly impact will planning like “There are places I’d like to see before I die.”
Based on the answers, Cake providers users with recommendations on what to do next for end-of-life planning. Next steps can include writing a bucket list, creating a plan for what you would like to happen with your body when you die and so on.
Today, the startup serves over 500,000 users per month. Chen said that since the outbreak, her company has seen "an unprecedented demand" — about 427 percent increase in planning engagement.
The company closed a $1.7 million funding round in January. On the heels of the funding round, the company appointed Alastair Brown, the former CMO at Buoy Health, to lead its marketing efforts.
