IncludeHealth Inc., which makes telehealth software for physical therapy and other musculoskeletal care, has raised $11 million and added a Central Ohio serial entrepreneur to its executive team.
Ray Shealy, who has led two health IT companies to acquisition, joins the Dublin startup as COO.
CincyTech, a repeat investor, led the round, which started last year with participation by Dublin VC firm Tamarind Hill and others.
"IncludeHealth's platform is a game changer in care delivery for patients and providers," Shealy said in a news release.
One of Columbus Inno's Startups to Watch for 2023, IncludeHealth last year said it “significantly” added to its customer base with clients including hospital systems, physical therapist networks, orthopedic practices and the military.
Representatives were not immediately available for comment.
Its MSK-OS platform uses computer vision to power telehealth physical therapy sessions and monitoring – analyzing the patient's movements as they do at-home exercises to ensure the motions are correct and documenting their progress. The patient can use their own device and doesn't need wearable sensors or other hardware.
The startup also adds a director with the round: Grant Koster, who is senior vice president of operations, partner and general manager of Athletico Physical Therapy, and has 20 years' experience in the field. The Chicago-based practice has 900 locations around the country including in Central Ohio.
"IncludeHealth's MSK-OS platform is at the forefront of hybrid musculoskeletal care," founder and CEO Ryan Eder said in the release.
Most clients don’t allow the startup to publicize their names, but those that do include Yale New Haven Health System in Connecticut, Cincinnati-area Christ Hospital Health Network and Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus.
Eder started out in 2015 developing software-equipped exercise equipment more accessible to people with disabilities.
The company made a major pivot to software five years ago, launching the platform in 2020. IncludeHealth developed it in collaboration with Toledo hospital system ProMedica, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and Google Inc.’s open-source machine learning platform. IncludeHealth also has grants from the U.S. Department of Defense and the Air Force to develop fitness applications for the software.
IncludeHealth had 30 employees in late 2021.
Shealy's last health IT company was acquired just four months ago: Health in Motion Network LLC, which he had joined as CEO in 2021. He has been an angel investor and interim CEO for startups he's backed since 2008, when McKesson Corp. acquired Dublin-based HTP Inc., the health-billing software company where he was CEO.
