Heart disease is, and has been, the leading cause of death in the United States for many years. A study by the Center for Disease Control found that nearly 650,000 people died from heart disease in 2017.
This number troubles Jared Sieling. Not only because it's so high, but because a significant number of these deaths could have been prevented through cardiac rehab.
"There are around seven million people in the United States who have this and eight out of 10 don't do what they're supposed to be doing even though it doubles their chance of being alive," he told Minne Inno.
Sieling is the founder and CEO of Chanl Health, a med-tech startup that aims to make cardiovascular rehab programs easier and more accessible through a mobile platform. Chanl claims that it is a quarter of the cost of standard rehab programs and is capable of increasing participation by three-fold.
"Our goal is to modernize the onsite rehab program," Sieling said. "We want to take the benefits of these programs and bring them into patients' homes."
After someone experiences a cardiac event like a heart attack, they're discharged from the hospital with orders to participate in some sort of rehabilitation. This usually consists of about three days of therapy each week for three months. During this time, patients address issues with diet, exercise, stress management, sleep issues and depression.
The problem with these sessions though, according to Sieling, is that people don't always show up. And even if they do show up, there's no guarantee that they'll implement the doctor's suggested changes into their daily routines.
Chanl provides patients with a mobile, interactive version of their individualized treatment plan that simplifies their doctor's recommendations into a list of daily tasks, reminders and reports. The company sells its services to health systesms. After the three-month tracking and treatment period is over, patients can continue to use the app even if they don't have a coach on the other end.
"Typically, people having heart attacks aren't millennials using their smartphones," Sieling said. "So we focused on making it super easy to use."
Founded in 2017, Chanl has already experienced some early traction. The company piloted its platform with HealthPartners in the Twin Cities and recently began implementing it into one of the 10 largest health systems in the U.S. And earlier this year, Barbara Fagan, the former president of the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, joined Chanl as executive director of business development.
Sieling said that Chanl is in the process of raising a $500,000 round of funding, which it hopes to close by the end of the year. These funds will go toward implementing and scaling the platform into new health systems.
"This is a really exciting time for us," he added. "There is such a need for something like this out there, and that's what motivates us. The landscape of healthcare is really starting to innovate."
