Bettir (YC W15) Wants to Chat with You About Your Blood Pressure

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/08/bettir-wants-to-chat-with-you-about-your-blood-pressure/

by katm • 12 years ago

43 30 12 years ago

cmikec14• 12 years ago

Hi, I'm Mike, one of the founders of Bettir. I'm available to answer questions if you have any.

Impossible• 12 years ago

I'd love to try Bettir, but it's iOS only. I understand that the reasoning for this is probably a combination of standard reasons why startups ship only (or at least initially) on iOS and the usage of HealthKit. Are there plans to ship on Android or any other platform anytime in the near future?

cmikec14• 12 years ago

We currently have a (beta) mobile webapp that works on Android, and we will definitely have an Android app in the future. We also give our service to some people over email and SMS. Visit http://recordbp.com/ from Chrome on your Android to get it going. It supports being added to your home screen.

harmegido• 12 years ago

Why do startups start with iOS, considering it's a smaller market? Forgive my ignorance.

tootie• 12 years ago

Does this have any benefit for people who are already diagnosed hypertensives? Like being able to capture triggers or measure effectiveness of different medications?

cmikec14• 12 years ago

Yes.

Your blood pressure is a wave, going up and down throughout the day, week, month, etc. Just taking it once every time you're at the doctor's office is not even good enough for some diagnoses.

One example of this is "white coat" hypertension, which some studies indicate occurs in 20-45% of people diagnosed with hypertension. Their blood pressure is high in the doctor's office but low at home, which can result in overmedication.

If you do have hypertension though, then the big challenge is getting your blood pressure under control. Medication is one way, but without home monitoring, it is hard to find out exactly how well the medication is working.

When it comes to lifestyle changes (diet, sleep, caffeine, etc.), we help you track, monitor, and manage the improvements these types of changes can bring.

If you have hypertension, you are at a greatly increased risk of dying from a stroke or from heart disease, and Bettir is designed to help you manage that.

OmarIsmail2• 12 years ago

Any visibility as to if/when a device like a fitbit will be able to do blood pressure readings?

I feel like if that can happen, when it eventually comes out, every single person will own it. Hopefully it's possible.

cmikec14• 12 years ago

There are some interesting blood pressure monitors in the works. I know some internal information from several companies who are working on this that I am unable to disclose at this time. There will be more streamlined, wearable blood pressure devices in the near future.

Before then, it's important to note that current home blood pressure monitoring technology is actually pretty good. There are wrist-based monitors available at your local drug store most likely for $50 or less. They're slightly bulky but they are way better than nothing.

One in three American adults have high blood pressure and it is strongly correlated with increases in death from strokes and heart attacks. Even before the monitoring technology is perfectly elegant, it's crucial that people start monitoring their blood pressure using what is currently available.

mreezie• 12 years ago

My mom uses this to manage her blood pressure. She liked being able to bring in a report to her doctor summarizing all her readings.

cmikec14• 12 years ago

Wonderful. If you have any questions or comments feel free to reach out to me at mike@bettir.com.

dr_• 12 years ago

I don't know what the business plan here will ultimately be, but there are apps which charge say $40 for a dermatologist to read a photo of your skin lesion. As a physician, at first I thought, what dermatologist would accept $40 (or less if the app gets a cut) to do this. But it's making more sense with time. I can see physicians doing work like this from the comfort of their home environments, on somewhat of their own schedule, than dealing with the hassles of running an office or coding with the nightmarish icd10 schedule. They may lose on some income, but will make up for some of it with volume and for many it will be worth it for the convenience and, hopefully, reduced stress levels. I hope companies like bettir and some of the others, succeed.

cmikec14• 12 years ago

Thanks for your kind comments. :) You're totally right. We believe this is the correct paradigm for the future of medicine. Going to the doctor's office is no fun, and nobody likes to do it. As a result, many preventable causes of death and illness remain untreated. Bettir's goal is to make it possible to manage certain conditions, like high blood pressure, from the comfort of one's home.

ndamiano• 12 years ago

Congrats, guys. What is the business model for Bettir? Is it going to be a challenge to cover costs if you're employing expensive physicians to man the chat lines?

tomjen3• 12 years ago

I don't much care to admit it, but I have an irrational fear of doctors. This would be a great help for me.

Even better, if you enable people all over the world tohave access to the best doctors.

6thSigma• 12 years ago

I've been told I have white coat hypertension. My bp readings are 130-140/85 in doctor offices and usually 110-120/75 outside.

High bp runs in my family so I've been considering monitoring on a more consistent basis. I may have to try this out.

cmikec14• 12 years ago

Mike here, one of the founders of Bettir. We'd love to have you try it out. White coat hypertension is one of the biggest problems with hypertension diagnosis. For those that don't know, some studies show 20-45% of people diagnosed with hypertension actually only have white coat hypertension, which means they don't actually have hypertension but that their blood pressure is elevated while in the doctor's office.

Home monitoring is one of the best ways to handle this, and it's a really good use case for Bettir.

Feel free to reach out to me at mike@bettir.com, we'll make sure that you get set up to use Bettir ASAP.

ExpiredLink• 12 years ago

It's a mobile Excel sheet!

cmikec14• 12 years ago

Mike, one of the founders of Bettir here.

While we do track and chart blood pressure data, Bettir is a service that offers daily feedback from experts and doctors on your blood pressure.

Recording your blood pressure is an important part of managing high blood pressure and other blood pressure conditions, but it's only a piece of the puzzle. If you use Bettir, you'll input your blood pressure and other related metrics into our app, and we'll connect you with our in-house specialists who will offer you feedback and suggestions on how to manage your blood pressure.

mishmax2• 12 years ago

Great job. This is great to see as I'm working on something related. I actually built a tool that's used in clinics where your blood pressure readings, risk factors, etc.. are entered and the the diagnosis and treatment plan is generated according to guidelines. It follows the Canadian guidelines and has been vetted by hypertension specialists. Check it out at http://app.snapdx.co

It's used mainly by medical folks but usable by savvy patients as well.

cmikec14• 12 years ago

Thank you, and thanks for sharing. Shoot me an email at mike@bettir.com, we can explore whether or not there is anything useful we could work on together.

mishmax2• 12 years ago

Sure, done! :)

discardorama• 12 years ago

FTA: "at certain times by monitoring it 24/7 with an app"

How can the app do this without a BP device constantly attached to one's arm, inflating/deflating all the time? Or is it just a spreadsheet for entering the values? The article was skimpy on the details.

cmikec14• 12 years ago

Good question. There are ambulatory blood pressure monitoring devices, but much more common are devices that take discrete readings. At Bettir, we factor in all data points.

Ambulatory is not necessary in many cases though, where a simple daily reading still provides vastly more information than the once or twice a year that most people go to their doctor.

Most of our users record 1-3 readings per day, which provides a wealth of useful data.

dimitar• 12 years ago

I actually expected some holter monitor integration for this app when reading the headline, but it seems it is a logging tool (still useful).

I'm going to try the Android web app when I go home. I think I actually need this since I do have hypertension.

I'm in my early 20s and I have normal weight and no medical conditions beside this. I consider my self healthy, but I do take some medication to correct it before it causes me any significant damage.

cmikec14• 12 years ago

Bettir is one part logging tool, and one part a team of algorithms, experts, and doctors that will give you feedback on managing your blood pressure on a regular basis.

We'd be thrilled to have you use our Android web app. Feel free to reach out to me at mike@bettir.com if you have any questions or comments.

Bettir (YC W15) Wants to Chat with You About Your Blood Pressure

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