HealthBridge is a first-of-its-kind healthcare payment solution that provides individuals with simplified healthcare billing and increased financial security. With offices in both Traverse City and Grand Rapids, Michigan, HealthBridge grew within and alongside the 20Fathoms tech startup incubator.
We talked to Tim Heger, Chief Technical Officer & Chief Information Security Officer of HealthBridge, about healthtech, the year ahead, and advice for both founders and healthcare providers.
Joining 20Fathoms, Traverse City’s tech startup incubator
“The opening of 20Fathoms in 2018 coincided with the growth of our company’s Traverse City-based IT team,” said Tim. “We moved into the 20Fathoms office and found the experience to be invaluable. Being around like-minded entrepreneurs and having the ability to walk down the hall and discuss challenges with others who understood what we were facing – it provided a significant amount of energy for my team.”
HealthBridge was the first healthtech startup to join the 20Fathoms network, helping to lay the foundation for the organization’s HealthSpark program which works to accelerate healthcare innovation in rural areas.
Building a tech solution to ease the financial burden of healthcare
The problem that HealthBridge set out to solve was the heavy burden of healthcare costs that particularly impacted those with high-deductible health plans, often resulting in skipped or delayed care. Tim’s IT team at HealthBridge was tasked with building the technology solution to address this problem, combining data from three different technology platforms into a single, cloud-based solution.
HealthBridge provides a service where they pay medical bills immediately on behalf of their members and then send the member a consolidated monthly statement, providing increased financial security and flexibility.
“We have the most unique and comprehensive solution out there,” said Tim.
What he’s excited about this year
HealthBridge is currently in the process of finalizing their C-round of fundraising.
“We’re looking forward to amazing growth,” said Tim. “We built our platform to scale and while COVID caused some delays, we’re excited to watch our platform respond to the upcoming scale. And, as we grow, we’re always looking for brilliant people to join our team.”
More broadly, Tim believes the pandemic has thrown open doors for heathcare startups. “There’s no better time than now to enter the market with an innovative solution that solves a problem in the healthcare industry,” he said. “In our experience, the pandemic has accelerated clients’ willingness to adopt new solutions that advance healthtech innovation.
Advice for healthcare providers evaluating new tech solutions
Tim recommends an iterative approach to implementing new technology solutions in a healthcare setting. “Crawl, walk run,” Tim says. “You don’t have to roll out a solution to the whole system at once. First, implement it on a small scale with a group of people who are willing to innovate and then roll it out on a bigger scale.”