A Simple Look at Our Vision
WICHITA, KS. March. 23, 2018 — For people with diabetes, KingFit provides a mobile application that delivers industry leading diabetes education to the palm of your hand.
What is KingFit…really?
Most of our community views us as one of the new “tech” startups. Which to a point, is true. We have an application in the app stores. Others know us as a diabetes company. “Anyone with diabetes should use KingFit!” Still others see us as a content company with valuable video assets. All three would be correct.
We are an app that delivers diabetes education from industry leading certified diabetes educators. The education is delivered in video and audio format. It is broken down into bite-size pieces that the user can consume on their time, at their pace.
But… why?
And not the Grandma Story! The business reason why!
To make this explanation simple, I will break it down into four key layers. These layers include the following: Healthcare, Digital Health, Diabetes, and Diabetes Education.
#1 Healthcare
Let’s start with healthcare. In the United States today, healthcare is a hot topic. We are spending too much, we are performing too low. People are fed up with a broken system on both the provider and patient side. A significant amount of knowledgable experts understand that our current healthcare system is unsustainable. How did we get to this point? That’s a different conversation for a different time.
The good news is that this has attracted a lot of entrepreneurs. The entire nation took notice when Amazon acquired Whole Foods, then announced their partnership with JP Morgan and Berkshire. One thing is for sure, healthcare is going to look a lot different in the next 10–25 years. We plan to be a part of this new healthcare.
#2 Digital Health
Technology innovation has paved the way for new business models across almost every industry. In the Book BOLD, futurists Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler discuss 12 disruptive technologies that will change the world as we know it. Health is not walled off from this new world. There is a new wave of companies that are matching innovative technology with healthcare. This new wave of companies is called Digital Health.
In 2017, Digital Health companies raised $11.5B. Digital Health companies have raised over $1B every year since 2010. Startup Health President Unity Stokes states, “we are experiencing the biggest transformation to healthcare in history.”
Digital Health spreads all through-out healthcare with different entrepreneurs tackling different chronic diseases, operational issues, communication problems and more.
Luckily for us, Startup Health has outlined 10 key categories that most Digital Health companies fall under. KingFit believes in Digital Health and we are investing our time, energy and resources to push it forward.
#3 Diabetes
In case you were wondering, KingFit falls under the Access to Care Moonshot. Our solution brings quality care to people who currently do not have access. Specifically, we bring diabetes education from industry experts to people around the world.
Diabetes is a big problem. There are 370+ million people with diabetes around the world and the numbers continue to rise. By nature, it has attracted a lot of business both large and small. When we tell people that we are focused on diabetes education, they often hear diabetes and think, “there’s a lot of competition there.”
What someone outside of the healthcare industry may not understand is that diabetes is a really, really big problem with multiple pieces of the puzzle. Large players like Novo Nordisk transformed the industry with insulin pens, Omada Health has digitized the CDC’s Diabetes Prevention Program, and Dexcom has crafted beautiful continuous blood glucose monitoring devices. These are just a few examples. There is continued innovation in medication, holistic health solutions, awareness events and more.
We wanted to be a part of this new innovation to solve a problem that hits home for most of our team, so we interviewed close to 100 people with diabetes, providers and healthcare executives. The more we asked questions, the more we realized that there was a piece of the diabetes puzzle that was missing.
#4 Diabetes Education
Of the nearly 5,000 people diagnosed with diabetes everyday in America, 95% go without participating in Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME). This is a problem because DSME has been clinically proven to reduce the risk of renal failure, loss of vision and neuropathy by up to 40%.
There are three key reasons why people with diabetes do not participate in DSME programs.
- Cost
- Lack of Access
- Inconvenience
Cost
Unfortunately, sometimes the patient’s insurance does not cover the cost of DSME so the patient is asked to pay $300 to $500 out of pocket to receive education from a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE).
Lack of Access
In 2017, the American Diabetes Association announced that nearly 1,500 US Counties do not offer DSME programs. A patient would have to travel to another community to participate in the education program.
Inconvenience
Simply put, patients are not spending their free time going to the hospital or clinic to spend 1 to 4 hours learning about diabetes. Diabetes education in today’s world is both inconvenient and stressful. This leads to people just not caring to make an effort.
We solve the cost problem with a free-to-use solution. We solve the lack of access by delivering our solution world-wide. We solve the problem of inconvenience by allowing the user to view our content on their time, at their pace.
Chronic disease is close to our hearts, but we also recognize the massive healthcare shift on the horizon. This shift has opened up opportunities for entrepreneurs like the team at KingFit.
Digital Health is a wave within the healthcare transformation. Digital Health is showing increasing promise as more executives and entrepreneurs come together to solve problems in the current system.
Diabetes is one of many problems that needs solutions. At this point in time, no one solution is big enough for a problem like diabetes. People all over the world need access to resources as the problem continues to grow.
Within the diabetes self-management space, DSME has been ignored. It is a power tool that providers can give to their patients, but there must be innovation. We are that innovation.
So now you know why we chose healthcare, digital health, diabetes, and diabetes education. Next week I will be covering how we bring measurable value to patients, providers, and health plans.
Thank you for reading!
Apple Store:
KingFit — Diabetes Education by KingFit
Google Play:
KingFit — Diabetes Education by KingFit
CONTACT
miguel.johns@kingfit.io
