Unable to find a treatment that worked for her autoimmune conditions and on the brink of giving up, Virgilia Pruthi sought out holistic and wellness options as somewhat of a last resort.
Pruthi met with dietitians, acupuncturists, physical therapists and chiropractors. Through their practices, she found more than just treatments that worked for her — she found inspiration for a new business.
“They were helping me, and I wanted to help them in return,” said Pruthi, who has since turned that muse into a monthly SaaS platform called Practice Well.
While meeting with the specialists who provided her with various remedies, Pruthi said she noticed collections of dated systems used by practitioners for everything from scheduling appointments and billing to pulling up patient data. Some, she said, still used paper filing.
Pruthi wanted to create something to help modernize those systems to make it easier for everyone to use — patients included.
With Practice Well, Pruthi and co-founder Tony Cassandra have developed a cloud-based, user-intuitive, HIPPA-compliant management solution that offers a suite of customizable tools based on a practice’s needs.
When she and her husband moved to Austin from New York City in June 2015, Pruthi began a ten-month research period to see if what she had seen first hand was also the case elsewhere.
"When we moved to Austin, from day one, I started doing phone interviews with 60 practitioners around the country to understand if my assumptions were true," said Pruthi.
During her calls, Pruthi said she learned that most practitioners utilize platforms designed for hospitals, doctor's offices and larger practices because nothing had been made that was tailored to the needs of a small wellness office. As a result, that software often adheres to different medical regulations and compliances than what is typically required for the wellness and holistic sectors.
She also discovered that the systems currently in place lacked user-friendliness, and that in order to meet their needs, practices often had to piecemeal multiple tools.
“They end up spending four times as much,” Pruthi said. “Our pricing will be flexible to meet the needs of the size of the practice.”
Practitioners can use Practice Well for scheduling, reminders, charting, notes, patient history and forms, picking and choosing which features they'd like to include as needed.
Pruthi said the next phase of development will include a portal for patients to engage with their care providers and learn about various techniques and treatments.
Since Practice Well’s soft launch in October, Pruthi has secured a growing list of practices paying for their MVP reminder tool, including 200 offices that signed up in one day at a dietitian trade show. In February, they plan to fully launch and will consider fundraising once turning a revenue.
Image provided by Shutterstock.
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