Oma Care

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Backstory:

When my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, my family rallied around her to take care of her at home. The same happened when my cousin was diagnosed with a developmental disability. Today, there are 53 million Americans who take care of their aging, disabled, or sick loved ones at home.

🚨The Problem:

Last year, family caregivers in the US provided 36B hours of unpaid care ($600B) because:

1. The nurse shortage: right now, up to 70% of at-home nursing shifts are going unfulfilled. When these shifts go unfilled, family caregivers are left to fill in the gaps. In one state, 1 in 5 caregivers lost their job to take on the role of a full-time caregiver.
2. Soaring in-home care costs: even if you can find a nurse, the average cost of professional in-home care exceeds $60,000 annually, placing it out of reach for 83% of families.

Most caregivers unknowingly qualify for government programs that compensate family caregivers, largely because the application process is confusing & filled with red tape. These programs are a patchwork of private and public insurance benefits with complicated eligibility requirements, glitchy websites, and long paper forms.

In one case, I spent 3.5 hours on the phone to sign someone up, had to fax 30+ pages of eligibility forms, and then another hour on the phone to check if they were received. All before even starting the application. Plus, the office was only open during work hours, the phone line was only available in English, and the first agent I spoke to had never even heard of the program before.

🌟 The Oma Way:

We unlock a way for the 53 million caregivers to get paid up to $28/hour ($60,000/year) for doing what they are already doing. Oma Care offers free training and support to these caregivers, empowering them to deliver effective care. As a result, we unlock financial compensation for these family members through automated Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements.

Some examples of things we do:

• Automated eligibility verification & program enrollment: Our AI agent will call the government and spend hours on the phone so you don’t have to. We also fill in those 30+ page forms and submit them on your behalf so no one has to learn how to use a fax machine like I did 😆.
• Educational training: 65% of patient care is done by family caregivers, and we help by training them with the medical skills and knowledge they need to care for their loved ones.
• Healthcare management: We prompt medication reminders, give them personalized care plans, and connect all their home health data to their provider.
• Technical Infrastructure: As a caregiver, you want to focus on giving your loved one care. We streamline financial and medical compliance so caregivers don’t have to worry about payroll, liability insurance, workers comp, medical coding, billing, etc.

✅ And we’re seeing buy-in from all parties:

Caregivers are eager to finally get paid for the work that they are already doing. 77% of patients prefer to get their care at home from someone they know and trust. Payors & providers are excited by the idea of rewarding proactive health management to reduce costs (by up to 40%) and readmission rates (by up to 20%). And the government is making strides to support family caregivers, rolling out 350 federal programs and initiatives last year and counting. Plus, our software monitors the usage of these programs, making sure CMS dollars go a long way.

🌱 The Big Vision

We believe that the future of care is at home and we are building the technical infrastructure to achieve that vision. With a 47% increase in our aging population by 2050, the pressure is on to find a solution to support our caregivers - who provide 65% of patient care. Our early adopters - family caregivers - are our first stop.

🏥 🇨🇦 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The Team

We (Arianna and James) have frontline clinical experience (Medicine @ McGill) + health policy and family care experience (MPH @ Columbia) + Soft Eng experience from Amazon. We are also a team of caregivers - having had first-hand experience taking care of our loved ones (cousin, grandma) and thus are personally passionate about solving these issues and supporting our caregivers.

💌 Our Ask

• If you or a family member are taking care of a dependent loved one - let us know! We will help you figure out if they qualify for these programs for free. Email us at founders@omacare.com.
• + If you know anyone in the home care industry — home care agencies, hospitals, etc. — we would deeply appreciate an introduction.